Jack Kingston Quotes
We need workfare over welfare.
Kingston, Jack. "Welfare Reform." Congressional Record, Government Printing Office, 1996.
It was finally passed and signed into law on August 22, 1996
Nixon’s view was very popular, except the reality of the welfare system was much more complicated than most people thought. A very large percentage of the adults on welfare were women with young children. There was no practical way for them to work unless there was some mechanism for caring for the children. Most of these women could only earn minimum wage which was not enough to cover the cost of child care. Providing child care would then cost more welfare money for this investment and politicians, even those hating the welfare system as it was, would not make this investment which would have dubious payoff. Training the women for better paying jobs and covering their child care in the process, works but the investment is very large and gives the government even more control of American life so there has never been a consensus for this. In other cases, women could get work but not having an automobile, they could not get to jobs in most of the United states. Further, requiring welfare recipients to work, collapsed when the economy was in recession. Many women just could not find jobs, and even when the government provided assistance, the state of the local economy determined whether or not workfare was practical.
John Heddens Kingston is the former U.S. representative for Georgia's 1st congressional district in southeast Georgia, serving from 1993 to 2015. He is a member of the Republican Party and was part of the House leadership (2002–06) when he served as vice-chair of the Republican Conference. In 2014, he ran for the U.S. Senate seat occupied by retiring senator Saxby Chambliss and advanced beyond the May 20 primary to the July 22 runoff, where he was defeated by David Perdue.
