    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1999, Book I)]
    [April 10, 1999]
    [Pages 535-536]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 535]]

    The President's Radio Address
    April 10, 1999

        Good morning. Today I want to talk to you about our continuing
    efforts to break the cycle of dependency and make responsibility and
    work a way of life for all Americans.
        Work is more than just a weekly paycheck. It is, at heart, our way
    of life. Work lends purpose and dignity to our lives, instills in our
    children the basic values that built our Nation. But for too long, too
    many Americans were trapped in a broken welfare system that exiled
    generation after generation from the mainstream of American life by
    cutting them off from the world of work.
        I took office determined to change that, from giving States the
    flexibility they needed to make welfare a second chance, not a way of
    life, to passing the historic bipartisan welfare reform bill that ended
    welfare as we knew it, to launching the Welfare to Work partnership to
    create private sector jobs for welfare recipients. We have made
    remarkable progress.
        Today I am pleased to announce that since 1993, we cut the welfare
    rolls nearly in half by a record 6\1/2\ million people. Thanks to our
    strong economy and strong leadership in the States and the private
    sector, the number of Americans who are beginning to replace welfare
    checks with paychecks has tripled since 1992. I'm proud to announce that
    we in the National Government are doing our part to help, surpassing the
    goal we set for ourselves by hiring almost 12,000 welfare recipients in
    just 2 years.
        You can see the evidence of our progress in communities across our
    country, in hard-pressed neighborhoods where bus drivers who used to
    pass by empty stations now report their buses are filled with people on
    their way to work. You can see it on inner-city streets where new
    storefront tax preparing businesses are helping people file their income
    tax returns, some for the very first time in their lives. April 15th may
    not be the most favorite day for Americans, but for these people it's a
    cause for celebration.
        Reforming our broken welfare system was the right thing to do. Now
    we must finish the job. Today I am pleased to unveil the final rules
    that will carry out the welfare reform bill I signed into law in 1996.
    This major new regulation does two important things. First, it enforces
    strict State work requirements and holds States accountable for moving
    people from the welfare rolls to the workplace. Second, the new
    regulation makes it easier for States to use their welfare block grant
    to pay for child care, for transportation, for job retention services,
    to help people who have left welfare stay off the rolls and help
    families from going on welfare in the first place.
        This regulation says loud and clear: People ought to get paychecks,
    not welfare checks. But to finish the job on welfare reform, we must
    press on in our efforts to restore responsibility and make work a way of
    life again for all Americans. Now, in this time of great prosperity,
    with our economy booming and our confidence high, we can't afford to
    leave anyone behind.
        One of the biggest obstacles facing all working families is finding
    child care they can afford and trust. I'm pleased that the Senate
    recently approved, with bipartisan support, significant new funding to
    help low income families pay for child care. I hope Congress takes this
    critical step to give America's working families the support they need
    to thrive. Frankly, I hope they will also pass the rest of my child care
    proposal to give tax credits and other support to working families. That
    will help more people move from welfare to work and stay off welfare.
        Finally, we can't finish the job of welfare reform without doing
    more to help people who have the hardest time moving from welfare to
    work, those who live in the poorest neighborhoods and have the poorest
    job skills. That's why I call on Congress to pass my plan to extend the
    Labor Department's Welfare to Work program and to fully fund my proposal
    to provide transportation grants and housing vouchers that will help
    more Americans leave welfare behind by getting from where they are to
    where the jobs are.
        With these steps, we can make the legacy of welfare dependency a
    memory of the 20th century and build a community of work and
    responsibility in the 21st century.
        Thank for listening.

    [[Page 536]]

    Note: The address was recorded at 12:50 p.m. on April 9 in the
    administrative offices of Memorial Hall in Philadelphia, PA, for
    broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on April 10. The transcript was made available
    by the Office of the Press Secretary on April 9 but was embargoed for
    release until the broadcast.