[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 90 (Tuesday, June 18, 1996)]
[House]
[Pages H6485-H6486]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  WHO REALLY SPEAKS FOR THE CHILDREN?

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Fox of Pennsylvania). Under a previous 
order of the House, the gentleman from Minnesota [Mr. Gutknecht] is 
recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. GUTKNECHT. Mr. Speaker, when talking about children, there is one 
significant difference between Democrats and Republicans. Democrats 
believe it takes Washington programs and Washington spending and 
Washington bureaucrats to raise a child.
  Republicans disagree. After 30 years of excessive taxation, after 30 
years of a failed welfare system, after 30 years of a rapidly failing 
public education system, after 30 years of a deteriorating justice 
system, Republicans have a different answer--in just three words--two 
responsible parents. That's what it takes to raise a child successfully 
today--two responsible parents.
  We should not be asking the question ``what should government do for 
children.'' Instead, our question should be ``What must we do to get 
parents to do more.'' What children need is not more Government 
spending but a mother and a father who care about them. Americans have 
correctly lost patience with Washington, but they have not lost their 
compassion for the children and their commitment to the common good.
  When talking about children, Republicans begin with three principles:
  First, that the moral health of a nation is no less important than 
its economic or military strength. That fact is, you cannot have a 
healthy moral environment to raise children in America when 12-year-
olds are having babies, 15-year-olds are killing each other, 17-year-
olds are dying of AIDS and 18-year-olds are graduating with diplomas 
they cannot read. If we are to restore the moral health of America, 
this behavior has got to stop,
  Second, it is the results, not the rhetoric, that counts. Anyone can 
sound compassionate, but the truly compassionate are those that go out 
and find ways to make the lives of our children more happy and healthy, 
and
  Third, we must be willing to face ourselves in the mirror and be 
honest with the American people about the failure of the Washington 
welfare system to help those who need it most. It is our responsibility 
as elected officials to acknowledge that Washington got it wrong, so 
that next time we can get it right.
  We have created a welfare trap in this country that literally 
enslaves generations of Americans on Government assistance. Our welfare 
system has deprived hope, diminished opportunity, and destroyed the 
lives of our precious children.
  Just look at our inner cities. You'll meet a generation fed on food 
stamps but starved of nurturing and hope. You'll see second graders who 
don't know their ABC's; fourth graders who cannot add or subtract.
  Yet every year Washington spends more money on more programs to help 
more people--expanding the welfare trap from one community to another, 
from one family to another, from one child to another from one 
generation to another.
  The Washington bureaucracy is well intentioned, but what the 
Democrats don't understand is that raising more taxes to hire more 
bureaucrats to expand a welfare system that doesn't work now will only 
make matters worse later.
  And welfare isn't the only problem facing children. Among 
industrialized nations at the start of this decade, we had the most 
murders the worst schools the most abortions the highest infant 
mortality the most illegitimacy the most one-parent families the most 
children in jail and the most children on goverment aid. We were first 
only in the number of lawyers and lawsuits.
  A Washington-based social policy does not help children. It destroys 
them. It does not keep families together. It tears them apart. Instead 
of turning urban areas of America into shining cities on a hill, it has 
made them into war zones where no one dares go out at night and often 
in the day as well. Instead of turning schools into bastions of 
knowledge and learning it has served as an employment agency for 
bureaucrats.
  Washington politicians drag children to Washington to hear a couple 
of speeches by Washington politicians and Washington lobbyists. I want 
parents to take their children to school on weekdays and to religious 
services on Sundays.
  Washington politicians talk the talk. We need to do the work.
  And that work begins with welfare. Let me state this clearly so there 
is no confusion. We have spent over $5 trillion on welfare related 
programs, and yet we have more poverty, more crime, more drug 
addiction, more broken families, and more immoral behavior. The 
Washington welfare system is broken. The Washington welfare system does 
not work. The Washington welfare system needs to be shut down. We need 
to start over. Period.
  Right now, there are alternatives to the Washington welfare 
bureaucracy that are less expensive and work better than the current 
system. Let me just mention two.
  Why does Habitat for Humanity work so much better than HUD? Because 
Habitat for Humanity first requires recipients to learn the 
responsibility of home ownership, then requires them to build a home 
for someone else, and only then do they build their own home. What does 
HUD require? Absolutely nothing. Do you see the difference? The private 
charity requires something of the individual. The Washington 
bureaucracy requires only something from the taxpayer.
  Why does Earning for Learning work so much better than the Washington 
Department of Education? Earning for Learning pays young children in 
inner cities to read books. The more books they read, the more money 
they make. They gain knowledge and learn about positive incentives. Who 
does the Washington Department of Education educate? Absolutely no one. 
Do you see the difference? The Private charity produces results. The 
Washington bureaucracy produces rules, regulations and not much else.
  The current Washington-based welfare system demands no 
responsibility, no work ethic, no learning, no commitment, and in the 
end, no pride. What we need is locally based solutions that involve 
local citizens working with local children on a face-to-face, person-
to-person basis.
  Spending more on the current Washington welfare system will not help 
children. It's time we take away the blindfold and accept reality. We 
have to rebuild parents, families, and communities, but you cannot do 
it from high-rise office buildings in Washington. It has to be done at 
home, in school and on Sunday.
  Changing the welfare system will help children. Encouraging families 
to stay together will help children. Putting welfare recipients back to 
work will help children. Restoring the work ethic will help children. 
Improving the quality of local education will help children. 
Encouraging spirituality will help children.
  But even that is not enough. It's time we tackle the problem of 
American culture. We have grown to accept prostitution on our streets, 
crime in our neighborhoods, and garbage on television and in movies. 
This complacency has to stop.

[[Page H6486]]

  And so the question for America is whether we move into the future, 
or remain in the past. Do we demand more from parents, or do we leave 
it to Washington to solve all our ills? Do we return control of 
education to the local community, or do we run education from a Federal 
department in Washington? Do we change the welfare system and restore 
hope and optimism to the next generation, or do we continue to accept 
the welfare world of dependency, illegitimacy and despair?
  And most importantly, do we make a real commitment to improve the 
lives of children across the country, or do we use children as 
political pawns in the upcoming election?

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