Office of the Press Secretary
January 14, 2004
Press Briefing by Scott McClellan
The James S. Brady Briefing Room
12:41 P.M. EST
Q Is the President offering any new proposals on marriage promotions, part of the welfare reform reauthorization? Or is he going to continue to press the program that he outlined in 2003?
MR. McCLELLAN: One, the President has always been strongly committed to strengthening families and encouraging healthy marriages. And so I think that's what you're referring to. He did make some proposals previously in this administration. We remain committed to those proposals, and he will continue to work under the welfare reauthorizations to implement these proposals and get these proposals passed. And so I think you can expect that that will continue to be a part of his budget proposal.
The President is working to strengthen families by moving more people from welfare to work, by building upon the successes of the 1996 law that achieved great success in moving people from welfare to work. He will continue working to streamline adoption laws to get children in safe, stable, loving homes as quickly as possible. He will continue to promote responsible fatherhood, to encourage fathers to be actively involved in the lives of their families. And he will also continue to work for some -- what are principally demonstration projects to encourage healthy marriages. And that was all outlined previously by this President. And the new budget will be coming out soon. And so you can see the funding levels for that when it comes out.
Q When he did propose it, on the marriage promotion part of that demonstration projects that you mentioned, he proposed $300 million over five years. Can we expect a big increase in that?
MR. McCLELLAN: Part of this was in -- that included state matching funds. I think that you can expect that there may be some increases, but there are really three areas that we're talking about when it comes to what he previously proposed, which is a five year welfare reform plan, that includes proposals, taken together with state matching funds, that total $1.5 billion over five years.
And that one includes a state-based, competitive matching grant program to support healthy marriages. With the state match, the total available funds under his previous budget proposal for that effort would be $200 million annually. Then you have the fatherhood initiative, which I believe was a proposal of $20 million a year.
And then the administration, on children and families, would establish a $100 million annual fund to conduct research and demonstration projects, and provide technical assistance, primarily focusing on family formation and healthy marriage activities. But I think you can expect there may be some increases in some of those proposals, but that those proposals will remain something that he will continue to work to implement under the welfare reform reauthorization.
I might point out that the House passed these welfare reforms back in February, and the Senate needs to act. We continue to urge the Senate to act, to build upon the past successes of our welfare to work efforts.
Page 2 - Sanctity of Marriage Statements
Press Briefing provided by Office of the Press Secretary
