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Zell Miller on Welfare & Poverty


Supports “charitable choice” via faith-based organizations

Q: What about “charitable choice,” where the government would provide money to churches and religious groups so they can run social service programs?

A: I am pleased both presidential candidates have proposed increasing the involvement of faith-based institutions in solving our social problems, and I will support a proposal from our next president to achieve this goal. These organizations have expertise in turning around lives, and the government needs to take advantage of it.

Source: The Macon (GA) Telegraph Oct 30, 2000

Supports welfare reform and welfare to work

We have been successful in helping Georgians move off the welfare rolls and into the job market -- a decrease of 57,000 households since we began welfare reform. However, the ones who remain on the rolls are those with the fewest skills and the least work experience. So we want to use $30 million of the savings to expand the Welfare-to-Work program for hard-to-place recipients, and provide child care for an additional 12,625 children.
Source: Budget Address, Georgia Jan 13, 1998

Welfare has become a snare, not a safety net

Source: Speech on Welfare Reform Apr 22, 1997

End welfare entitlement; make it work-based