[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 114 (Tuesday, July 30, 1996)]
[House]
[Page H8670]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          URGING THE PRESIDENT TO SIGN THE WELFARE REFORM BILL

  (Mr. HOKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOKE. Mr. Speaker, in his 1935 State of the Union Address, 
Franklin Roosevelt called welfare a narcotic, a subtle destroyer of the 
human spirit. John Kennedy in 1962 said, ``No lasting solution to the 
problem of poverty can be bought with a welfare check.''
  In 1965, Washington launched a war on poverty with the very best of 
intentions, but some three decades and $5.5 trillion later we have a 
welfare system that has arguably done more harm than it has done good, 
because a basic law of nature has been ignored. When a person is given 
handout after handout without asking anything in return, he or she is 
condemned to a dependency and the loss of dignity and self-worth.
  So Congress passed a plan to reform welfare that is based on the 
simple premise that welfare recipients should work for their benefits, 
just like you work to support your family and pay your taxes. Our 
reforms make sense. Welfare should not be a way of life. Work should 
replace welfare for the able-bodied. States should have the power and 
flexibility to implement their own reforms. Noncitizens and felons 
should not receive welfare benefits.
  Mr. President, we ask that you sign the bill.

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