Senate Journal: Page 1415: Tuesday, April 25, 1995

         In the almost two years since Iowa received only the second welfare
    waiver our administration issued, the number of welfare recipients in
    Iowa who hold jobs is almost doubled from 18 to 33 percent.  You are
    doing it without punishing children for the mistakes of their parents --
    and I want to say more on that later -- but you are doing it.  And that
    is clear evidence that we should give the states the right to pursue
    welfare reform.  They know how to get the job done better than the
    federal government has done in the past.  We should give you all more
    responsibility for moving people from welfare to work.

         Now, heres where you come in, because I want to talk in very short
    order, one right after the other, about the decisions we still have to
    make in Washington.  Do we still have to cut the federal deficit more?
    Yes, we do.  Weve taken it down by $600 billion. The budget, in fact,
    would be balanced today if it werent for the interest we have to pay on
    the debt run up between 1981 and 1992.

         But its still a problem and you need to understand why its a
    problem.  Its a problem because a lot of people who used to give us
    money to finance our government deficit and our trade deficit, need
    their money at home now.  Thats really whats happening in Japan.  They
    need their money at home now.

         We must continue -- we must say to the world, to the financial
    markets -- we not cut taxes except in the context of reducing the
    deficit.  America is committed.   Both parties are committed.  Americans
    are committed to getting rid of thisterrible burden on our future.  We
    must continue to do it.

         Now, the question is, how are we going to do that?  Should we cut
    unnecessary spending?  Of course, we should.  How do you define it?
    Should there be more power to state and local governments and to the
    private sector?  You bet.  But what are the details?

         In other words, what weve got to do in Washington now is what you
    do all the time.  Weve got to move beyond our rhetoric to reality.  And
    I think it would be helpful for you because we need your voice to be
    heard.  And at least my experience in the Govemors Association was, or
    working in my own legislature was, that on these issues we could get
    Republicans and Democrats together.  So let me go through what weve
    done, and whats still to be done.

         First of all, I agree with this new Congress on three issues that
    were in the Republican Contract -- and two of them are already law.
    Number one, Congress should apply to itself all the laws it puts on the
    private sector.  We should know when we make laws in Washington what
    were doing to other people by experiencing it ourself. That was a good
    thing.

         Number two, I signed the unfunded mandates legislation to make it
    harder, but not impossible when it important, but much harder, for
    Congress to put on you and your taxpayers unfunded mandates from the
    federal government where we make you pay for something that we in
    Washington want to do.  I strongly support that, and I think all of you
    do, as well.

Iowa General Assembly

Index: Senate Journal (76th General Assembly: Session 1)

© 1995 Cornell College and League of Women Voters of Iowa

Comments? sjourn@legis.iowa.gov.

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