[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 69 (Friday, May 24, 2002)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E912]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION CRITIQUES WELFARE BILL

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                           HON. GEORGE MILLER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Thursday, May 23, 2002

  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, earlier this month the 
House of Representatives passed a welfare bill in which the Democratic 
Minority was not permitted to offer a single amendment. That 
legislation, H.R. 4737, fails to provide millions of families across 
the Nation with the help they need to get off welfare, stay off 
welfare, and move out of poverty. If this welfare bill were to become 
law in its current form, the results would be disastrous, not only for 
recipients and their families, but for states as well which would 
suddenly face billions of dollars in new mandates that the House has 
failed to help pay for.
  It is important that we authorize a welfare bill that allows States 
to develop programs, assess needs, and provide training, education and 
other appropriate work supports that provides the best opportunity for 
moving welfare families into sustainable work that will lead to long-
term income self-sufficiency. In contrast, the House legislation 
imposes requirements that will prohibit States from assessing the 
individual needs of their families or providing the services that will 
give recipients the best chance to escape poverty.
  Restricting training, education, and job readiness, as H.R. 4737 
does, is short-sighted and fails to build upon what we have learned 
since the welfare law was reformed in 1996. The Republican bill also 
increases the demand on families without sufficient resources for 
essential work supports like child care.
  Our concerns with the impacts of the House-passed bill are reflected 
in the following editorial.

         [From the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, May, 22, 2002]

           Don't Penalize Children for Parents Going To Work

       When the U.S. Senate debates welfare reform this month, it 
     will essentially be deciding whether the federal aid program 
     exists to punish adults or protect children.
       Last week, House Representative sent a welfare package over 
     to the Senate that calls for stricter work requirements on 
     welfare recipients. However, the House only approved a modest 
     increase in child care funding in its proposal.
       In defending the GOP plan, Representative J.C. Watts, 
     chairman of the House Republican Conference, said the goal 
     was ``to replace welfare checks with paychecks, foster 
     independence, boost personal incomes and improve well-being 
     of children.''
       Those are all admirable goals. Unfortunately, the least 
     likely of them to be realized under the Republican plan is 
     improving the well-being of children.
       An increased demand for time on the job without a companion 
     increase in child care dollars places stresses on fragile 
     families. Children suffer in unstable day care arrangements, 
     and their mothers are more likely to land back on welfare. 
     Research shows that day care is often the fence that keeps a 
     woman from making the transition from welfare to work.
       Under the welfare reauthorization package approved by the 
     House, 70 percent of a state's welfare recipients must be 
     working or training 40 hours a week. The House gave only a 
     nominal boost to child care funding, which is already so 
     underfunded that it covers only one in seven qualified 
     families.
       And many states, forced to meet the higher work 
     requirements, will use their discretionary funding to create 
     makeshift or simulated jobs rather than to enhance child care 
     options.
       The Republican bill also stipulates more hours in paid 
     employment and less in training, rehabilitation, vocational 
     training and job readiness programs. The Senate ought to 
     insist that more education and training count toward 
     ``work.''
       Since Congress overhauled welfare in 1996--replacing the 
     old entitlement system with workfare--caseloads have fallen 
     50 percent. In a flourishing economy, states were able to 
     move millions of people off the public dole and into jobs.
       But while welfare reform was effective in getting people 
     off cash assistance, it was less successful in getting them 
     out of poverty. Many recipients ended in low-skilled jobs 
     without any possibility of career advancement
       The welfare recipients who failed to find work in the 
     booming '90s were those with few skills or with substance 
     abuse or mental health problems--hardly a subset likely to do 
     well in a weakened economy. They represent the hardest-to-
     place cases for whom self-sufficiency will be impossible 
     without drug treatment, training and education, the very 
     things the Republican proposal undercuts.
       The Senate Republicans and Democrats are more cordial and 
     more conciliatory than their colleagues in the House. They 
     ought to forge a compromise that puts people to work without 
     putting children at risk.

     

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