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Ford Press Releases - Welfare, 1972-1973
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Ford Press Releases - Welfare, 1972-1973
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The original documents are located in Box D9, folder "Ford Press Releases - Welfare,
1972-1973" of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the
Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
House Galleries only
affice Copy
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
March 24, 1972
The Welfare Rights Organization is engaging in an irresponsible act in
using the school children of the District of Columbia as political pawns. The
WRO is exploiting D.C. school children as a part of the political games it is
playing to promote ridiculously high welfare payments. If WRO really were
concerned about the welfare of children, it would not expose them to possible
injury by herding them together for a mass march. I believe that in the
interests of the health and safety of D.C. school children, Mayor Walter
Washington should revoke the permit for Saturday's so-called "Children's March
for Survival." I would add that D.C. school officials and those D.C. School
Board members lending themselves to this ridiculous political exercise are to
be condemned for allowing the schools to be used in this propaganda maneuver.
###
Digitized from Box D9 of The Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
--FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE--
March 24, 1972
The Welfare Rights Organization is engaging in an irresponsible act in
using the school children of the District of Columbia as political pawns. The
WRO is exploiting D.C. school children as a part of the political games it is
playing to promote ridiculously high welfare payments. If WRO really were
concerned about the welfare of children, it would not expose them to possible
injury by herding them together for a mass march. I believe that in the
interests of the health and safety of D.C. school children, Mayor Walter
Washington should revoke the permit for Saturday's so-called "Children's March
for Survival." I would add that D.C. school officials and those D.C. School
Board members lending themselves to this ridiculous political exercise are to
be condemned for allowing the schools to be used in this propaganda maneuver.
###
Dr Fifth District Only
a Office Copy
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
THURSDAY 11
FOR RELEASE AT 12 NOON WEDNESDAY JAN. 10, 1973, AND THEREAFTER
Rep. Gerald R. Ford today introduced a bill aimed at ending welfare cheating
which deprives merchants of payment for their wares.
The Ford bill is directed at welfare recipients who buy a needed appliance,
such as a stove or refrigerator, but don't pay for it with the welfare funds they
are given for that purpose.
Ford said his bill would allow a state, in its discretion, to use the dual
signature method of making welfare payments to families with dependent children.
This "restricted" or vendor payment insures that the money owed the merchant will
be paid, Ford said.
At present, a State can employ the dual signature method of disbursing
welfare funds but only where the welfare recipient has demonstrated an inability to
manage money. Also, the dual signature practice must be limited to 10 per cent of
the entire welfare load.
The Ford bill would provide clear-cut Federal authority for State discretion
in the use of vendor payments. This would eliminate any possibility that the State
would lose Federal matching funds.
"This legislation is important in terms of justice to the merchant and
improved operation of our welfare system, which is badly in need of reform,"
Ford said.
"We shouldn't have any cheating in the welfare system," he continued.
"When the public sees welfare cheating, even if it is practiced by only a few, the
public loses faith in the entire system and gets the impression that everyone on
welfare cheats. My bill would improve matters for everyone concerned --- those on
welfare, the merchant, and the public-at-large."
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE AT 12 NOON THURSDAY, JAN. 11, 1973, AND THEREAFTER
Rep. Gerald R. Ford today introduced a bill aimed at ending welfare cheating
which deprives merchants of payment for their wares.
The Ford bill is directed at welfare recipients who buy a needed appliance,
such as a stove or refrigerator, but don't pay for it with the welfare funds they
are given for that purpose.
Ford said his bill would allow a state, in its discretion, to use the dual
signature method of making welfare payments to families with dependent children.
This "restricted" or vendor payment insures that the money owed the merchant will
be paid, Ford said.
At present, a State can employ the dual signature method of disbursing
welfare funds but only where the welfare recipient has demonstrated an inability to
manage money. Also, the dual signature practice must be limited to 10 per cent of
the entire welfare load.
The Ford bill would provide clear-cut Federal authority for State discretion
in the use of vendor payments. This would eliminate any possibility that the State
would lose Federal matching funds.
"This legislation is important in terms of justice to the merchant and
improved operation of our welfare system, which is badly in need of reform,"
Ford said.
"We shouldn't have any cheating in the welfare system," he continued.
"When the public sees welfare cheating, even if it is practiced by only a few, the
public loses faith in the entire system and gets the impression that everyone on
welfare cheats. My bill would improve matters for everyone concerned -- those on
welfare, the merchant, and the public-at-large."
###
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
For Release Thursday, Jan. 18, 1973
Rep. Gerald R. Ford Thursday reintroduced his "runaway pappy" bill, a piece
of legislation aimed at fathers who have fled to other states to escape paying
child support.
The Ford bill would make child support orders enforceable in Federal
courts. It would bring Federal authority to bear on the problem of non-support
by husbands and fathers who shirk their parental responsibilities.
Ford said passage of his bill would give legal sanction to the moral and
social obligations every husband has to take care of his family.
"The main purpose of the bill," Ford said, "is to try to deter a man from
leaving a state to avoid paying for child support under an order obtained against
him."
The Ford bill grants jurisdiction to Federal officials to act in those cases
where a man flees from one state to another to evade his obligations under a divorce
decree or child support order issued by a state court. The bill makes it a crime
for a man to move out of the state to avoid obeying the state court order.
The states cannot get uniform state action on this matter, and the cost of
extradition from one state to another is too great for a state or local government,
Ford said.
Ford stated: "We need the help of the Federal government to get at husbands
and fathers who refuse to support their children and flee to another state to
escape their responsibilities. I think we should throw the forces of the Federal
government into pursuit of fathers who run off and leave their families with no
means of support. A man who abandons his children is just as much a felon as the
man who steals an automobile.'
