President Congratulates Welfare to Work Graduates
Remarks by the President to the Welfare to Work Graduates
The East Room
2:53 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all for coming. Welcome. Please be
seated. Well, thank you all for that warm welcome, and welcome to the
people's house.
All of you here today who have gone from welfare to work really
represent courage and strength. And I want to thank you for your
examples of what is possible, and for your stories of success. You've
earned independence, and the respect of your families and your
communities, the respect of your President. I congratulate you -- I
want to congratulate you on using and utilizing your God-given talents
to their fullest. So, welcome.
I want to welcome Tommy Thompson, who's the Secretary of Health and
Human Services. Tommy, thank you for being here. He's a former
governor -- nothing wrong with former governors. (Laughter.) But
Tommy has been a leader in welfare reform, which is really a leader in
helping people. He did a great job as the Governor of Wisconsin and
he's doing a great job here in Washington. Thank you, Tommy.
Elaine Chao is here as well, who is the Secretary of Labor. I want
to thank you for coming, Elaine, as well.
I want to thank members of the Congress who are here. Wally, thank
you for coming, Wally Herger from California, Buck McKeon of
California, Michael Bilirakis of Florida. I appreciate your interest
and I thank you for coming.
I want to thank Rodney Carroll, who is here. Rodney is the
President and CEO of the Welfare-to-Work Partnership. What that means
is Rodney is really in charge of convincing corporate America to do
their duty, and that is to help people who want to find work. And
Rodney's done a great job; millions of people have been placed in
employment because of the Welfare-to-Work Partnership.
And one of the really terrific companies that has responded to the
call to be a responsible corporate citizen in America is UPS. And I
want to thank the representatives of UPS who are here; "Big Brown", I
think you call yourself now. (Laughter.)
On the stage with me is Al and Ann Briscoe. They're going to have
something to say if we can ever get the President to stop talking.
(Laughter.) But I want to welcome the Briscoes, and all the
welfare-to-work graduates from the states of Pennsylvania and Michigan
and Connecticut and Florida. We're really glad you're here.
I want to thank the Briscoes for their willingness to share the
inspiring story -- stories, by the way, which we heard yesterday in
Arkansas, as well. These are stories that are being repeated all
across the country, compelling human stories of people conquering the
very tough odds to succeed, to go from poverty to success and from
welfare to work.
The people in this room who have overcome the obstacles have
obviously known some really tough times. Starting with the fact that
the hardest job in America is a single mom; that's the hardest work.
People have overcome incredible odds and obstacles and hurdles. But
thanks to courage and determination and hard work -- in many cases,
prayer -- you've turned your lives around and you're strong, proud,
successful women, and we want to thank you for that. And strong,
proud, successful men, I might add.
The historic welfare reform passed by Congress in 1996 helped many
Americans find dignity and self-respect. And that's what we're here to
talk about. We're not only here to talk about the lives that have been
changed, but law, and how to make the '96 law work better -- and the
'96 law worked well because of the -- much of it had to do with the
work requirement in the law. It basically said, you've got to work. In
order to be independent and free, you've got to work, and we want to
help you find work, that's what the law said.
The statistics are strong about how successful the '96 law was. At
the time, however, it was quite controversial. I wasn't here. I was
working with Tommy trying to get the law passed from the perspective of
a governor. But there was one study, for example -- to show you how
controversial the bill was -- that said, at least a million children
would be cast into poverty by the welfare reform law. If it passed, if
the '96 bill passed, that a million children would be thrown into
poverty.
Well, whoever did that study probably is out of work -- at least
I hope so -- (laughter) -- because the truth is, there are 5.4
million fewer people in poverty today than in '96, and there are 2.8
million fewer children living in poverty than in '96. Anyway you look
at it, the bill has been really successful.
The real success though, is not found in the numbers. The real
success has been found in the number of lives that have been changed.
It's one thing to talk about reducing welfare rolls, and that's fine.
But the most important thing is the number of lives that have been
saved and enriched. That's the most important part about the '96 law
and its consequences.
Maria Medellin, de mi estadao Texas -- from the state of Texas is
here, and she is one type of story. She's been working for UPS, Big
Brown, now for three years. When she first came to UPS, she was a
single mom on welfare, raising two sons. She needed extra income and
benefits to support her family, so she started working at UPS for $8.50
an hour. And then she was promoted. And now she is a recruiter, she's
a boss. She's enrolled in college, and she's going to get her degree
in three years.
Maria says this about her journey and about her struggles: "It was
a challenge to overcome the statistic of being a single minority female
with two children on welfare. UPS is the foundation that has allowed
me to be where I am today. Being able to raise my children and provide
for them is my greatest source of pride. Just showing my children that
I'm strong enough and can succeed is more than enough for me."
