    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
    [January 28, 1995]
    [Pages 108-109]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Welfare Reform
    January 28, 1995

        Good morning. I am on my way to Blair House to host an all-day
    meeting that is a bipartisan working session on welfare reform. We will
    have Members of Congress, Governors, and local officials there from all
    across our country. I am determined to work with them to pass welfare
    reform. I think it is perhaps the most pressing social problem we face
    in our country, and the time has come for Congress to act.
        As I said in the State of the Union, what we need in welfare reform
    is a New Covenant of opportunity and responsibility. People on welfare
    who can work should go to work. Parents who owe child support should pay
    it. Governments don't raise children; people do. And we must have a
    national campaign against teenage pregnancy and births outside marriage.
        If we're going to end welfare, let's do it right. We should require
    work and responsibility, but we shouldn't cut people off just because
    they're poor or young or unmarried. We should promote responsibility by
    requiring young mothers to live at home or in proper supervised settings
    and to finish school. But we shouldn't put them or their children out on
    the street. I have worked on this issue since 1980. I know that the
    people who want to change welfare most are those who are trapped on it.
        Yesterday, in preparation for this meeting, I met with four former
    welfare mothers who have managed to free themselves from the system. I
    listened again to the stories of people who have had great difficulty in
    trying to get the kind of support they need to get off of welfare,
    people who did not want to go on in the first place and were anxious to
    be off of it. I know that most people who are trapped in welfare will
    gladly take the work options if we can work out the system in the proper
    way. I also know that those who don't want to do the responsible thing
    must be required to do so.
        But our job in the end is not to tear anybody down and not to use
    this issue to divide America, but to build people up, to liberate them,
    to give them the capacity they need to compete and win in this new
    economy. The American people want us to put politics aside and to get
    this done for our country. I am committed to doing it, and I believe the
    people who are com-

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    ing to this meeting this morning are committed as well.
        Wish us well. Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:12 a.m. at the South Portico of the White
    House.