Opening Statement of the Hon. Benjamin L. Cardin, M.C., Maryland
Hearing on Welfare and Marriage Issues
May 22, 2001
Mr. Chairman, I think there is a general consensus that marriage can benefit children. All things being equal, children in married families face fewer hurdles than those with one parent attempting to fill two roles. Statistical comparisons between the poverty status of children in single-parent homes versus those in married homes clearly highlight this divide. Of course, we must recognize these generalizations do not apply to every circumstance, particularly when domestic violence is present.However, recognizing the benefits of marriage and deciding whether government should or effectively can encourage couples to walk down the aisle are not the same thing. We need to be honest about the lack of information we have on specific programs designed to promote marriage. To avoid wasting the taxpayers money on unproven programs, we may be wise to establish a demonstration project to find out what works and what doesn't work to encourage and sustain marriage. The bipartisan provisions on fatherhood and marriage that this subcommittee and the full House passed last year, but which were not considered by the other body, could act as model for such a program.
There are also some general steps we can take to make marriage more likely to occur and more likely to last. For example, we can eliminate disincentives to marriage, including barriers to two-parent families participating in TANF. We should start by reviewing the Federal two-parent work requirement in TANF, which may actually discourage States from serving low-income, married families.
Mr. Chairman, the only obstacle that could prevent us from forging a bipartisan approach to strengthening marriage would be if such an effort became a code-word for cutting poverty programs or targeting single parents for punitive action. I hope this will not happen.
We should all recognize that the connection between marriage and poverty is a two-way street: increasing marriage may help alleviate poverty, but reducing economic hardship also promotes marriage.
Consider a program in Minnesota which found that welfare recipients were more likely to get married and to stay married when they were allowed to increase their income by supplementing low-wages with a continued, partial welfare benefit.
Listen to testimony we will hear later today about how the lack of economic opportunity can affect decisions on marriage. In short, low-income mothers have told researchers that fathers who have little prospect of bringing home a regular paycheck are not marriage material.
And just think for a moment about how the problems that poverty brings into neighborhoods, such as crime, drug addiction and hopelessness, present additional barriers to family formation. All of these issues suggest that we should do more to reduce poverty, not less, if we are truly interested in creating an environment in which parents are more likely to become and stay married.
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses about their perceptions on these important issues. Thank you.