Maria, congratulations. (Applause.)
And there are a lot of people with stories like Maria's. The great
thing about the subject we're talking about today is there are Marias
all across America and right here in this room. And so the fundamental
question is, how can we continue this progress? What can we do to
continue to make America a better place? As you know, we struggle hard
to keep America secure, and we're going to. We will win the war on
terror, and keep us free. But as we fight for our security, we also
must work to make America a better place.
And where we find people who've lost hope, we must work to provide
hope. And where we find pockets of despair, we must work -- all of
us work -- to eradicate pockets of despair.
And one way to continue to make sure America is a hopeful place, a
better place, is to work on a new reauthorization bill for welfare that
continues to make progress to help people. That's what we've got to
do.
The bill in '96 is up; it kind of run out of its time, and so it's
now time for Congress to come together and pass another measure. And
the debate's going to be, what do we do? How do we make it? What do
we do? The House has already answered the question by passing a law
that really makes sure that work is still an integral part of welfare
reform. Work and family are integral parts of welfare reform, I might
add.
Here's what I think ought to happen: I think the Senate ought to
pass a bill that has the same principles embodied in the House bill.
And it says that rather than lowering standards, we need to keep high
standards in America, particularly when it comes to what we expect in
terms of work.
We want 70 percent of the people on welfare working by the next
five years. That's what we want. We don't want to reduce the number
of people that should be working in America, because we understand how
important work is to the future of every citizen. We want to raise the
standard and raise the bar.
And that means 40-hour work weeks. That's what work -- that's
the definition of work. Now, I recognize there are a lot of people
that need help, and so within the 40 hour work weeks, there are credits
for education and vocational training, to help people help themselves.
A work requirement isn't punishment. A work requirement is part of
liberation in our society. But in order to make sure that people are
able to work, we want to make sure there is ample training, and ample
education to give people the chance they want. And that's what this
bill, and that's what this vision for a better welfare reform bill
talks about.
And then of course, the issue of money. And that's always a big
debate here in Washington, D.C. (Laughter.) It seems like you can
never spend enough. And so one of the things I decided to do was to be
wise about how we spent -- the amount of money we spent in the
welfare appropriations. I thought it made sense to keep the level of
welfare spending the same as it has been, which really doubles the
amount of money available for states to spend, because the caseload has
declined in half. So if you've got the same amount of money, and the
caseload has declined in half, you've got double the money available
for people you're trying to help.
And that ought to be ample money for the states to help people with
education, vocational training, to help people help themselves. And so
I'm confident the amount of money we've got in the bill is more than
adequate to meet the needs and to help meet our goals of work and money
available to help -- to help the 2 million families who are still on
welfare rolls. And that's the goal, is to help as many as we possibly
can achieve independence and dignity and work.
I think it's important for members of Congress to talk to people
who -- and listen to the people who've succeeded under the current
law, who have actually become independent from government, and what it
means to their lives. They ought to listen to the Marias and the
people who I've had the honor of talking to, as they decide how best to
help people. They ought to listen to the stories and they ought to be
hopeful and optimistic about what is possible in America.
People who are pessimistic about the future lower standards.
People who are optimistic raise the standards, because we believe in
the best. I'm honored to have the Briscoes here with us today. They
are exemplary of what is possible here in America. And I fully
understand that laws are important -- no question about it. And
spending money is important -- there's no question about that. But
there's nothing more important than heart and courage and desire.
And so it's my honor to welcome here to the podium Mr. Alfred
Briscoe, who is a man who has overcome tough odds to be a great, proud
dad and successful American.
Welcome. (Applause.)
* * * * *
THE PRESIDENT: So there you have it. I want to -- I want to
thank you all for -- I want to thank you all for sharing -- just a
-- not quite yet.
PARTICIPANT: Stay?
THE PRESIDENT: Yes, you stay right there. (Laughter.)
PARTICIPANT: Yes, sir. (Laughter.)
THE PRESIDENT: I want to thank you all for sharing your story with
us. And we could have had some great stories here, long -- we could
have taken a lot of time with some of the great stories here. And I
want to thank you all for coming.
This is a fabulous country in which we live, it is. And it's
because the people are fabulous. For those who represent corporate
America, keep doing what you're doing. You have a responsibility to
the country in which you thrive. You've got a responsibility to help
people, you do. Those of us in government have a responsibility to
pass good law that will help people. And for those of you who have
overcome incredible obstacles, thanks for the example you've set.
May God bless you and your families, and may God continue to bless
America. Thank you. (Applause.)