[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 112 (Friday, July 26, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H8561]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       WELFARE REFORM LEGISLATION

  (Mr. MILLER of Florida asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MILLER of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask President 
Clinton a simple question. Will you sign the welfare reform 
legislation? Everyone in this Chamber wants to save our children. Every 
one in America agrees the current welfare system has failed our 
children. We have worked on a bipartisan basis in both Chambers to 
deliver reforms that free the most vulnerable children in America from 
a life of dependency on a faceless, uncaring bureaucracy.
  We are one step away. All we need is President Clinton's signature. 
Here's what he must decide. Is it fair to leave our most vulnerable 
children trapped in unsafe schools and unsafe homes? Is it fair to 
leave kids in a system where the only successful entrepreneurs in the 
neighborhoods are drug dealers?
  President Clinton must decide who is more capable of delivering true 
compassion to these kids. Can a Washington bureaucracy that is saddled 
with outdated rules and regulations created to appease some special 
interest group really deliver compassion? I believe neighbors helping 
neighbors can dramatically change the lives of individual Americans. I 
hope the President makes the right decision for America's kids.

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