[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 62 (Wednesday, May 15, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H2479-H2480]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   MOVING FORWARD WITH WELFARE REFORM

  (Mr. FLAKE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. FLAKE. Mr. Speaker, in 1996, Congress did a very good thing: they 
reformed welfare and it was said at the time that it would throw 
children into poverty and a lot of people would be worse off than they 
were before.
  Let us look at the figures. Mr. Speaker, 4.2 million fewer Americans 
live in poverty today than they did in 1996, and 2.3 million fewer 
children live in poverty today than in 1996.
  Now, the other side of this debate says that those are the ``alleged 
benefits.'' Those are not the alleged benefits; those are the facts. 
People are better off, everyone: children, women, minorities. We are 
all better off today than we were in 1996.
  What it all comes down to it, we can look at individuals. There is a 
great story here. Tanya, a single mother, went on public assistance 
when her twin girls were a year old. Since completing her work with 
Calworks last

[[Page H2480]]

year, she has been able to earn enough money to purchase her own home. 
It is success stories like this, individuals that bring the meaning to 
us, that prove that we need to reauthorize this program and to continue 
to move forward.

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