[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 111 (Thursday, July 25, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H8383]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       COMMONSENSE WELFARE REFORM

  (Mrs. SEASTRAND asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. SEASTRAND. Madam Speaker, let me go through some reasons I think 
America needs commonsense welfare reform. Between 1965 and 1994, the 
Government has spent $5.4 trillion, that's trillion with a ``T,'' on 
welfare programs. These programs were started under the proviso that we 
were waging a war on poverty. Thirty years and trillions of tax dollars 
later, poverty is winning.
  Another reason we need to fix welfare is the alarming increase in 
broken families and especially teenage illegitimacy. Researchers at the 
University of Washington have found that increased levels of welfare 
benefits almost always lead to increases in the teenage illegitimate 
birth rate.
  Welfare does not fight poverty; it perpetuates it. Welfare creates a 
set of incentives that crushes the work ethic, ruins the family, 
corrupts basic morals, and ultimately destroys the trust between people 
that is so necessary for civilized society.
  Madam Speaker, it's way past time to fix the broken welfare system.

                          ____________________