[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 63 (Thursday, May 16, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H2514]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         PROVIDING RESOURCES FOR FAMILIES TO GET OFF OF WELFARE

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, while welfare caseloads have dropped 
dramatically, the decrease in poverty is marginally less. After 5 
years, welfare cash assistance caseloads have decreased by nearly 50 
percent, but overall poverty has declined by less than 2 percent.
  Today we are going to be visiting this issue of what to do about 
welfare in America. Work is at the center of the welfare debate, and it 
was at the center of the debate in 1996.
  The work requirements are the most significant part of the debate. If 
States choose or are mandated a 40 hour a week work requirement, that 
will mean workfare programs. Workfare is overwhelmingly bad for 
recipients. It will mean the need for even more child care, on top of 
the $11 billion that is in the bill now, and it will undermine efforts 
to place people in good jobs.
  We need to be very careful in any vote that we take today to make 
sure that we are not making it impossible for families who are trying 
to get off of welfare to be able to have the resources that they will 
need to be able to care for their children.

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