John McGuire Shares Personal Story Of Growing Up In Poverty Amid Talks Of Welfare Cuts

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During a House Oversight Committee hearing last week, Rep. John McGuire (R-VA) shared a personal story about his upbringing.

Transcript

00:00Mr. McGuire.

00:02Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

00:03Thank you to our witnesses for being here today to answer our questions.

00:06You know, I grew up in poverty as well.

00:09My older sister and I were abandoned.

00:11The police found us, and we bounced around different foster homes.

00:15I attended nine different elementary schools.

00:19But through the grace of God, my grandparents, who had already raised their children,

00:23rescued me and my older sister and raised us until my dad got sober.

00:27And I think God gives us adversity to chisel us into the men and women we're supposed to be.

00:33I decided I wanted to serve our country because my grandfather served in the Navy in World War II

00:38to become a Navy SEAL.

00:40Typically 200 men per class, usually 20 graduate.

00:44One class graduated, zero out of 200 because not everybody gets a trophy.

00:49But what you learn in the military, it's not what you look like, it's what you fight like.

00:53And if somebody saved your life on the battlefield, you wouldn't care if they were pink or blue, male or female,

00:58if they call themselves a Democrat, Republican, or an Independent.

01:02We're all Americans.

01:03We qualified for free lunches when we grew up.

01:06We did not have health care.

01:08And we somehow, some way, we learned to improvise, adapt, overcome, and work hard.

01:14I want to commend President Trump's budget.

01:19President Trump's budget request ensures taxpayers will not continue paying for housing for illegal immigrants.

01:25It also ensures that the Department of Housing and Urban Development concentrates its funding on our most vulnerable,

01:31including the elderly, disabled, and foster children.

01:35Importantly, it puts a two-year cap on rental assistance for able-bodied adults,

01:39which I believe will help address many of the challenges we are speaking about today.

01:44So I have a question for Dr. Carson.

01:46We really appreciate you being here today.

01:48Thank you so much for all you've done.

01:51We appreciate your expertise and what you did.

01:53You did a phenomenal job leading the Department of Housing and Urban Development

01:58during President Trump's first administration.

02:01Earlier this year, this committee looked at welfare programs like Medicaid and SNAP.

02:05What we found is there are incentives for these programs to discourage work, marriage, and other behavior

02:10that may reduce their need for welfare.

02:13In fact, we looked at every single safety net program,

02:16and witnesses said that every single one of them incentivized single-parent homes.

02:21And I think the breakdown of the nuclear family is what's threatening our country.

02:26I heard the chairman say that in 1960, 5% of American homes had a single parent.

02:31Today, it's 40% and growing.

02:33That is a recipe for destroying our country

02:38and everything that so many men and women, military or not, gave their life for.

02:44Dr. Carson, when you arrived,

02:46did you see these bad incentives at welfare programs

02:50at the Department of Housing and Urban Development?

02:54We definitely had many disincentives for self-sufficiency.

02:59And I thought, you know, coming into the department that it would be easy coming to Capitol Hill

03:07and getting bipartisan support for self-sufficiency programs and getting rid of the dependency.

03:15I was wrong.

03:17There are many people who were not interested in doing that and perpetuating the situation

03:21because it gave them a power base.

03:23And I think it's time for us really to sit down, put the facts in the middle of the table,

03:29and think about what are our goals.

03:33Our goals are not just to support people who have difficult situations.

03:38Our goals are to get them out of that situation

03:41and help them to be able to realize the American dream.

03:44So, you know, I don't disagree with some of the things the congressman from Missouri was saying.

03:50But the Bible tells us we have an obligation to the poor,

03:54but we don't have an obligation to keep them poor.

03:57I love it. It makes sense.

03:59You know, a hand up, not a hand out.

04:01Let's see, Mr. Huzak.

04:04For a couple living in poverty,

04:06how significant are the financial penalties they face if they get married while on welfare?

04:10Well, I'm not an expert on temporary assistance to needy families,

04:15although we've, in 1996, this congress passed a five-year limit on cash welfare,

04:22and cash welfare dropped tremendously in terms of the number of people on it

04:25and helped reduce the poverty rate.

04:28In terms of public housing and voucher housing,

04:32it just doesn't make sense to have two incomes,

04:35or certainly it doesn't make sense to declare two incomes.

04:38And so those of us who are concerned about having formal marriage arrangements

04:44as opposed to partners living together

04:47or not having, you know, the biological parents in the same house,

04:52there's a tremendous incentive for those who would declare legally the incomes that they have.

04:58It's worth noting that in the New York City Housing Authority,

05:00which is the largest in the country,

05:03177,000 units of public housing in New York City, right?

05:07They estimate there's 400,000 legal residents.

05:12They estimate, based on the amount of garbage that's picked up,

05:15that there's 600,000 people living in public housing.

05:18So there may be many other partners in the home,

05:22but they're not declared legally, and that's not a good thing either.

05:26Thank you, and I yield back.

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