[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 57 (Tuesday, May 6, 1997)]
[House]
[Page H2246]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             WELFARE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Texas [Mr. Sam Johnson], is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. SAM JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, last Friday, Dr. Mike 
McKinney, head of the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, 
traveled to Washington. He had been invited by the Clinton 
administration to discuss a compromise to allow Texas to move forward 
with its welfare reform plan.
  It has been 10 months since the administration promised Texas an 
answer. So everyone thought. They were ready to bring to the table a 
proposal that would give Texas the ability to move forward and start 
implementing its welfare reforms.
  We were dead wrong. After a 2\1/2\ hour meeting with Clinton 
officials, Dr. McKinney left the meeting empty handed. The meeting was 
a charade, a scam, a total waste of time.
  This just proves that the administration has no intention of ever 
granting Texas the authority to make reasonable changes to its welfare 
system.
  The administration could care less about the parents and children who 
would benefit from these bold and innovative proposals. They only care 
about elections, money, labor, and power.
  The President has lost sight of what the welfare bill he signed is 
all about. It is about flexibility, State control, and helping lift 
welfare recipients out of poverty into work and prosperity. It is for 
our children.
  Now the President's Deputy Secretary of HHS, Kevin Thrum, said that 
the Texas plan violates certain Federal Law, lacks credibility. I guess 
the Secretary herself is unwilling to face the issue. The statement 
clearly contradicts an April 4th memo to the President from his boss, 
the Secretary of HHS, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the chief 
domestic policy adviser which allowed Texas far more leeway and 
discretion than he described.
  It is simply amazing the political games that the administration is 
playing with the lives of welfare recipients and their children. The 
State of Texas simply wants to enter into a public-private partnership 
to streamline, integrate, and consolidate its welfare system into a 
one-stop center to help recipients and children receive benefits.
  It has been estimated that this plan would save the Texas taxpayers 
over $10 million a month or $120 million a year. That is enough money 
to provide health care to an additional 150,000 children in Texas each 
year.
  The administration's latest actions also continue to support the 
reported news accounts that the White House is beholden to the big 
labor union bosses. It seems that they own the White House. Their 
continued control of the President denies Texas the ability to help the 
poor and needy escape poverty.
  The control is spelled out in plain English in the April 4th memo 
where a chart was drawn that lists three options. The first is the 
Texas proposal. The second is the union proposal. The third is a 
proposed administration compromise.
  I wasn't aware--and I'm sure most Americans are not aware--that the 
welfare reform package signed by President Clinton called for union 
approval of welfare reform proposals.
  Let me state once again, if the administration continues to put the 
unions' political agenda above the real concerns of the citizens of 
Texas, we will not hesitate, in both the House and Senate, to go 
forward with legislation to give Texas the approval it deserves.
  Mr. Speaker, it is time for the President to do what's right. Our 
States are our most valued resource. Texas and any other State should 
have immediate approval so they can make welfare reform real and help 
the children and the needy families of America.

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