Date: 1997-04-29
Speaker: SAM JOHNSON (republican)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

Mr. Speaker. let us get the facts straight on Texas welfare reform. In the spring of 1995. the Texas legislature passed State welfare reform. In July of 1996. Texas tried to implement its welfare reform and sent a proposal to Health and Human Services. In April this year. 1997. still no answer from HHS. And guess who is holding it up? The President of the United States. The State of Texas simply wants to enter into a publicprivate partnership to streamline. integrate and consolidate its welfare system into a onestop center. This will not only help welfare recipients. but save taxpayer dollars. It is a forwardlooking proposal that would take 21 different State and Federal programs and combine them into one. No longer would welfare recipients have to go from agency to agency to sign up and receive benefits. It is onestop shopping to receive all the help they need. It has been estimated that this would save Texas taxpayers over $10 million a month. or $120 million a year. That is enough money to provide additional health care to an additional 150.000 children in Texas each year. Welfare reform in Texas has been stalled out because the President has been taken hostage by the labor unions. Labor bigwigs see any type of reform as antiunion regardless of whether it helps children or not. The President appears to be losing support for his delay from his own Cabinet members. An April 4 memo to the President from the Secretary of Health and Human Services. the Secretary of Agriculture. and the Presidents head of domestic policy states. We must give Texas an answer immediately. The State has engaged in goodfaith discussions with various agencies for 9 months. It is now 10 months. It has been nearly a month since that memo. and still no answer. The reason the unions are holding the President hostage are illustrated in this memo. There is a chart at the bottom that lists three options. The first is the Texas proposal. The second is "the union proposal." And the third is the proposed administration compromise. I was not aware and I am sure most Americans are not aware that welfare reform signed by President Clinton called for union approval of State welfare .pr6posals. Since when do unions get to submit proposals on State welfare programs? I guess since they spent millions of dollars helping the President get reelected maybe. It has also been reported that the Secretary of HHS was ready to release a letter of approval to Texas but was stopped short by the President. The request is now reportedly sitting on the Vice Presidents desk. What in the world is it doing there? We are all concerned that the administration is not worried about our children or how the program will help them. they are worried about the political relationship with the unions. I think we all took the President at his word during the signing ceremony for the welfare reform bill last year when he said. "After I sign my name to this bill. welfare will no longer be a political issue." What happened to that promise? If the administration puts the unions political agenda above the real concerns of the citizens of Texas. we will not hesitate to go forward with legislation to give Texas the approval it deserves. Mr. Speaker. it is time for the President to do what is right. Many States are watching so they can make the same kind of commonsense changes to their welfare systems. The President should grant approval immediately so Texas and all of America can make welfare reform real and help the children and needy families in America.