Stop the Bait and Switch Hypocrisy!

STOP THE BAIT AND SWITCH HYPOCRISY!

______

HON. BOB FILNER

of california

in the house of representatives

Thursday, March 16, 1995 Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker and colleagues, I rise today to voice my outrage about the hypocrisy that now governs this rescissions process. Yesterday I stood on the floor and tried to offer what I believe was a reasonable alternative to the horrendous choices we were being asked to make. I spoke out against the new game being employed in Washington--bait and switch. The rules are simple: propose massive and irresponsible budget cuts one day. Then, turn around when cameras and reporters are watching, and claim you are fighting to restore the very cuts that grabbed the headlines just days before. Games are fine, Mr. Speaker, but not here. Not when we are looking at billion-dollar cuts that will hurt children and older Americans, our veterans and those in this country who can't afford a powerful lobbyist. I want to use one example of how playing these kinds of games will hurt the good people of San Diego. People are waiting to hear what we will do with funding for summer jobs for youth. San Diego County has enjoyed a great deal of success for the past 13 years with the Hire-A-Youth Program. Hire-A-Youth gives more than 6,000 young people their first shot at real employment. Let us be very clear about this. The kids who get these jobs are from families at or below the poverty level. More than half of them come from families on welfare. They need these summer jobs to survive. They are not in this for running-around money. These jobs help them to help put food on their families' tables and clothes on their backs. They help pay the rent. Hire-A-Youth has been doing exactly what many of my colleagues in this Congress have said we want to do about welfare: break the cycle of dependency by putting people to work. We are providing these children an opportunity to learn the value of the work ethic. What kind of message are we sending to America's youth by cutting the one resource they have to become productive, contributing members of our community? I have heard from parents, teachers, business people, community leaders--you name it--imploring us to save summer jobs for kids. But the most poignant pleas are coming from the kids themselves. Angela writes that sometimes students have the tendency to feel as if no one cares, but this program has given her the motivation to get a job. Omar says that no one else would hire a 14-year-old, and through this program he learned valuable social and money management skills. Isn't that what we want? Let's keep what works for our kids. Stop the bait and switch games. We must protect what works for our communities.