[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 140 (Thursday, October 9, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10819-S10821]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            WELFARE TO WORK

 Mr. ABRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise today to congratulate 
Ottawa County, MI, for moving all, by which I mean a full 100 percent, 
of its welfare recipients to work. As in so many other things, Ottawa 
County should be an inspiration to us all as we seek fundamental 
welfare reform that will end

[[Page S10820]]

dependence on government by putting people in real jobs with real 
futures.
  When we debated welfare reform in this Chamber, there were those who 
said that returning greater welfare policy control to our States and 
localities would produce only hardship and failure. The naysayers 
claimed that healthy people on welfare could not or would not take 
jobs--or that jobs could not be found for them. The naysayers claimed 
that America's local communities lacked the resources and the 
compassion to meet the challenge of helping welfare recipients end 
their dependence on government and work their way into decent jobs and 
an independent life.
  The naysayers claimed it would be cruel to impose work requirements 
and limit benefits because this would simply hurt the self-esteem of 
recipients and take food out of the mouths of their children. 
Compassion, they claimed, dictated the status quo.
  Well, Mr. President, Ottawa County has proved the naysayers wrong. 
The good people of Holland and surrounding communities in Ottawa County 
have shown what real compassion can do. Real compassion--compassion 
aimed at helping people rebuild productive, independent lives--works. 
It has worked in Ottawa County and it can work throughout our country 
if we will give our States and local communities the freedom they need 
to put their compassion in action.
  Welfare numbers fluctuate and new applications are filed all the 
time, but Ottawa County last month reached the point where none of its 
residents was receiving a welfare check without earning some income. 
How did Ottawa County accomplish this? By expecting more of people. By 
instituting work requirements. By doing everything necessary to make 
work available for welfare recipients. And by tapping into the vast 
reservoir of skill and good will available in our faith-based 
charities.
  Ottawa County is in a particularly good position from which to deal 
with welfare issues. Its Dutch and German communities are, in the words 
of one USA Today reporter ``infused with conservative values and a 
strong work ethic.'' They have produced a thriving economy with a low 
unemployment rate. They also have opened their arms to recent 
immigrants, including a significant number of Asians and Hispanics, and 
have set about, in a determined manner, to give welfare recipients a 
chance to work. The rare combination of hard work and generosity we in 
Michigan have come to expect of the people of Ottawa County once again 
has produced great results.
  County officials have contracted to expand subsidized day care for 
working and job-seeking mothers. The county also hired a firm to 
provide 24-hour shuttle buses to take welfare recipients to work. And 
they hired Kan Du Industries, a local picture-frame manufacturer that 
also runs vocational programs for the disabled, to provide training and 
help in job placement skills. The county has engaged in a truly 
comprehensive effort to help people become self-supporting.
  The State of Michigan also deserves credit for this accomplishment. 
Through its Project Zero, Michigan has spent more than $5 million in 
Ottawa County to provide transportation, mentoring, and day-care 
services to help welfare recipients get and keep jobs. But this is not 
just a handout. Those who refuse to comply with work requirements have 
their welfare checks cut by 25 percent, and face the prospect of losing 
aid altogether if they do not find work in 3 months.
  Mr. President, this policy has worked. It has gotten people off 
welfare and into jobs. It has changed lives. Particularly effective has 
been Ottawa County's decision to look to local churches for help. For 
example, a cover story in USA Today reports on Maria Gonzalez. Miss 
Gonzalez went through a painful divorce, two out-of-wedlock births, a 
breakdown, and homelessness, all before she reached the age of 27. 
Then, according to the newspaper, she ``found salvation . . . Through 
an increasingly common government ally: the church.''
  Miss Gonzalez receives assistance from the State. State programs 
helped her find work and continue to give aid in the form of day care 
and transportation to and from work. But, as a struggling, working 
mother of four, she has emotional needs as well. That is why Ottawa 
County paired her with Jan Tuls, a mentor from Calvary Christian 
Reformed Church. Miss Gonzalez continues to attend her own Pentecostal 
Church--no one has tried to change her faith. But the guidance she has 
received from Jan Tuls makes her believe that Miss Tuls is ``more of a 
mom to me than my own.''
  Or take the case of Sylvia Ornelas. Mrs. Ornelas moved herself and 
her four children to Holland 6 months ago, in the midst of severe 
marital difficulties. As a front page story in the Washington Post 
tells the story, Mrs. Ornelas went to the local welfare office. But 
instead of simply a check, Holland gave her a community of friends and 
mentors.

