    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 22 (Monday, June 5, 2000)]
    [Pages 1260-1261]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Statement on Welfare Reform

    June 1, 2000

        Today I am pleased to announce that new guidance is being released
    that builds on my administration's long-standing commitment to reform
    welfare, reward work, and support working families in their transition
    from welfare to work. The Departments of Health and Human Services,
    Labor, and Transportationare releasing updated guidance on how States
    and communities can coordinate Federal resources to address the
    transportation challenge in moving people from welfare to work. The
    guidance provides a variety of innovative strategies that communities
    can fund, ranging from making public transit more accessible for weekend
    and evening shifts to helping individuals lease, purchase, or repair a
    car. In addition, the Departments of Housing and Urban Development and
    Health and Human Services are releasing new guidance for housing and
    welfare agencies to work together to help families in public and
    assisted housing move toward self-sufficiency using services such as job
    search assistance, mentoring, counseling, transportation, and child
    care.
        A new evaluation of the Minnesota Family Investment Program confirms
    that promoting and rewarding work has powerful positive impacts on low
    income families. The Minnesota results show that welfare reform can
    substantially increase employment, reduce poverty, decrease levels of
    domestic abuse, and improve children's behavior and school performance
    when States combine strong work requirements with investments in
    supports for low income working families. Employment and earnings
    impacts were especially large for families in public and assisted
    housing. This research also found that welfare reform can increase
    marriage rates and marital stability among low income families.
        These results highlight the importance of the interagency guidance
    on housing and transportation released today and the need for continued
    investments to support working families. I call on the Congress to enact
    my budget proposals to support working families: expanding the earned-
    income tax credit, improving access to affordable and quality child
    care, expanding health care for low income working families, providing
    more housing vouchers for hard-pressed working families, helping more
    low income families get to work by making it easier for them to own a
    car or obtain public transportation, and helping more low income fathers
    work and support their children.

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