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[Page: H1389]  GPO's PDF
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   The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Brown of South Carolina). Under the Speaker's announced policy of January 3, 2001, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the majority leader.

   Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. Mr. Speaker, over the next couple of weeks we will have a very rewarding experience explaining to the American people the success of welfare reform by the law that was passed in 1996, but also we will have an excellent opportunity to show how rewarding the reauthorization will be as proposed by President Bush.

   I am a newcomer myself to Congress. I was sworn in 17 weeks ago today after a special election on December 18. This follows 17 years that I had the privilege to serve in the State Senate of South Carolina. I am honored to be on the Welfare Reform Task Force. I was appointed by the majority whip, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. DeLay). I am on the task force to study and promote welfare reform. It is a particular honor for me because there are only two freshmen on the task force, myself and the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Hart). I am certainly with a quality crew serving on that task force.

   My education in the area of social services, I give credit to my wife, Roxanne. She served for 14 years on the welfare board in our county, the Department of Social Services in Lexington County; and in that capacity I learned first hand of the great work of professional social workers working with persons who needed financial assistance, the problems of elder care and foster care, child care; and I learned firsthand that we have got the best people working to promote services to the people of our country.

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   Additionally, I have a legislative background in the State Senate of South Carolina, and it is very similar to what is going on here in Washington, D.C. Back in 1995, I was honored to be the chairman of the General Committee of South Carolina in the State Senate. At that time people were questioning what the General Committee was. I knew first of all it had jurisdiction over the National Guard; and as a member of the National Guard, I was happy to serve. But I found out later that ``general'' meant any specific item or agency that did not pertain to specific other committees ended up in the General Committee. That was wonderful for me because the Department of Social Services came under their jurisdiction.

   So I was in place to work in South Carolina for the development of the Family Independence Act, along with David Beasley and our lieutenant governor, Bob Peeler; and I also worked with such distinguished persons as the gentleman who is the Speaker pro tempore tonight, the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Brown), who was chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means in the House of Representatives in South Carolina.

   We were able to put together a very similar welfare bill and legislation in South Carolina as has been enacted nationally, and there has been a remarkable record of success. The landmark welfare reforms of 1996 on the Federal level has focused on moving recipients from welfare to workfare. The 1996 reforms replaced guaranteed cash assistance with a work requirement. And when I say work, what I am talking about are jobs and education , training and giving persons the opportunity to be fulfilling citizens in our country. It has meant jobs, and it has meant education .

   So when we hear the discussion of welfare reform, that is what we are largely discussing. The best characterization that I have read of the success of the 1996 bill was in the Carolina Morning News, which is the Savannah Morning News edition of the low country of South Carolina for Beaufort County, Jasper County, Sun City, for Blufton and Hilton Head Island.

   The editorial last month said the 1996 welfare reform bill passed by a Republican Congress and signed by President Clinton stands as one of the great social policy successes of the last 50 years. It was to the cycle of dependency on the dole what the collapse of the Berlin Wall was to communism, both literally and symbolically.

   As we over the next couple of weeks discuss welfare reform, it is wonderful to really make it personal, and that is by having success stories brought to our attention.

   Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Weldon) to review several success stories.

   Mr. WELDON of Florida. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding, and I commend him for his leadership on this. He is newly elected to the House, and he is doing an outstanding job of bringing attention to this very important issue. I first came to this body in 1994. At that time what I had heard from the constituents in my district and people all throughout the State of Florida was what a terrible disaster the welfare system was, locking millions of Americans in a cycle of poverty that they were literally unable to escape from.

   In the county that I live in, we had chronically 2,500 people on welfare. With the passage of welfare reform, that number has been reduced to 400 people, an 80 percent reduction. These kinds of reductions were seen all over the country. Millions of Americans have been able to move successfully from welfare to work.

   Surprisingly, now that we are in the place where we need to reauthorize this legislation, there are some Members who want to turn the clock back and look at the tremendous success of welfare reform and say it was a failure and we need to go back to the old ways. I want to talk about a couple of people. The gentleman's point about making this personal is important, so I want to talk about two Floridians who made the transition.

   Sha-Tee Bonner entered the welfare transition program in October 1999, and was immediately assigned to Job Search, something that would not happen before. She would be locked in welfare. Now under the program, the reform program, she is immediately assigned to Job Search. In November 1999, she became employed at Hollywood Video and began earning enough money to end her cash assistance. Sha-Tee continued to work until she received employment at the Dunes Hotel in March 2001 as a guest service representative. Since working at the Dunes Hotel, she has received pay raises and much praise from her supervisor. In August of 2001, Sha-Tee began the criminal justice technology program at Pensacola Junior College. Her employer at the Dunes Hotel is willing to work around her school schedule because of her outstanding employment at the Dunes.

