Date: 2002-05-16
Speaker: GEORGE MILLER (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: California

Mr. Speaker. what this debate has come down to is a question of whether or not those individuals who seek to get off of welfare. whether or not those individuals who seek to stay off of welfare. who have been successful in escaping the welfare system. whether or not they will have the means to do so. What this debate comes down to is whether or not a single individual or a family makes a decision about going to work. about participating in the American economic system. whether or not they will have the child care and the training available so they can take the best advantage of what this system has to offer them. Over the last 5 years we have learned a great deal about welfare reform. There are two things we have learned that are absolutely crucial: First. that good job training and extensive job training in the beginning is better for the employee as they go out on that new job. it is better for their chance of advancing to a second and better job. and it is also better for the employer because it reduces the amount of turnover that the employer must suffer with the employment of individuals. That is very important. The second thing is that the biggest barrier of people going to work is the care of their children. We ask people on welfare. we mandate that they must go to work. and yet we tell middle class women we want them to stay home and we give them a tax credit to stay home and take care of their child. So the person who is on welfare is asking the question. will my child be safe? Will my child have a chance at child development while I am working? This is what every mother. every father. every brother. every sister thinks about their siblings and their children. The Republican bill simply does not provide the sufficient resources to the States to provide quality child care for those children and the needs that are now presented today to this Nation. not after you up the work requirement. but today. Hundreds of thousands of children are on a waiting list for child care. and the Republicans want to continue to tell us that all the care that is necessary is available. Child care lists are frozen. This debate is about whether or not we will enable these individuals to go to work with the security of mind that their child is in a quality placement and their child is receiving child development while they try to engage in the American economic system. Mr. Speaker. the debate about welfare should be a debate about how to move peoplemostly women with young childrenfrom dependency on government assistance to fulltime. permanent employment that lifts. and keeps. the family out of poverty. That is our goal for welfare reform. Six years ago. Democrats and Republicans agreed that the welfare system of the prior half century was a failure. The new system emphasized moving people from dependence to jobs while providing them with education. training. child care and the other supports that most Americans recognize are essential to achieving the goal. There have been some successes: welfare rolls are .downdramatically in some states. But let us remember that cutting the rolls alone was not the goal. The evidence gathered in study after study documents that while we have moved many off welfare. we have not achieved the goals of promoting longterm economic independence. jobs that lift and keep families out of poverty. or improved living standards for millions of children. Since 1996. the welfare rolls have been cut by over 50 percent nationally. But millions of those who have left welfare remain desperately poor. dependent on food stamps. WIC and other public assistance. raising children in deep poverty with all of its harmful impacts. and without the education. training or child care that is necessary to move them to real independence. . In one review of 900 former Welfare families. researchers concluded that most still live below the poverty line and have been forced to cut back on food to save money. Another major review of seven Midwestern states also concluded that many of the former recipients remained in poverty while Indiana. and Wisconsins rolls grew by 13 percent last year. In Michigan. 71 percent of those who combined welfare and work. and nearly 50 percent of those former recipients who worked full time. remained poor with many unable to buy food. pay utilities or rent or losing their phone service. Those findings demonstrate clearly that more must be done to move people off welfare and into employment. We should finish the job begun in 1996. by directing the needed services to those who must- leave dependency while -still holding them accountable for achieving independence from government aid. Instead. the bill before us todaywhich we are denied the opportunity to improveimposes costly new mandates on states without the federal support to pay even a fraction of the additional burden. It also imposes rigid welfare- programs that are fundamentally different than the programs the Republicans have been heralding as great successes. We need to make welfare reform work. not punish the governors and the recipients alike because it hasnt moved fast enough yet. The Republican bill takes a very different approach: massive new work requirements without adequate training. as well as other unfunded mandates and punishing requirements for state administrators and for welfare recipients alikewith little financial assistance for either. And this Republican bill. unlike the Democratic substitute. fails- to protect working men and women by fully applying our nations civil rights. wage. and health and safety laws to welfare recipients who are working. Nor does the Republican bill protect those who currently have jobs from being displaced by subsidized welfare recipients. That is just wrong. This Republican bill tells the taxpayers of C lifomia: you better raise taxes by $2.5 billion. or cut your already deeply reduced spending. because youve got to pay billions to comply with thisnew bill. or face more punishment. And dont expect any additional help for the 280.000 families already waiting for child care. because the Republicans arent going to give you more assistance. But it isnt California. The Republican bill tells Michigan to raise taxes or cut spending by $377 million. a state that has already cut more than half a billion in spending. The Republican bill tells Pennsylvania: your bill is $433 million. Ohio. its $444 million. New Jersey. $233 million. Connecticut. $133 million. Texas. $688 million. Florida. $311 million. New York. $1.2 billion. State after state. billions upon billions in new mandates piled on by this Republican bill that fails to fund them. There is no evidence that the harsh and rigid revisions dictated by the Republican bill will increase the success of welfare reform. but they will severely restrict the flexibility the states have been able. to use to meet the needs of their residents. as 39 out of 44 states agreed earlier this year. Some will try to paint those who raise concerns about education. training. workforce protections and child care as "soft on welfare reform." The American people know better than that. We are all for moving people from welfare to work. from dependence to independence. from poverty to selfsupport. The American people also know we need to get people the flexible tools they need to give them a fair chance to succeed. This bill is grossly unfair. it imposes billions in new costs to the states. and we are not being given the opportunity to improve it. and that is why we will oppose its passage and support the Democratic substitute.