CONGRESSIONAL RECORD -- SENATE

January 31, 1968

Page 1666

Mr. Mr. MUSKIE. Mr. President, I am pleased to cosponsor the Social Security Act amendments of Senator HARRIS and Senator ROBERT KENNEDY.

On December 15, 1967, prior to the vote on the conference committee report on the Social Security Act Amendments of 1967, I stated my reservations on the bill. I predicted that several provisions of the bill would "injure hundreds of thousands of poor men, women, and children, and hinder our search for a better answer to the vicious cycle of poverty which afflicts

too many families in all areas of our country."

Senator HARRIS' proposed amendments will remove the restrictions placed on the number of AFDC children who can be aided with Federal funds. If these restrictions are not removed, malnutrition and disease will affect destitute families who are denied even a minimal subsistence.

If local communities are forced to assume the care of these children, the financial burden will be overwhelming in many of our Nation's municipalities. We in the Congress extended and enlarged the Child Health Act included in the 1967 Social Security Act Amendments. This far-reaching provision will aid in reducing the Nation's infant mortality rate and it will provide for family planning services. Ironically, within the same bill are contained retrogressive provisions which would have the effect of destroying family life rather than strengthening it.

An important feature of Senator HARRIS' amendments would require each State to institute an AFDC-unemployed fathers program. This would mean that an unemployed father, head of an impoverished household, would not be forced to abandon his family in order for his children to become eligible for financial assistance.

I endorse Senator HARRIS' proposal that a study be made by the Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare to determine the extent to which welfare agencies and their programs are serving welfare recipients. I believe a study of this kind is long overdue and would provide the Congress, the States, and the executive branch with data needed to make improvements in these programs.

Equally essential to our welfare programs are Senator KENNEDY's amendments. I wholly support his proposal to eliminate the coercive and discriminatory measures forcing mothers of small children to work. These children all too often grow up in a home without a father. Now, under the legislation as passed last December, conceivably these children could be raised without the benefit of either father or mother.

I believe that these amendments are sound and that they will improve our welfare system by making it a more effective tool for meeting the needs of those who are impoverished and disadvantaged.