Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 107 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 107 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 148 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, APRIL 23, 2002 No. 46 House of Representatives The House met at 12:30 p.m. and was far as to say that the 1996 legislation work, and she was proud of them, but called to order by the Speaker pro tem- was, quote, the most brutal act of so- they felt pride in their accomplish- pore (Mr. FLETCHER). cial policy since reconstruction, end ments as well. f quote. Well, Mr. Speaker, we now have the Welfare reform has positively af- DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO benefit of time and we have the benefit fected both the recipient and well-in- TEMPORE of the U.S. Census Bureau data on fam- tentioned yet often misguided pro- The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- ily income and poverty for the year grams. Program leaders have realized fore the House the following commu- 2000, thereby allowing informed judg- that offering material goods and nication from the Speaker: ments in the debate on welfare reform money is no substitute for personal en- WASHINGTON, DC, and, of course, its benefits to the poor. gagement, instruction, and mentoring. April 23, 2002. This new data suggests great strides The previous welfare system uninten- I hereby appoint the Honorable ERNIE have been made since 1996. For the sev- tionally engendered dependency and FLETCHER to act as Speaker pro tempore on enth year in a row, poverty is down. encouraged irresponsibility. Today’s this day. Even more, African American and His- welfare-to-work mentoring programs J. DENNIS HASTERT, panic households had their lowest pov- Speaker of the House of Representatives. erty rates ever. And the overall child are established to reach impoverished f poverty rate was lower than in any city residents beyond just monetary support. It is a way of recapturing a MORNING HOUR DEBATES year since 1976. During the debate in 1996, the Urban commitment to others. The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- Institute predicted that if this bill was While social welfare policies pri- ant to the order of the House of Janu- enacted, the 1996 reforms would cast marily affect various individual aid re- ary 23, 2002, the Chair will now recog- another 1 million children into pov- cipients, they also affect the families nize Members from lists submitted by erty. Mr. Speaker, on the contrary, the majority and minority leaders for nearly 3 million children have been of the working poor, the governmental morning hour debates. The Chair will lifted out of poverty since 1996. The Af- agencies administering welfare pro- alternate recognition between the par- rican American child poverty rate and grams, and institutions of civil society, ties, with each party limited to not to the poverty rate for children living including social service nonprofit orga- exceed 30 minutes, and each Member, with single mothers are both at their nizations. However, welfare reform’s except the majority leader, the minor- lowest points in United States history. most profound influence is seen in its ity leader, or the minority whip, lim- In fact, child poverty has declined effect on our families. Reform is assist- ited to not to exceed 5 minutes. more than twice as much during the ing parents in becoming responsible The Chair recognizes the gentleman economic recovery of the 1990s as it did role models. The resulting positive in- from Florida (Mr. STEARNS) for 5 min- during the economic recovery of the fluence for the children is immeas- utes. 1980s. urable. f Welfare reform has removed the ‘‘ex- pectation-less’’ public safety net that Mr. Speaker, the critics were wrong. WELFARE REFORM served more as a hindrance than a mo- Millions of families have been lifted Mr. STEARNS. Mr. Speaker, I would tivational tool. As required by the 1996 from poverty by trading their welfare like to bring a little good news to the law, States have overhauled their work check for a paycheck. As we begin to floor this morning on the subject of requirements. As a result, in fiscal reauthorize the welfare programs en- welfare reform. When the 1996 welfare year 2000, the percentage of working acted in 1996, let our vision for inde- reform bill was debated in Congress, welfare recipients reached an all-time pendence rather than dependence be scholars across this country, legisla- high, up to 33 percent from 11 percent maintained. Surely we have seen a rev- tors at the State and Federal level, in in 1996. The poorest 40 percent of sin- the Senate and the House alike, pre- gle-mother families increased their olution in how government addresses dicted that a welfare system which de- earnings by about $2,300 per family on the needs of the poor through assist- manded work, imposed sanctions, and average between 1995 and 1999. Many ance and empowerment. However, the operated under time restrictions would single mothers leaving welfare told re- real success belongs to the individual result in huge declines in family in- searchers and reporters that not only who took responsibility for themselves come. One Member of Congress went so were their children proud of their and their families. b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H1491 . VerDate 11-MAY-2000 04:25 Apr 24, 2002 Jkt 099061 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A23AP7.000 pfrm12 PsN: H23PT1 H1492 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE April 23, 2002 DOMESTIC STEEL INDUSTRY IN transshipment of other items and the Mr. SMITH of Michigan. Mr. Speak- CRISIS transshipment of illegal narcotics er, the leadership is currently consid- The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- through Mexico, and to prevent the im- ering a proposal to change the defini- ant to the order of the House of Janu- portation of unsafe foods. The sad tion of debt subject to the debt limit. ary 23, 2002, the gentleman from Ohio truth is the Federal Government, be- This proposal would create a new lower (Mr. BROWN) is recognized during morn- cause of Republican budget cuts, in- limit applying only to debt held by the ing hour debates for 5 minutes. spects only 1 percent of all the imports, public. This would exclude debt owed Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. Speaker, in food and any other kinds of steel im- to government trust funds, principally recent years the United States has be- ports and anything else, only 1 percent the Social Security and Medicare trust come the world’s largest steel dumping of the imports that cross the U.S.- funds. As chairman of the Speaker’s ground at the expense of U.S. jobs, U.S. Mexican border. Our border agents sim- debt limit task force in 1995 and 1996, I families, the U.S. economy, and maybe ply do not have the resources necessary oppose this proposal. U.S. national security. It is a fact. This to prevent illegally transshipped steel Ending the inclusion of debt held by fact must be addressed now. from entering our country. government trust funds, what the gen- As a Nation, we import more than The current tariff remedy has al- eral fund has borrowed from Social Se- twice as much steel than we did in 1991 ready been diluted by the Bush admin- curity and Medicare, in the statutory and we do so at prices significantly istration. The holes in this steel tariff debt limit is unwise for good fiscal rea- lower than those in 1998. This surge in that President Bush himself created se- sons. I think that the proposal of cre- illegally dumped steel has been dev- verely weaken our safeguards against ating two classes of debt will create op- astating to the domestic steel indus- illegal dumping. During an October portunities for the manipulation of try. In the last 4 years, 26 steel compa- visit in 2000 to Weirton, West Virginia, government accounts to disguise the nies have filed for bankruptcy; seven- then Vice Presidential Candidate DICK true level of debt. teen have filed for bankruptcy protec- CHENEY criticized the Clinton adminis- This concern is not wholly theo- tion in the last year alone. This list in- tration’s handling of the steel issue. He retical. The Treasury has used some cludes three companies in northeast pledged that a Bush administration accounting gimmicks available in the Ohio: RTI of Lorain; LTV Steel of would take action on the steel crisis, past. As my debt limit task force re- Cleveland; and CSC Steel in Warren. and he told steelworkers, ‘‘We will port documented, the Treasury di- I recently joined civic leaders, com- never lie to you. If our trading partners vested $39.8 billion from the civil serv- pany executives, and steelworkers at a violate trade laws, we will respond ice trust fund in November of 1995 to public rally for Lorain’s RTI, a steel swiftly and firmly.’’ avoid bumping up against the statu- manufacturer that employs 1,500 people The steel industry needs the adminis- tory debt limit. Though the divestment in my district. At the rally, I cited the tration to follow through on that was reversed after an increase in the President’s decision to impose a sec- promise. The domestic survival of this debt limit, it put the retirement bene- tion 201 steel tariff as one of the pri- industry absolutely depends on it.