[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1995, Book I)]
[March 20, 1995]
[Pages 374-376]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Letter to Congressional Leaders on Welfare Reform
March 20, 1995

Dear Mr. Speaker:
    This week, the historic national debate we have begun on welfare 
reform will move to the floor of the House of Representatives. Welfare 
reform is a top priority for my Administration and for Americans without 
regard to party. I look forward to working with Republicans and 
Democrats in both houses of Congress to enact real reform that promotes 
work and responsibility and makes welfare what it was meant to be: a 
second chance, not a way of life.
    In the last two years, we have put the country on the road to ending 
welfare as we know it. In 1993, when Congress passed our economic plan, 
we cut taxes for 15 million working Americans and rewarded work over 
welfare. We collected a record level of child support in 1993--$9 
billion--and last month I signed an executive order to crack down on 
federal employees who owe child support. In two years, we have granted 
waivers from federal rules to 25 states, so that half the country is now 
carrying out significant welfare reform experiments that promote work 
and responsibility instead of undermining it.
    I have always sought to make welfare reform a bipartisan issue. I 
still believe it can and must be. Unfortunately, the House Republican 
bill in its current form does not appear to offer the kind of real 
welfare reform that Americans in both parties expect. It is too weak on 
moving people from welfare to work, not as tough as it should be on 
deadbeat parents, and too tough on innocent children.
    Last year, I sent Congress the most sweeping welfare reform plan any 
administration has ever presented. It did not pass, but I believe the 
principles and values at its core will be the basis of what ultimately 
does pass:
    * First, the central goal of welfare reform must be moving people 
from welfare to work, where they will earn a paycheck, not a welfare 
check. I believe we should demand and reward work, not punish those who 
go to work. If people need child care or job skills in order to go to 
work, we should help them get it. But

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within two years, anyone who can work must go to work.
    This is not a partisan issue: Last year, 162 of 175 House 
Republicans co-sponsored a bill, H.R. 3500, that promoted work in much 
the same way as our plan. But the current House Republican bill you will 
consider this week fails to promote work, and would actually make it 
harder for many recipients to make it in the workplace. It cuts child 
care for people trying to leave welfare and for working people trying to 
stay off welfare, removes any real responsibility for states to provide 
job placement and skills, and gives states a perverse incentive to cut 
people off whether or not they have moved into a job. When people just 
get cut off without going to work, that's not welfare reform. I urge you 
to pass a welfare reform bill that ends welfare as we know it by moving 
people from welfare to work.
    * Second, welfare reform must make responsibility a way of life. We 
should demand responsibility from parents who bring children into the 
world, not let them off the hook and expect taxpayers to pick up the tab 
for their neglect. Last year, my Administration proposed the toughest 
child support enforcement measures ever put forward. If we collected all 
the money that deadbeat parents should pay, we could move 800,000 women 
and children off welfare immediately.
    I am grateful to members in both parties for already agreeing to 
include most of the tough child support measures from our welfare reform 
plan. This week, I hope you will go further, and require states to deny 
drivers and professional licenses to parents who refuse to pay child 
support. We have to send a clear signal: No parent in America has a 
right to walk away from the responsibility to raise their children.
    * Third, welfare reform should discourage teen pregnancy and promote 
responsible parenting. We must discourage irresponsible behavior that 
lands people on welfare in the first place, with a national campaign 
against teen pregnancy that lets young people know it is wrong to have a 
child outside marriage. Nobody should get pregnant or father a child who 
isn't prepared to raise the child, love the child, and take 
responsibility for the child's future.
    I know members of Congress in both parties care about this issue. 
But many aspects of the current House plan would do more harm than good. 
Instead of refusing to help teen mothers and their children, we should 
require them to turn their lives around--to live at home with their 
parents, stay in school, and identify the child's father. We should 
demand responsible behavior from people on welfare, but it is wrong to 
make small children pay the price for their parents' mistakes.
    * Finally, welfare reform should give states more flexibility in 
return for more accountability. I believe we must give states far more 
flexibility so they can do the things they want to today without seeking 
waivers. But in its current form, the House Republican bill may impede 
rather than promote reform and flexibility. The proposal leaves states 
vulnerable to economic recession and demographic change, putting working 
families at risk. States will have less money for child care, training, 
and other efforts to move people from welfare to work. And there will 
not be any accountability at the federal level for reducing fraud or 
protecting children. We will not achieve real reform or state 
flexibility if Congress just gives the states more burdens and less 
money, and fails to make work and responsibility the law of the land.
    While the current House plan is weak on work, it is very tough on 
children. Cutting school lunches and getting tough on disabled children 
and children in foster care is not my idea of welfare reform. We all 
have a national interest in promoting the well-being of our children and 
in putting government back in line with our national values.
    I appreciate all the work that you have done on this issue, and I am 
pleased that the country is finally engaging in this important debate. 
In the end, I believe we can work it out together, as long as we 
remember the values this debate is really about. The dignity of work, 
the bond of family, and the virtue of responsibility are not Republican 
values or Democratic values. They are American values--and no child in 
America should ever have to grow up without them.
        Sincerely,

                                                            Bill Clinton

Note: Identical letters were sent to Newt Gingrich, Speaker of the House 
of Representatives, and Richard Gephardt, minority leader of the House 
of Representatives. This letter was released by the Office of the Press 
Secretary on March 21.

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