Tom Tancredo on Welfare & Poverty Republican Representative (CO-6)

Welfare state in 1960s caused decline in black wage rates

A: OK, I just cannot agree with this race-baiting kind of comments about the reason why we have these problems. Look, why was it that in the 1940s & 1950s, into the early 1960s, the ability for Blacks in the US to improve themselves economically was working? They were moving up the ladder. Families were intact--in better shape, by the way, than most white families of that same period of time. What happened? Two things have happened to--I believe--to devastate the Black community when it comes to economic opportunity. One, the welfare state; it began to pay people to not be in the home. And when that happened, what we saw is a decline in wage rates. And two, of course, is the importation of millions of low-income workers that depress the wage rates for the lowest income among us.

Voted NO on providing $70 million for Section 8 Housing vouchers.

Proponents of the amendment say:
• This amendment would enable an additional 10,000 low-income families to afford safe, decent housing.
• To offset this increase, the amendment cuts a poorly managed computer upgrade program. The committee has been very ingenious in squirreling away money in different accounts and the bill would still provide $94 million in funds for IT projects.
• We have a choice: Do we want to help thousands of families obtain affordable housing, or do we think it is more important to have a somewhat faster computer upgrade in HUD?
• Our amendment does not seek to restore the amount to the amount that the President recommended, which is $144 million more than the committee recommends, it seeks merely to restore $70 million, or about half of what the difference is to what the President recommended.
• This is less than the bare minimum of what is needed. We have hundreds of thousands of families on waiting lists, waiting up to 10 years for decent housing for Section 8 vouchers.

Opponents say:
• The existing bill fully funds the renewal of Section 8 vouchers. Additional funds are simply not necessary.
• The cost of Section 8 vouchers are remaining constant and in some markets are actually decreasing. As such, this funding level will provide funds to restore vouchers that may have been lost in recent years.
• The proposed reduction will cause delays in critically needed efforts to modernize antiquated legacy computer systems.

Voted YES on promoting work and marriage among TANF recipients.

Voted YES on treating religious organizations equally for tax breaks.

Voted YES on responsible fatherhood via faith-based organizations.