   Mr. Speaker, here is a person who previously had been locked in welfare dependency. People are saying she is an outstanding worker. Sha-Tee believes that the responsibility of raising two daughters as a single parent has made her even more determined to make it through the tough times. She believes that self-sufficiency is an ongoing process. I agree. During the rough times, Sha-Tee and her two daughters lived with her grandmother. Recently, Sha-Tee has moved out to her own apartment and has purchased her own transportation. Pensacola's local Society for Human Resources Management recently honored Sha-Tee for being one of the welfare participants of the year. The award is presented to former welfare participants who have been successful in transitioning to the work environment.

   Stephanie Paige entered the welfare transition program in April of 2001 with several barriers to self-sufficiency. She was a 20-year-old single mother of one child. She had already earned her GED, but had no vocational or college education . She was fortunate enough to have a car, but no insurance. In addition, she had several medical problems, one of which required her to undergo surgery in July 2000. Also in that same month, her 4-year-old son had surgery.

   The Jobs Plus One-Stop staff in Crestview assisted Stephanie in developing a career plan that would allow her to achieve self-sufficiency for herself and her child. With guidance and support, the One-Stop staff were able to offer her financial assistance through supportive service funds to get the initial insurance set up for her car, after which she has been able to maintain the monthly premium. They were also able to help her purchase appropriate clothing for job placement.

   Stephanie was initially placed in a community service work site so she could gain job skills. She worked at the Salvation Army in Crestview, Florida, from June through December of 2001. Her work site supervisor was very pleased with her and reported she was a hard worker. Here we go again. Someone who had previously been locked in poverty is now being described as a hard worker. It has been in those people over the years; we just never had a system that unlocked it.

   In November, while voluntarily continuing to put in hours at the work site, she also enrolled in a CNA class at Crestview Nursing Home. Between August and September 2001, Stephanie earned a total of $225 in incentive payments for her performance and progress. On December 1, Stephanie passed her CNA exam, and 4 days later she obtained employment with Parthenon Healthcare of Crestview, earning $6.25 per hour. Her temporary cash assistance was closed on January 1, 2002, because her income was high enough that she no longer needed cash assistance. She receives transitional services in the form of subsidized child care and transportation assistance that allows her to maintain her employment.

[Time: 18:45]

   Stephanie continues to enjoy her work and has plans to pursue a nursing career.

   Mr. Speaker, these are two human beings that have been converted over from being dependent on a failed and broken system to being self-sufficient. Most importantly, more important than anything else, more important than the tax money that is saved is these women are setting an example for their children that there is a value to work, there is a dignity and pride that comes with it. For those reasons, I strongly support reauthorizing our welfare reform package with no watering down amendments that would turn the clock back.

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   I again applaud the gentleman from South Carolina for his leadership on this very important issue.

   Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. We certainly appreciate the gentleman from Florida's hard work for the people of Florida, a proven story of success in yourself.

   Mr. Speaker, one of the most beneficial acts that you can have as you serve in the State legislatures is to travel around the country and meet persons that you recognize right away or superstars in terms of future legislative activity. I was very fortunate to have met a State legislator from Pennsylvania. I was so pleased to learn of her election to Congress. I am very pleased to yield to the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania (Ms. Hart).

   Ms. HART. I thank my fellow former State Senator. I think we are really well equipped as those who worked on the State level to implement the 1996 welfare reform to do what we are as we are part of the working group on the reauthorization of the welfare reform on the Federal level.

   I thank the gentleman for his kind words and for his work on the task force and also for giving me a few moments to talk about some of the things that have been happening in my area regarding the success stories, as the sign says, replacing welfare checks with paychecks, but also replacing broken spirits with very strong spirits, a lot of moms who are going to be great leaders and examples to their children.

   Those reforms have helped so many men and women get off the welfare payroll. We hear the statistics, but it does help, as the gentleman before me said, to hear the real story. One example I have is a woman I met during our time during the district work period named Michelle who was unfortunately left alone by her husband with her two small children. Obviously she had been a stay-at-home mom but was forced to go and find a job and also a new home.

