U.S Rep. Lloyd Doggett on the TANF reform bill
September 20, 2012
Washington—Today, U.S. Rep. Lloyd Doggett spoke on the House floor during debate on TANF waivers in strong opposition to a Republican resolution that would undermine attempts by states to implement new and better ways to move individuals from welfare to work.
"Every able-bodied person who has the capacity to work, should work yet unfortunately, Republicans talk work for everyone else, but they just don't do much work in this Congress," said Rep. Doggett.
[Rep. Doggett's full remarks, as drafted, follow below]
"As one who believes in the value of work, I voted for the 1996 law to transform welfare to workfare. Now as the Ranking Democrat on the Subcommittee overseeing this law, I want to strengthen reform and ensure that every able-bodied American who can work is working, —say, someone like Mitt Romney's father, who long ago was on a form of welfare himself before becoming wealthy. Those are the people who should be working. Unfortunately, Republicans talk work for everyone else, but they just don't do much work in this Congress. Just like the expired federal education law. They have been in power for over 20 months, but no administrative waivers would be needed here, if Republicans had simply done their own work to renew workfare.
The real question is not whether we emphasize work but how--how we achieve the most effective ways to get more people working. The Administration has simply responded to Republican Governors and some Democrats, who are seeking more flexibility and less paper work, who sought better ways to get more people working. Even the Republican staff director who wrote much of the original Welfare Reform law and who recently spoke with 42 state TANF directors, says these Republican attacks are "exaggerated."
So why would Republicans be here today when there is so much other work this Congress has failed to do? Why would they present what is really an anti-work resolution masquerading as pro-work? Because particularly during this week, such a difficult week for Mitt Romney, they are a little desperate. They think they can hoodwink enough Americans to turn on their neighbors by falsely dividing us, dividing us between the "makers and takers," "manufacturers and moochers," "producers and parasites." That is not America. Whenever they bump into an inconvenient fact, like what actually is actually involved in this legislation, they just ignore it. They have made this Congress largely a fact-free zone. When confronted with reality, they hold up those signs that say "Believe"— they left a word off, what they really mean is "Make Believe." And fantasy, that is what they bring with this legislation. Fantasy is a mighty poor way to govern America."