       Neighbors took her children shopping for school clothes. 
     Executives for a local manufacturer helped her find work. Bob 
     and Mary Ann Baker bought her a used car to get around. Ginny 
     Weerstra helped her find an apartment. Parishioners at 
     Hardewyk Reformed Christian Church took up a collection to 
     get her phone installed, and when her husband reentered her 
     life, Pastor Andrew Gorter provided the couple with marital 
     counselling.

  Or take Gloria Garcia. This 27-year old mother of five young children 
was homeless and jobless when her caseworker asked if she would like to 
be coupled with mentors from one of the area churches. Miss Garcia 
agreed, and parishioners at Hardewyk Christian Reformed Church stepped 
in to help.
  Miss Garcia had lost her job because she had missed too many days of 
work in caring for her children. Ginny Weerstra, a parishioner at 
Hardewyk, put a call in to the temporary employment service at which 
Miss Garcia had worked and asked that she be given a second chance. Now 
that she had people behind her, willing to sit for her children when 
necessary, Miss Garcia was rehired, and has been working full time 
since September. The church also lent Miss Garcia $2,000--since paid 
back--for bad debts, and sent a parishioner who is an auto mechanic to 
help her buy a used car. Parishioners even helped Miss Garcia find an 
affordable home.
  And these are not isolated incidents, Mr. President. Literally 
hundreds of residents of Ottawa County have been helped off welfare by 
a community committed to helping them rebuild their lives. A community 
that has been freed to call on its churches, to implement innovative 
day care, transportation, and job training and placement programs by 
our welfare reform legislation. A community that knows that neighbors 
can do far more to help people in need than a simple check from the 
government.
  The close-knit relationships fostered in communities like Holland, 
Mr. President, are helping welfare recipients find their way to a 
better life--to stable jobs, stable homes, and the stable habits needed 
to keep both together. State-fostered training centers can provide job 
skills, but it takes a more personal relationship to spur the drive to 
pull one's life together in the way needed to lead a good, settled 
life.
  It is my hope, Mr. President, that other States will follow 
Michigan's example in sponsoring programs like Project Zero. The result 
would be a more stable and prosperous America. It is my hope that we 
will protect and expand our welfare reforms so that Ottawa County can 
become an example followed by communities all over the country.
  Already today, Ottawa is not the only site involved in Project Zero. 
Five other sites--Alpena, Menominee, and Midland Counties and Romulus 
and Tireman in Wayne County all have participated in Project Zero. And 
all have seen significant progress in getting people off of welfare and 
into good jobs. Since the program began in July 1996, Mr. President, 
target cases without income have declined by 62 percent. That is, 
people receiving cash assistance who are not exempt, for example for 
health reasons, have been targeted to obtain paying jobs, and 62 
percent of them have.
  This is the kind of progress we need, Mr. President, to repair the 
damage done to our local communities by too many years of government 
programs that fed the bodies but starved the souls of struggling 
Americans. Tough love--work requirements combined with a determined 
effort to make work possible--can help thousands upon thousands of 
Americans as they seek a better life. I hope we all will learn from

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the excellent example provided by Ottawa County. The care and 
generosity of her people, the grounding of daily life in faith, and 
traditional values that are so much a part of this wonderful county 
should inspire us all to greater efforts.
  The naysayers are being proved wrong every day. Americans can and 
will help one another if only the Federal Government will give back the 
freedom they need to do so.

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