[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 129 (Friday, September 21, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1621]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  DISAPPROVING RULE RELATING TO WAIVER AND EXPENDITURE AUTHORITY WITH 
     RESPECT TO THE TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES PROGRAM

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                            HON. JOHN LEWIS

                               of georgia

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 20, 2012

  Mr. LEWIS of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, I would like to be crystal clear 
in my opposition to this terrible bill.
  Instead of focusing on creating jobs or our nation's budget problems, 
this Congress is literally wasting time and resources. We are 
responding to an accusation that President Bush's advisor on welfare 
policy and a former Ways and Means Committee staffer said is just not 
true.
  In 2005, 29 Republican governors including Mitt Romney requested 
increased waiver authority. The bipartisan National Governor's 
Association repeatedly asked for this same flexibility.
  Let me be crystal clear--no one ever asked for or has been granted 
the ability to waive the TANF work requirement. There is a generation 
of Americans who watched their parents pull themselves up from poverty 
through education, work training, and child care support and become 
proud providers. They support the work requirements in TANF; in fact we 
all do. It works, and no one is trying to change that.
  Not only is rhetoric around this bill pants-on-fire-false, but it is 
also another attempt to attack practically every possible bipartisan, 
pragmatic solution offered by this administration.
  Mr. Speaker, I urge every American watching this debate to check the 
facts, and I urge every one of my colleagues to oppose this bill. Let's 
do the people's work and stop wasting time.

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