[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 65 (Monday, May 20, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E862]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


    PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY, WORK, AND FAMILY PROMOTION ACT OF 2002

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. PATSY T. MINK

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 16, 2002

  Mrs. MINK of Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, welfare rolls have been cut in 
half. In 1996 we had over 5 million families on welfare. Today, there 
are about 2.2 million families on welfare. The work requirement has 
forced over 3 million families to leave welfare. Most States will 
advise that they are not certain whether these parents are working. The 
guess is that about half are not. We are not sure how these families 
are doing. Just getting off welfare does not mean that the family is no 
longer in need. We certainly don't know whether the children have 
adequate food, clothing, or shelter. Reports tell us that most are 
still in poverty.
  Welfare should be about children. But sadly this debate is not about 
what is good for children in poverty. Congress and the White House have 
turned welfare into a hardball game aimed at the single moms. Few have 
turned their questions to the children.
  There is no real dispute that preschool age children are better off 
if they can be cared for by their own mothers. If their mothers must 
work then these children must be placed in quality child care programs. 
Secretary Tommy Thompson says they must be provided with child care. 
Anticipating this work requirement Congress has provided some child 
care funds under this program, but not nearly enough. A child care 
program is made available for all low income working families. 
Currently there are over 15 million preschool age children eligible for 
federally funded child care programs. But only 1.8 million are actually 
provided with help.
  Welfare mothers mostly have to fend for themselves in finding child 
care. They ask neighbors or family to help if they live close by. It is 
a myth to say that welfare mothers are made to work and that child care 
is provided. Any wonder that 30 percent of these moms work nights and 
another 30 percent work weekends to make their work hours as required 
under TANF. They obviously have to work these odd hours because they 
can't find child care and by working nights or weekends they can leave 
their small children in the care of the older children in the family or 
with acquaintances in the building. This is a far cry from quality 
child care.
  Poor children are already at risk. Keeping them apart from their 
mothers is pushing them further into harm. If welfare is about 
children, we need to pay special attention to the fragile frames upon 
which their lives are built.
  When children are of school age, it is reasonable to expect that the 
mother could use her free time to work or to improve her chances of 
getting a good paying job by stepping into various education career-
building opportunities.
  Legislation must be designed to make this possible. Education must be 
considered a work activity. As such, it would qualify for child care 
support. The parent could qualify for a Pell grant, work study program, 
or a subsidized student loan.
  The reports indicate that 42 percent of welfare recipients today lack 
a high school diploma. Their first priority must be to get a GED 
diploma. After that further post secondary options should be 
considered.
  Any reauthorization of TANF must provide for educational opportunity. 
If Welfare to Work is about ending poverty, education is the best tool 
to make that happen.
  It is important to recognize that many on welfare come for help 
because of the dire circumstances they face. Personal problems like 
divorce, husbands sent to prison, serious illnesses in the family, 
substance abuse, domestic violence, severe depression and mental 
illness in the family are some of the reasons families have been forced 
into welfare. All of the above are barriers to getting a job and to 
holding on to one. With good intentions they find a job, but find that 
they can't keep it. Without work, they soon find themselves pushed off 
of welfare.
  We should be helping these families. We should be referring them to 
other programs that can help them recover, offer treatment, counseling, 
etc. The Republican bill provides only three months of treatment once 
in two years. Without help these families will be locked into poverty 
and the children will pay the price of our neglect. Those that cannot 
be helped should be moved into permanent assistance programs like SSI.
  In the long run, if we help them overcome these barriers, they will 
be able to hold down a job, and support their families as society 
expects them to.
  All we are talking about today is continued eligibility for cash 
assistance for a welfare family. Current law says the longest they can 
stay on welfare is 5 years. But please note that 21 States have enacted 
much lower time limits. Texas for one has a limit of 1 to 3 years, 
Tennessee is 18 months, Connecticut is 21 months, Arkansas, Idaho, 
Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina, Nebraska, Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, 
Massachusetts, Virginia, Oregon, and South Carolina all have 2-year 
time limits. Delaware, Ohio, and Utah have a 3-year limit and Georgia 
is four.
  And what about the cash assistance?; 24 states pay a family of three 
$141 to $291 a month. At $291 a month that's not even $3,500 a year 
that a family of three would receive.
  Under current law that welfare family is expected to work at least 30 
hours a week. At minimum wage the total monthly income would be about 
$700 a month.
  Often the states will reduce the cash benefit when the single mother 
finds a job, or drop her entirely.
  There are two ways to reduce the welfare rolls: the single mom gets a 
minimum wage job or fails to find or hold a job and is sanctioned. That 
is basically how the rolls were so dramatically cut in half in the past 
5 years.
  Yet the Republican bill complains that the States have not done 
enough. They haven't kicked the welfare families off fast enough. They 
complain that of the current case load 57 percent are not working. 
Consequently their new bill increases the work participation rate to 70 
percent in 5 years. This means that the heat will be on, and the States 
will have to press harder for the welfare mothers to find work or be 
pushed off of welfare.
  The 70 percent work rate is an unconscionable demand upon the States 
who all have made good faith efforts up to now. This pressure coupled 
with the increased hours to 40 of approved activity leaves little room 
for any mother to nurture and care for her children.
  Two weeks ago, in Missouri, a 9-year-old girl died a horrible death 
in a fire caused by a lit candle. Her mother could not pay her electric 
bill. Without electricity, she used candles to light her apartment that 
housed 11 people.
  This tragic end of a child's life, because the family was too poor to 
pay the electric bill is a reminder that we must think of our children 
as we write laws that purport to benefit them.
  Sadly I had prepared four basic amendments to offer for this debate 
which the Rules Committee refused to allow.
  The first would have provided services for single mothers who were 
victims of domestic violence so that they could comply with the work 
requirements, and while being treated would not be sanctioned. Reports 
advise that perhaps as many as 60 percent of the women on welfare have 
suffered from domestic violence at some point in their lives, and that 
30 percent report abuse within the last year. Many live in shelters and 
are still in danger for their lives.
  The second amendment would have prohibited sanctions against mothers 
who could not work because they could not find child care.
  The third amendment would have allowed all education programs as a 
work activity.
  The fourth amendment would have included participation in services 
and programs to help recipients with barriers to employment as 
allowable work activity. The barriers are mental and physical illness, 
substance abuse, literacy and learning disabilities. A GAO report 
states that 38 percent of the adult welfare recipients have severe 
physical impairments. Further it reports that 20 percent of the 
families have a child with a disability, and that 20 percent have a 
substance abuse problem. Four out of ten mothers report severe clinical 
depression. Help for all these conditions are prerequisites for 
successful work experiences.
  Until we face the reality of why people apply for welfare, and help 
them we are not fulfilling our responsibility to provide a safety net 
for the neediest of this country.
  I urge a ``no'' vote against H.R. 4737.

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