[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 40 (Monday, October 7, 1996)]
[Pages 1933-1934]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Statement on Welfare Reform Initiatives

September 30, 1996

    Today, I am pleased to announce two important steps my 
administration is taking to continue our progress in making work and 
responsibility the law of the land.
    First, today we have given the green light to the first two States 
to submit their State plans under the new law--Wisconsin and Michigan. 
Both States will receive funding under the new welfare block grant for 
FY 1997 as well as part of FY 1996, and will now come under all the 
requirements of the new welfare law, including the work requirements and 
the 5-year lifetime limit on welfare receipt. Both States no longer need 
an AFDC waiver to carry out their welfare reform plans.
    I am especially pleased by this action, because as I have said 
before, Wisconsin's plan to replace the broken AFDC system with a system 
based on work is one of the boldest, most revolutionary welfare reform 
plans in the country. I am delighted to see it move forward. Michigan is 
also embarking on an innovative plan to reward and require work and 
demand responsibility. I congratulate both States for recognizing what 
all Americans agree on: Welfare reform is first and foremost about work.
    Second, tomorrow we will release the first allotment of child care 
funds to the States. I fought hard for the increased child care

[[Page 1934]]

funding in the new law, because I believe that child care is essential 
to move people from welfare to work. Under the provisions we fought for, 
funding in the new child care block grant for States will increase this 
year from $1.3 billion to $1.9 billion. That means States will receive 
$600 million more for child care this year than they would have received 
without the new law.
    These steps build on the progress we have already made over the last 
4 years to reform welfare and crack down on child support enforcement. 
Since I took office, the welfare rolls have dropped by 1.9 million; 
child support collections have increased by nearly 50 percent to a 
record $11.8 billion; and last year's decline in the number of Americans 
in poverty was the largest one-year drop in 27 years. I am determined to 
keep working to make sure these trends continue moving in the right 
direction.