Political resolution based on discredited claim just another example of GOP's failed leadership

WASHINGTON – U.S. Reps. Sander M. Levin (D-Mich.), ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee, and George Miller (D-Calif.), ranking member of the Education and the Workforce Committee, issued the following statements today on Thursday’s expected committees’ debates and votes on a Republican bill to overturn an Obama administration proposal providing states flexibility to move more Americans from welfare to work.

Experts on both sides of the aisle and independent fact checkers have concluded that attacks by Republicans on the Obama administration proposal are not true.

Rep. Sander Levin:

“Republican and Democratic Governors alike have requested state flexibility through waivers issued by HHS. I supported the welfare reform law and have worked to make it more effective including by pressing states, as these waivers do, to move more people into jobs. Republicans are using a totally discredited claim to manipulate a stereotype about welfare calling into question their underlying motivation.”

Rep. George Miller:

“This resolution is nothing more than a political stunt. It is based on a widely circulated lie. Nearly every conceivable independent fact-checker has debunked the Republicans’ claims. This resolution wastes precious legislative time when we should be working together to provide solutions for the real problems confronting American families, not fabricated ones. It is just another example of Washington Republicans’ failed leadership on jobs and the economy.”

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