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U.S. Office of Personnel ManagementWelfare-to-Work |
Thank you. On behalf of the Vice President and the National Performance Review, I want to thank you for this opportunity to be with you today.
Mike Cushing originally asked me to come here to talk about this book, the Blair House Papers. Then, he asked that I also talk about the President's Welfare to Work commitment. I'm glad this meeting is today, because if it were a week later, I'm afraid that Mike would have added another few topics to my list.
First, let me talk about the Blair House Papers. It may sound like a murder mystery, or some sort of expose'. Well, it's not. But, it's fascinating reading, nonetheless.
These are our rules of the road for governing in a balanced budget era. It's not a new set of guidelines that we dreamed up. It's a compilation of what we've seen work over the first four years of reinvention. It's a collection of what we've heard from managers, front-line employees, and others who are making reinvention happen. It's things like: focusing on customer service ... fostering partnerships and seeking community solutions to reach our goals ... and reinventing to be able to do more with less.
We put a lot of big ideas into a small book, so that government leaders can carry them around in their coat pocket. And, we started by teaching the managers at the very top what lessons we've learned from the front lines of a government that's working better and costing less. In January, Vice President Gore presented these papers to the Cabinet in a retreat at Blair House. Now you know where we got the name. He and the President stressed the importance of reinvention to the Cabinet, and the role that partnerships have to play in making it happen.
Since that meeting, we've been working to get this book into the hands of as many people as we can. I hope that each of you will take one with you when you leave. There may be a lot of things that sound familiar. If you see that we've highlighted something that you did, take pride in it -- and keep doing it. If you don't, take a look at how you can use these principles to further reinvention in your agency.
If all of government adopts the types of principles that we've outlined in the Blair House papers -- ideas that were given to us by federal workers -- we will have a government that works better and costs less. And, it will be a government that is responsive, flexible, productive, and innovative. That brings me to my second topic, welfare to work.
As I'm sure you know, the President made a commitment back in 1992 to end welfare as we know it. In his first term, there was an unprecedented effort to make good on that promise. Forty -seven states were given waivers from the rules so that they could tailor their programs to best address the needs of their citizens. As a result, more than two and a half million people were able to get off the welfare rolls.
This reform was capped by the enactment of the welfare reform legislation last summer. But, the President has made it very clear: the reform didn't end there. As President Clinton has said, "we said to those on welfare: responsibility is not an option ... it must be a way of life."
The responsibility for reforming welfare also falls to people who can do something very specific about it, by giving welfare recipients the thing they most need: a job. Since signing the bill last summer, the President has made that case over and over to private sector employers. Virtually everywhere he goes, he has challenged them to be a part of this reform.
Five major corporations have signed up to spearhead the effort: Sprint, Monsanto, United Airlines, United Parcel Service, and Burger King.
Working with their colleagues in the private sector, these five companies are going to lead the effort to help the 2 million people that will go off the welfare rolls in the next four years move on to a new way of life.
The President's budget proposes to work with the private sector to help this effort. It offers tax incentives to hire people off welfare, and gives placement firms some extra motivation to match welfare recipients to jobs. Of course, one of the best ways to create an environment conducive to hiring welfare recipients is to keep the economy going strong. That is also an important part of the President's plan.
Two weeks ago, he announced another important element of his plan. Just as he is asking private sector employers to help, he's called on the federal government to do its share. Not through massive new programs, but in its capacity as an employer.
Clearly, federal executives, managers, employees, and their elected representatives are an important part of this aspect of the President's welfare-to-work program. Time and time again, the President has turned to Vice President Gore to take on tough challenges, and heading up this effort is the latest example. In turn, the Vice President has turned to federal workers to be a part of the solution. In part, that's how the National Partnership Council came to exist. This is the forum where we hope to build consensus around tough issues.
And, it's through this Council, and through those within each of the agencies, that we want to build a consensus on how to make the federal government a responsible employer helping move people from welfare to work.
Throughout his reinventing government work, the Vice President has taught us an important lesson: that the people on the front lines know a lot about whatever problem we're facing. Over the last two weeks, we've talked to a lot of people on the front lines. Many of them are very excited about it; excited or not, most are ready to step up to the challenge of helping deal with one of our most pressing problems. And, they see this as an opportunity to get more work done.
They've told us some things that they need to make the President's commitment a reality; things like flexibility from FTE ceilings. I'm happy to report that OMB has already done its part, and stated that FTE limitations will not constrain agencies from meeting the President's goal. Now, individual agencies have to do the same with regard to any internal limits that they impose. If a manager has money and a job that needs doing, he ought to be able to hire people, unconstrained by previously established job descriptions or vacancy announcements.
We've given this input to the President's Management Council, and will work to make sure that agencies are given the flexibilities that they need. The President has set a goal of getting 2 million people off of welfare rolls in the next four years. Even as we continue to downsize, the federal government is still hiring people to perform important tasks.
The President and Vice President are asking agencies to incorporate people coming off of the welfare rolls into their hiring plans. They've asked for plans on implementing this challenge by April 7.
Through the National Performance Review, the Vice President is going to coordinate and assist. As part of that effort, we've just put up a new website on the Internet, where federal agencies can share information, get answers, and have a dialog with state and local governments about what works and what doesn't.
You can find this website at: "www.welfaretowork.fed.gov"
You know, a few years ago, I was fighting giving up my old Smith-Corona typewriter. Now, I'm giving out websites on the Internet. Talk about reinvention!
Welfare reform is a priority for the nation, and for the President and Vice President. True welfare reform won't be realized until people who need jobs get them. We have a unique opportunity and ability to make that happen. And, I think that the lessons that we've learned in reinventing government, as outlined in this little book, can go a long way in helping us get the job done.
Thank you for all that you do, and for all that you're yet to do. And, now, I'd be happy to take any questions that you might have.
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Page created 24 March 1997