Mr. Speaker, nearly every concern Democrats articulated about this legislation last year has become even more relevant today. In short, this is the wrong policy at the worst possible time.

States are now facing their most severe budget crisis in more than 50 years -- with budget shortfalls between $70 and $85 billion.

Unlike the Federal government, most States have to balance their budgets, rather than just run up huge deficits.

This means they are facing another round of tax increases and spending cuts. Many of the spending reductions will be focused on low and moderate income families. For example, in my home state of Maryland, the Governor has proposed cutting child care assistance by 23 percent.

This legislation will encourage States to make even more cuts in services to working families. In short, they will be forced to cut assistance for the working poor in order to finance the bill's new work requirements for welfare recipients.

The math here is not complicated. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has informed us that the Republican bill would cost States $8 to $11 billion to implement. However, the bill fails to provide almost any new resources to cover that cost. So States will get stuck with the tab and working families will ultimately pay the price.

In 1996, I was proud to vote for the welfare reform bill that was signed into law by President Clinton. Under that measure, States were given the flexibility to replace welfare checks with paychecks.

Perhaps my biggest disappointment with this bill is that it turns back the clock on welfare reform. It replaces State flexibility with unfunded mandates, and it promotes unpaid make-work, instead of wage-paying employment. Rather than trusting the States, this bill says "Washington knows best."

Of course, it's not news when Democrats and Republicans disagree on an issue. But consider what our Governors are saying. 41 out 47 States surveyed by the National Governors Association said this bill would require them to make "fundamental" changes to their welfare-to-work programs. Some specifically complained about being forced to place welfare recipients into "make-work," rather than real jobs, while others were concerned about new restrictions on providing training to welfare recipients.

For those in doubt about the very restrictive nature of this bill, consider a single mother who has been on welfare for four months. Under this legislation, she could work 20 hours a week, and go to vocational training for another 20 hours a week, and she would not have a single one of any of those hours count toward the work requirement.

Such a policy is both unreasonable and unconscionable.

Mr. Speaker, I started by saying this was the wrong policy at the wrong time. Let me add that this is also the wrong process to consider such an important bill.

This legislation went to the floor without a single hearing and without any committee markup. To those who say the bill was considered in committee last year, I would point out that a lot has changed over the last year. This bill, and this process, completely ignores those changes.

Our States are drowning in red ink and our economy is hemorrhaging jobs. Now is not the time to replace State flexibility with unfunded mandates, to promote make-work over real jobs, and to reduce access to critical work supports, such as training and child care.

I urge my colleagues to reject this deeply flawed bill produced by an equally flawed process. Thank you.