Remarks in a roundtable discussion on welfare reform in Kansas City, Missouri

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Sept 16, 1996

The President. Let me thank you, Clyde and Gayle and Congresswoman McCarthy and Mayor Cleaver, and to all of you who have come here. I was with some of you back in 1994 to talk about what Missouri was doing, and I wanted to come back because, as all of you know, the welfare system is about to change nationwide. And I have worked very hard in the last 4 years to help people move from welfare to work. There are nearly 2 million fewer people on welfare today than there were the day I became President. And we've done it by working with States and giving them waivers from Federal rules.

But this new welfare reform law fundamentally changes the bargain. It basically says, we will continue to guarantee to every person on welfare health care, food for the children and the family, child care if they go to work, but what used to come in the monthly check will now be given to the State either to continue as a monthly cheek or to be used in some other way to move into the workplace.

And the States have to meet very stiff requirements on getting jobs for people. And I'm convinced that the only way the States are going to be able to really move large numbers of people to work in a short time is with a partnership with the private sector, doing what Missouri has done, using what used to be the welfare check or a food stamp check as an income supplement to a private employer who can then engage in training and work, and do what you've done.

And before - I'm going over to speak to the Southern Governors Association which Governor Carnahan is hosting here, to talk to these Governors about what they have to do now. But before I do, I wanted to come back here and listen to all of you and thank you, those of you who have moved from welfare to work, and thank the employers for being involved in this program but also to emphasize to the American people and to the press and through them, to the American people, what has to happen next.

As I've said repeatedly, the whole debate on welfare in Washington was largely a political debate until this law was signed. And I'm sure when you read in the newspaper or saw on the evening news some of the things that were said, it didn't strike you as particularly real, based on your own experience; it's just - a lot of it was politics.

But the politics is over now. The law's changed, and the States and the communities now have a responsibility to create a story like yours for every able-bodied person on welfare in America. That's basically what this law says. And we've got to have help from employers, or we can't make it. So it's very exciting to me.

And let me just make one other point about this. I really believe - and that's why I wanted you to have a chance to tell your story to the country, thanks to the help of these people who are with us here - I really believe that what we should want for people who hit a rough spot in their life and don't have much income is what we want for all American families: What we want is for people to be able to succeed in raising their children and to be able to succeed in the workplace. And if our country has to make a choice between one or the other, we're going to be in trouble. Everybody's most important job is raising their kids. But if the economy doesn't work, we're in trouble. And if we have to give up raising our kids to make the economy work, we're in trouble.

So, to me, welfare reform is part of a larger agenda to help all Americans succeed at work and at home. We lowered taxes for the lowest income working people in 1993, 15 million of them, so that they wouldn't have any incentive to fall back on welfare. We've tried to help people with immunizing their children and in a whole range of other areas.

And one thing that's become, unfortunately, controversial again in the last couple of days, the first bill I signed was the family and medical leave law which basically says you don't lose your job if you take some time off when a baby's born or a parent's sick. I think it should be expanded in a limited way to let people go to parent-teacher conferences or regular doctor's appointments with their kids. But I certainly don't think it should be repealed. I think that would be a mistake, because what we're trying to do, again, is to create an environment in which people can succeed at home and at work.

And I'm trying to take all these issues out of politics, if I can, and get them down to people. So that's why I'm glad to be here; that's why I thank you for letting me come. And Clyde, why don't you go on with the program and maybe we'll all learn a lot about what you're doing here.

[At this point, Clyde McQueen, president, Full Employment Council, invited former welfare recipients to share their experiences with the employment program. A participant stated that moving from welfare to work made her a better role model to her children, suggested that more men should participate in the program, and described program services.]

The President. You made a comment about how it's important to get the men involved. Let me just say - maybe everyone in the press knows this, but let me emphasize, the reason that's important in terms of what they're doing here in Missouri and what we can do under welfare reform is that with certain rare exceptions - some States cover two-parent households with welfare. But basically, single men cannot get welfare in America; if they get any income supplement, it's something they get from the State. What they have been getting from the Federal Government is food stamps, and if they're able-bodied, that's been cut back.