Press Release

Price Votes to Preserve Welfare Work Requirement

Washington, D.C.– House Republican Policy Committee Chairman Tom Price, M.D. (R-GA) issued the following statement after voting to prevent the Obama Administration’s illegal attempt to waive the work requirement for welfare included in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, saying:

“When President Obama recently ruled by executive fiat to waive the work requirements for welfare, he indicated his continued determination to impose his agenda irrespective of our nation’s constitutionally-guaranteed balance of powers and at whatever the costs. For the president, this is clearly about his own political philosophy, not our economy. The American people need a president who will lead this nation, not just the liberal flank of his own party.

“It is abhorrent that President Obama would oppose bipartisan welfare reforms that have helped so many Americans transition away from government assistance and escape poverty by finding jobs to support themselves and their families. Too many Americans have been left behind by the president’s failed economic policies with hundreds of thousands of Americans simply dropping out of the labor force all together.  There are millions either unemployed or underemployed, and yet, the Obama Administration wants to weaken the nation’s welfare program.

“House Republicans are committed to preserving the welfare work requirement. We wish President Obama would share this desire, as the vast majority of Americans do, to move workers off government dependency and into the workforce. To help in that endeavor, the president and Senate Democrats ought to join House Republicans in eliminating the threat of tax increases, rolling back the debt and promoting an economy built on free enterprise.”

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