Journal of the Senate of the State of Texas, Regular Session of the Sixty-Second Legislature, Volume 1 Page: 50
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50 SEATE JURNA
"Our welfare funding was in mass
confusion; our eligibility rules in ju-
dicial tatters; and the number of wel-
fare recipients was growing by over
10,000 per month.
"Congress even then was debating
amendments to the Family Assistance
Plan with the handwriting of its doom
obvious.
"Any one of the amendments could
have influenced demands for State
revenue by hundreds of millions of
dollars.
"No government can plan intelli-
gently for the future under such a
burden of uncertainty.
"On that day, December 10, 1970,
I decided to accept the invitation and
meet with the President and the oth-
er Governors the next day, December
11, in Washington. At that time, the
Family Assistance Plan had been
amended, carved, gutted and, indeed,
changed beyond any recognition.
"It finally represented only another
attempt to add a patch to an already
overburdened system of welfare
patches.
"One thing was clear. This legisla-
tion was not the answer to welfare
reform.
"When I met with the President, I
expressed my conviction that the
States could not go on under such an
unpredictable-and increasingly ex-
pensive-welfare 'partnership farce.'
"I also told the President that I
was convinced the only practical solu-
tion, and only hope for welfare re-
form, is for the Federal government
to assume complete responsibility for
financing welfare programs.
"This one action on the part of the
President and Congress would achieve
many of the objectives of the Family
Assistance Plan by providing a
stronger, more uniform and more pre-
dictable nationwide program of pub-
lic welfare.
"Now, let's talk for a minute about
revenue sharing.
"The President is for it. The Vice
President is for it. Senator Tower is
for it. Many of our own State officials,
including the Lieutenant Governor
and the Speaker, are for it. Voices of
support are heard throughout the
land.
"A federal take-over of the welfare
system would provide a realistic,
workable form of revenue-sharing
which I wholeheartedly endorse.
"Hundreds of millions of dollars of
State revenue would be released.
"That revenue is badly needed atthe State level to solve other pressing
problems which face the States and
cities.
"Several governors in attendance at
the White House meeting voiced agree-
ment with my position, and, since I
spoke out that day, support has been
growing almost daily.
"It has been reported it would cost
the Federal government an estimated
$15 billion annually to assume welfare
funding.
"Secretary of Defense Melvin Laird
said recently the cost of the war in
Southeast Asia has dropped from $30
billion annually to $6 billion annually.
"We might ask whether there is
any better way to rechannel those
funds than for the federal govern-
ment to fully assume welfare funding,
as well as administration, which it
has already almost totally preempted.
"When I met with President Nixon,
I told him I would express my views
to the Texas Legislature and tell you,
and the people of this State and na-
tion, these views represent the only
realistic road out of the welfare jungle
in which we find ourselves today.
"I now repeat that statement to
you with as much emphasis as I can
muster. I add that the long-range
prospect is more bleak than the
short-range.
"Knowledgeable experts calculate
that under the present system and
trend, our welfare load in Texas will
DOUBLE AGAIN in the next four
years.
"I believe the President is sincere
in his revenue-sharing plan, and that
he is sincere in wanting to relieve the
States of some of their financial
burdens.
"I also believe, because of remarks
attributed to Congressman Wilbur
Mills and other House Ways and
Means members, it actually appears
federal assumption of welfare has a
better chance as a revenue-sharing de-
vice than does the straight grant ap-
proach.
"I have tried to express to you as
briefly as I could my strong convic-
tion that there must be a significant
change in welfare financing within a
short time if State programs are to be
saved from virtual bankruptcy.
"My most intense efforts during the
coming year will be toward enlisting
other governors and other Legisla-
tures for a purely federal welfare pro-
gram.
"Some work already has been start-
ed.SENATE JOURNAL
50
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Texas. Legislature. Senate. Journal of the Senate of the State of Texas, Regular Session of the Sixty-Second Legislature, Volume 1, legislative document, 1971; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth146003/m1/50/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.