[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 29, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3781-S3782]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              WELFARE REFORM AND WAIVER REQUEST FOR TEXAS

  Mrs. HUTCHISON. Mr. President, I want to talk today about welfare 
reform. Now you may say, ``My goodness, why are you talking about 
welfare reform? We passed that last year.''
  It is true, Congress passed welfare reform last year. We said to the 
States, ``We want you to run your own programs. We're going to send you 
less money so that you will have the ability to be more efficient and 
make up for the dollars that we are not sending you from the Federal 
Government by efficiencies in your State programs.''
  We said to the States, ``We're going to cut the strings. You're not 
going to have to come to Washington every time you turn around. And 
that will give you the ability to enact the programs that your States 
need to operate in a more efficient way.''
  Mr. President, you would have thought that everyone would have said, 
``Hallelujah, we are going full steam ahead.'' Well, Mr. President, the 
States said, ``Hallelujah, we're going full steam ahead.'' The problem 
is, this administration is thwarting the attempts of State after State 
to do the job we asked them to do.

  Mr. President, today the State of Texas has been waiting for 170 
days, 5 months, for a clearance to run its welfare program in a more 
efficient way. The Governor of Texas has said it is costing our State 
$10 million a month because they are waiting for Federal approval so 
that they can go out and

[[Page S3782]]

get bids. Public sector, private sector, whoever gives the best bid for 
the taxpayers of Texas and America, would be able to bid on 
consolidating the administrative offices for welfare services so that a 
welfare recipient would be able to go in to one place and get whatever 
they needed for their particular needs at that particular time. They 
may be able to get food stamps, AFDC, Medicaid, disaster assistance, 
community care, in-home and family support. All of these things would 
be in one place.
  The State of Texas is looking for public-private partnerships. They 
are looking to the public sector and the private sector to say, come in 
and bid on these programs. The State of Texas believes they can save 10 
to 40 percent of the $550 million they now spend to administer these 
programs. That is $200 million a year for the taxpayers of Texas and 
the taxpayers of America.
  Mr. President, I talked to the Secretary of HHS. I said, ``What more 
can Texas do?'' She was very forthright. She said, ``Texas has done 
everything it was supposed to do. Everything is set. It is on the 
President's desk.''
  Mr. President, why is the President making this decision in the first 
place? I am afraid it is because a political aspect to this has 
emerged. And that is, some of the unions do not want the ability for 
our State to go out and get bids on public-private partnerships.
  Mr. President, I am all for unions being able to have free market 
access and free ability to go out and get jobs. But when a union says, 
``We don't want you to be able to do things more efficiently because we 
might not be able to compete,'' I am saying that is wrong. It is time 
for the President of the United States to do what Congress said was the 
law of the land and which he signed into law, which he agreed to do, 
and that is let the States run the welfare programs. Part of the way 
welfare reform is going to work is for the States to be able to do the 
job more efficiently without strings from Washington. It saves taxpayer 
dollars for all Americans and for the States that are trying to do 
their job better.
  Mr. President, we have a dilemma here. Congress has acted, and the 
President has signed the bill. He has agreed with Congress that it is 
in everyone's best interest for the States to run their own programs. 
The proposal of the State of Texas is along the lines of what many 
other States are looking at. Wisconsin, Arizona, and other States are 
looking at these kinds of efficiencies.
  Mr. President, I hope they will be able to do this. I hope so, 
because Congress has spoken and the President has spoken, and we have 
said the same thing: ``Be more efficient. Use taxpayer dollars more 
wisely.'' What is the holdup?
  I ask President Clinton, what is the holdup? We have a reasonable 
proposal. It is innovative. It meets the needs of Texans. Why not 
approve it? Five months and Texas has lost $10 million for every month 
this has not been able to go forward.
  Mr. President, this is an emergency for my State. Our legislature has 
1 more month of its session. We must act if the President is not 
willing to do the job. So I am announcing that I am going to try to do 
this congressionally if the President does not act or if the President 
turns down the reasonable request by the State of Texas. Because, Mr. 
President, the President of the United States cannot thwart the will of 
Congress when he has signed a bill. When it is the law of the land, he 
cannot go around it with regulations, with Executive orders, thumbing 
his nose at what the law is. He was a Governor. The President of the 
United States understands how important it is for States to be able to 
have the ability to run their own programs.

  I am going to ask today the President of the United States to approve 
the waiver request for the State of Texas which has been sitting on his 
desk for 5 months. If he is unwilling to do that, I am serving notice 
that I will do everything in my power to congressionally require this 
approval.
  The second choice is not the best. I would rather work with the 
President to do what is right here. But we are beginning to see a 
pattern: Wisconsin coming in, asking for legislative relief; Oregon 
coming in, asking for legislative relief. That is not the way to do it. 
But the buck stops here. Congress passed the law. If the administration 
is going to thwart the law of the land, Congress must act.
  We must take these waivers one at a time and make these decisions. I 
would prefer that the President and the administration do what is right 
and do what is their responsibility to do and grant these waivers. If 
they do not, however, it is the responsibility of Congress to step in 
and say, this was our intent and it is the law of the land.
  Mr. President, Texas is losing $10 million a month; $50 million to 
date. It is not right. We are doing in Texas what Congress told us to 
do. There should be no barrier to doing that. I ask the President 
today, grant the waiver. That is the proper way to work with Congress 
and with the States and it is in everyone's best interest.
  Thank you, Mr. President.
  I yield the floor.

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