[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 187 (Tuesday, December 17, 2024)]
[House]
[Page H7292]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             UNDO THE DISINCENTIVES TOWARD FORMING FAMILIES

  (Mr. GROTHMAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. GROTHMAN. Mr. Speaker, I had an interesting conversation today 
with someone who deals with people in the lower economic classes.
  It was an interesting conversation because it was along the same 
theme that I often speak about behind this podium. That is the 
frustration she finds in the poor communities where the clergy again 
and again encourage young people to get married. The young people 
inform the clergy that they can't do it because the United States 
Government has established a bunch of programs that make it financially 
advantageous to not get married.
  Indeed, it is not unusual to have $20,000 or $25,000 or $30,000-a-
year penalties for couples who get married, as opposed to situations in 
which a man is not in the household.
  Mr. Speaker, I strongly encourage my colleagues in this Chamber to, 
over the next few months, undo the horrid disincentives toward forming 
families that were put in by Lyndon Johnson and the Great Society.

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