    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1996, Book II)]
    [July 27, 1996]
    [Pages 1208-1209]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1208]]

    Statement on Welfare Reform
    July 27, 1996

        Good morning. Today I want to talk with you about welfare reform,
    but first I want to ask you to join with me in celebrating the sixth
    anniversary of a landmark civil rights law that is breaking down
    barriers for millions of our fellow Americans, the Americans with
    Disabilities Act. I'm joined today by many of the advocates for people
    with disabilities who made this the law of the land. Because we have
    enforced this law vigorously and with common sense, people with
    disabilities now have access to places they never did before, from
    classrooms to restaurants.
        Since 1991, 800,000 people with severe disabilities have joined the
    work force. Because of Federal education efforts, tens of thousands of
    children with disabilities have better educational opportunities.
    Because of Medicaid, health care for Americans with disabilities can be
    provided without bankrupting their families and in a way that promotes
    their independence.
        That's a big reason why I oppose repealing Medicaid's guarantee of
    health care to Americans with disabilities. All these efforts are good
    for them, but they're good for all the rest of us, too. So today let us
    all rededicate ourselves to the fight against disability discrimination.
        This morning I want to focus on the great welfare debate now
    unfolding in Washington and all across our country. This debate is
    really about our fundamental American values, about expanding
    opportunity, demanding responsibility, and coming together as a
    community. For decades our welfare system has undermined the basic
    values of work and responsibility and family, trapping generation after
    generation of people in poverty and dependency, exiling millions of our
    fellow citizens from the world of work that gives structure, meaning,
    and dignity to our lives. It instills the wrong values, sends the wrong
    signals, giving children who have children a check to set up house on
    their own, letting millions of fathers walk away from their
    responsibility while taxpayers pick up the tab.
        This system does the most harm to the people it was meant to help.
    Children who are born to a life on welfare are more likely to drop out
    of school, fall afoul of the law, become teen mothers or teen fathers,
    and raise their own children on welfare themselves.
        I just don't believe that a nation as rich in opportunity as ours is
    willing to leave millions of people trapped in a permanent under class.
    We can't leave anyone behind. In fact, what I want for poor families on
    welfare is what I want for middle class families and upper income
    families as well: I want people to be able to succeed at home and at
    work. That will make America stronger and their lives richer.
        When I ran for President 4 years ago, I was very clear we must end
    welfare as we know it. And during my time as President, I've used all
    the powers at my disposal to achieve that goal. We've worked with 41
    States to launch 69 welfare-to-work experiments. For fully 75 percent of
    people on welfare, the rules already have changed. The New York Times
    called it a quiet revolution in welfare.
        I've taken executive action to require teen mothers on welfare to
    stay in school, requiring mothers to identify the fathers of their
    children so we can hold every man accountable for the support he owes
    his family, ordering Federal employees to pay child support, putting
    wanted posters of deadbeat parents in post offices and on the Internet.
    I directed the Attorney General to crack down on people who owe child
    support who cross State lines.
        All these efforts are paying off at the national and local level.
    Today there are 1.3 million fewer people on welfare than on the day I
    took office. Child support collections are up 40 percent, to $11
    billion. Paternity identification is up 40 percent, too. We're mending
    our social fabric and moving in the right direction.
        Now we have an opportunity to finish the job and pass national
    welfare reform legislation. Real welfare reform should impose time
    limits and require work and provide child care, too, so that people can
    go to work without hurting their children. It should strengthen our
    child support enforcement laws even more and do more to protect
    children. I've challenged Congress to send me bipartisan legislation
    that reflects these principles. For example, if everyone in America who
    owes child support legally and

    [[Page 1209]]

    can pay it did so, 800,000 women and children would leave the welfare
    rolls tomorrow.
        Now, 6 months ago the Republican majority in Congress sent me
    welfare legislation it had backwards. It was soft on work and tough on
    children, failing to provide child care and health care so that people
    can move from welfare to work without hurting their children, imposing
    deep and unacceptable cuts in school lunch, child welfare, and help for
    disabled children. That bill came to me twice, and I vetoed it twice.
        Since then, I'm pleased to report, there has been considerable
    bipartisan progress toward real welfare reform. Many of the worst
    proposals I objected to have been taken out. Many of the improvements I
    asked for have been put in. The legislation has steadily improved as
    it's moved through Congress. Earlier this week, by an overwhelming
    bipartisan majority, the Senate passed a welfare reform bill that does
    provide health care and child care and took some important strides to
    protect our children. But we still have more work to do to promote work
    and protect children, though we've come a long way in this debate and we
    mustn't go back.
        To those who have doubts about any welfare reform, I say we will
    never lift children out of poverty and dependency by preserving a failed
    system that keeps them there. And to those who would undo the progress
    of recent weeks by sending me another extremist bill like the ones I
    vetoed, I'd say we can only transform this broken system if we do right
    by our children and put people to work so they can earn a paycheck, not
    draw a welfare check. That's the only kind of welfare reform I can sign.
        We have a chance to make history. Our welfare system has nagged at
    our national conscience for far too long. And if we'll put politics
    aside and work together, we can once again make welfare what it was
    meant to be: a second chance, not a way of life.
        Thanks for listening.

    Note: This statement was prepared for use as the President's radio
    address on July 27 but was not broadcast.