[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 116 (Thursday, August 1, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1451-E1452]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   CONFERENCE REPORT ON H.R. 3734, PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY AND WORK 
                 OPPORTUNITY RECONCILIATION ACT OF 1996

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                               speech of

                         HON. J. DENNIS HASTERT

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, July 31, 1996

  Mr. HASTERT. Mr. Speaker, today I join a bipartisan majority of the 
House to return our

[[Page E1452]]

Nation's welfare system to what it was meant to be: a hand-up, not a 
hand-out.
  Almost everyone I talk with understands that our current welfare 
system is inefficient, unfair and damaging to those it is supposed to 
help. We all agree that helping those who by no fault of their own have 
fallen on hard times is the right thing to do. But the current system 
doesn't do that. It traps families in a cycle of hopelessness and 
despair--destroying initiative and responsibility.
  The historic welfare reform bill we passed today is based upon the 
principle that welfare should not be a way of life and that we should 
promote work instead of welfare. It also recognizes that we in Illinois 
are better able to help the poor without the interference of huge, 
inflexible, Washington bureaucracies. We need a plan based upon 
Illinois values and Illinois needs, not on a Washington bureaucrat's 
regulations.
  Can any serious person argue that the federalization of poverty by 
Washington has worked? The idea that just spending more and more money 
and handing people government checks is the answer to poverty is a 
cruel hoax on both the needs and the taxpayers who are trying to help 
them. We have spent $5.4 trillion dollars since Lyndon Johnson began 
the `War on Poverty.' Despite this enormous commitment by the American 
people, an amount greater than our entire national debt, the result has 
been more broken families, exploding illegitimacy, a drug epidemic that 
is destroying generations, rising crime rates and schools that are war 
zones. By creating a culture of poverty, we have destroyed the very 
people we have sought to help.

  The welfare reform package provides $4.5 billion in increased child 
care funding which will enable parents to return to work, and attacks 
the unacceptable 50 percent illegitimacy rate for families on welfare 
by strengthening efforts to identify fathers and force them to pay 
child support.
  This legislation is an important acknowledgment that the moral health 
of America is no less important than its military or economic strength. 
We cannot have a healthy moral environment to raise children in our 
communities 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 without diplomas. Our accomplishment today helps restore 
the moral health of this great Nation.
  Eighteen months ago, the new Republican Congress set out to reform 
the destructive welfare system. We asked ourselves whether we had the 
courage to tackle this difficult issue and give our children hope, 
rather than an endless cycle of dependency. We knew we would face a 
chorus of special interests who benefittre the status quo and would 
accuse us of being cruel and heartless. But we listened to the common 
sense of the American people who see through the misinformation and 
distortion and we kept our promise. I am pleased that President Clinton 
finally joined our cause today and agreed to sign this long overdue 
reform.

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