[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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