I once had a hearing when I was a governor and I brought in people on welfare from all over America who had found their way to work and a woman from my state who testified was asked this question.  What’s the best thing about being off welfare and in a job.  And without blinking an eye, she looked at 40 governors and she said, when my boy goes to school and they say “What does your mother do for a living?” he can give an answer.  These people want a better system and we ought to give it to them.

Last year, we began this.  We gave the states more power to innovate because we know that a lot of great ideas come from outside Washington and many states are already using it.  Then this Congress took a dramatic step.  Instead of taxing people with modest incomes into poverty, we helped them to work their way out of poverty by dramatically increasing the earned income tax credit.  It will lift 15 million working families out of poverty, rewarding work over welfare, making it possible for people to be successful workers and successful parents.  Now that’s real welfare reform.

But there is more to be done.  This spring I will send you a comprehensive welfare reform bill that builds on the Family Support Act of 1988 and restores the basic values of work and responsibility.  We will say to teenagers if you have a child out of wedlock, we’ll no longer give you a check to set up a separate household, we want families to stay together; say to absent parents who aren’t paying their child support if you’re not providing for your children we’ll garnish your wages, suspend your license, track you across state lines, and if necessary make some of you work off what you owe.

People who bring children into this world cannot and must not walk away from them.

But to all those who depend on welfare, we should offer ultimately a simple compact.  We will provide the support, the job training, the child care you need for up to two years, but after that anyone who can work, must, in the private sector wherever possible, in community service if necessary.  That’s the only way we’ll ever make welfare what it ought to be, a second chance, not a way of life.

I know it will be difficult to tackle welfare reform in 1994 at the same time we tackle health care.  But let me point out, I think it is inevitable and imperative.  It is estimated that one million people are on welfare today because it’s the only way they can get health care coverage for their children.  Those who choose to leave welfare for jobs without health benefits, and many entry level jobs don’t have health benefits, find themselves in the incredible position of paying taxes that help to pay for health care coverage for those who made the other choice, to stay on welfare.  No wonder people leave work and go back to welfare, to get health care coverage.  We’ve got to solve the health care problem to have real welfare reform.

Health Care Reform