   If that did not present her with enough challenges, her parents were also diagnosed with serious illnesses. Michelle moved in with them to take care of them in addition to also caring for her own children. Welfare for her was the only lifeline she had to get her from day to day. But she had a greater future in mind for her family. Fortunately, she did what a lot of welfare recipients are now doing as a part of the normal regimen, taking classes, getting a job. She did both. That was 4 years ago. I am happy to report that today, Michelle does have full employment and she is helping others who are in a similar position to the position she was in.

   She is now a case manager for the Lawrence County Social Services Organization. She took her skills, those she knew from her daily experiences and also those she acquired as a student while still receiving welfare. She uses those skills daily to help others who are going through the same difficulties that she faced. She is one of the great success stories, and now Michelle is going to help create a lot more success stories.

   There are other organizations aside from those who are paid within the system that help us make a difference. Especially after the welfare reform law, there were a number of community organizations that stepped up to the plate. One I work with very closely called HEARTH, which stands for Homelessness Ends with Advocacy, Resources, Training and Housing, they have helped so many, mostly women, mostly victims of domestic violence, because they help provide some support via housing for these women as they again continue to struggle and move forward.

   The first one I would like to tell you about is Cindy, who came to HEARTH's facility called Benedictine Place with four small children. She wanted to provide a better life for them and for herself but she had been a victim of domestic violence and her self-esteem was certainly not at its highest. One of her sons did not want to live in a shelter. Unfortunately he did go to live with his father, but the other three stayed with Cindy and helped Cindy as she helped them to get a new view on life.

   While receiving her benefits, Cindy went back to school. She had some nurse's training from the past, but she knew she needed to update her skills. She took that opportunity, she finished her training and she was eager to get her children established. She got her degree, she got a job, she found a safe place to live. She is now working and is a supervisor at the hospital where she works as an RN. Her oldest daughter said it best to her recently. She said, ``Thank you for making anywhere we lived a home.'' That statement made the struggle worthwhile for Cindy because it could not have been easy. We all know that.

   But we know that for Cindy and for Cindy's children, there is a much better future. Not only is she a valuable and contributing member to society, but she is returning the favor to other members of her community by helping them as much as they helped her.

   Finally, the last example I want to share with you is of a woman named Jackie. Jackie was in a very poor situation. She did not have any transportation. She had small children as well and needed some support. Obviously the welfare system did help keep her going. But once again, she now said that it was a huge adjustment, but she has now moved into the workplace, she is making enough now to actually rent a house, purchase a car. She has a job with full benefits. Jackie says it is much better for her. She loves going to work each day. She has given back as much as she can. She is now very pleased to be a taxpayer, as she said, instead of a burden on all the other taxpayers.

   Granted, welfare has its place. Otherwise, we would not be considering reauthorizing welfare. But it is meant to be and has through these women been shown to be a very successful means for transitioning. These are women who have had hope. They have had influence from others who have maybe shown her an example, taken time with her as well as wonderful caseworkers who have done a wonderful job.

   Over the break, I had a round table meeting with a number of caseworkers and those who work in the system, as well as some who have gotten through the system and several who are currently on welfare and trying to work their way off, whether they are receiving education , working part-time and moving in the direction of independence. It was a really inspirational meeting, partially because the first woman I spoke of, Michelle, was part of the round table is now a caseworker with Lawrence County Social Services, but partially because I saw the faces of some very strong people whose spirits had once been broken but who are now very much recovered, very much moving forward, and very much an inspiration to the rest of us. They show us just how much people can do if we give them the right tools to move forward. I would like to thank the gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Wilson) for the opportunity to talk about these women and there are so many others.

   I have several other examples I am not going to go into, but they are examples of all the people and put faces on all the people across the country who have benefited because of the changes. I certainly am very happy to be here and to be here now at the Federal level when we can reauthorize welfare reform and encourage both education and work and make sure that these families are on the way to a very prosperous and successful future, along with a great example for their children.

   Mr. WILSON of South Carolina. I thank the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania. Again we appreciate her great service to the people of her district and the enthusiasm that she obviously has for the people of Pennsylvania.

   Mr. Speaker, another treat that I have run into by being here in Congress and meeting the Members of Congress is to be reassured as to the competence level on both sides of the aisle of people who serve here in Washington. Not only the competent, but very thoughtful. One of the most thoughtful to me was the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker).

   I yield to the gentleman from Mississippi.

   Mr. WICKER. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from South Carolina for those very kind and overly generous words. Like my colleague from South Carolina and the gentlewoman from Pennsylvania who just spoke, I was a member of the State Senate. I served for 7 years in that body until I was fortunate enough to be elected by the people to come here to Washington. During a portion of that time, Mr. Speaker, I served as chairman of the

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