Under the proposed Federal law, nonsupport cases would be heard by Federal
courts in the state where the fugitive father is residing at the time. He would
be given the option of supporting his children or going to jail. It would not be
necessary to return the man to the state where the nonsupport or desertion charges
had been brought.
# #
7 ifth District Only
affice Cory
CONGRESSMAN
NEWS
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
For Release Thursday, Jan. 18, 1973
Rep. Gerald R. Ford Thursday reintroduced his "runaway pappy" bill, a piece
of legislation aimed at fathers who have fled to other states to escape paying
child support.
The Ford bill would make child support orders enforceable in Federal
courts. It would bring Federal authority to bear on the problem of non-support
by husbands and fathers who shirk their parental responsibilities.
Ford said passage of his bill would give legal sanction to the moral and
social obligations every husband has to take care of his family.
"The main purpose of the bill," Ford said, "is to try to deter a man from
leaving a state to avoid paying for child support under an order obtained against
him."
The Ford bill grants jurisdiction to Federal officials to act in those cases
where a man flees from one state to another to evade his obligations under a divorce
decree or child support order issued by a state court. The bill makes it a crime
for a man to move out of the state to avoid obeying the state court order.
The states cannot get uniform state action on this matter, and the cost of
extradition from one state to another is too great for a state or local government,
Ford said.
Ford stated: "We need the help of the Federal government to get at husbands
and fathers who refuse to support their children and flee to another state to
escape their responsibilities. I think we should throw the forces of the Federal
government into pursuit of fathers who run off and leave their families with no
means of support. A man who abandons his children is just as much a felon as the
man who steals an automobile."
Under the proposed Federal law, nonsupport cases would be heard by Federal
courts in the state where the fugitive father is residing at the time. He would
be given the option of supporting his children or going to jail. It would not be
necessary to return the man to the state where the nonsupport or desertion charges
had been brought.
###
Full Distribution
O Office Copy
NEWS
CONGRESSMAN
GERALD R. FORD
HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADER
RELEASE
FOR RELEASE AT 12 NOON FRIDAY--
February 9, 1973
Note to Correspondents: Please see attached letter to HEW Secretary Caspar
Weinberger.
Rep. Gerald R. Ford today urged HEW Secretary Caspar Weinberger to order an
HEW policy change which would enable states to wipe out welfare cheating.
Ford asked Weinberger to allow states discretionary use of the dual payee
system of making payments to welfare recipients--the requirement that payment for
specific goods, services or items be in the form of checks which are drawn jointly
to the order of the recipient and the person furnishing the goods, services or items
and negotiable only upon endorsement by both such recipient and such person.
The need for such restrictive payments is made clear by a study conducted in
Genesee County, Michigan by the Michigan Department of Social Services and the
Genesee County Dental Society, Ford said.
This study showed that in cases where dental work was performed on welfare
recipients, only 50 per cent of the money sent to those recipients for payment of
their dental bills was actually used for that purpose.
R. Bernard Houston, director of the Michigan Department of Social Services,
has informed Ford: "The conclusion (of those making the Genesee County study) was
that if public accountability and recipients' dental and optometric needs were of
any concern, the need for change in the payment system was scarcely arguable."
Payment for needed services to welfare recipients is part of their cash
grant in Michigan.
In a letter to Ford, Houston said: "This worked fairly well for a while, but
as caseloads increased abuse increased. To be specific, many recipients received
payment for authorized service and never returned to receive the service, or if
received, did not pay for it. The incidence of this abuse reached such proportions
that many individual doctors and, in some instances, county professional societies
refused further service to welfare recipients.'
Ford has introduced a bill, H.R. 1750, which would give the states
discretionary power to use the dual payee system as much as they wish without losing
Federal welfare payments.
HEW restricts use of the dual payee system to 10 per cent of the welfare
caseload and then only to cases where the recipient has demonstrated inability to
manage money.
Ford said he would be delighted to see Weinberger order the policy change,
making his dual payee bill unnecessary.
###
GERALD R. FORD
FIFTH DISTRICT, MICHIGAN
MICHIGAN OFFICE:
425 CHERRY STREET SE.
GRAND RAPIDS
ZIP 49502
Congress of the United States
Office of the Minority Leader
house of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20515
February 7, 1973
The Honorable Caspar Weinberger
Secretary
Department of Health, Education
and Welfare
Washington, D. C.
Dear Mr. Secretary:
I am writing you with regard to welfare cheating--the failure of persons
on welfare to pay for items or services with funds provided them for
that purpose.
The remedy for such cheating is the dual payee system-the requirement
that payment for specific goods, services or items be in the form of
checks which are drawn jointly to the order of the recipient and the
persons furnishing the goods, services or other items and negotiable
only upon endorsement by both such recipient and such person.
This would apply, for instance, to the payment of rent, payments for
dental and optometric services, and the purchase of such appliances as
a refrigerator.
Michigan has sought to use this dual signature method of assuring pay-
ment for services and goods provided to welfare recipients since
February 1971. But HEW has consistently maintained that the dual
signature method can only be used where welfare recipients have demon-
strated inability to manage money--and even then it must be restricted
to 10 per cent of the welfare caseload.
R. Bernard Houston, director of the Michigan Department of Social
Services, maintains that the policy being pursued by HEW is unrealistic--
and I agree.
I have introduced legislation (H.R. 1750) which would allow a State
discretionary use of the dual signature method in cases involving aid
to dependent children. States would be permitted to use the dual
signature method broadly without risking loss of Federal welfare payments.
The Honorable Caspar Weinberger
February 7, 1973
Page 2
However, Mr. Houston believes that HEW can remedy the present situation
simply through a change in regulations.
I therefore urge that you, as Secretary of HEW, order a change in
policy to allow states to use the dual signature method without loss
of Federal assistance. Even if it were possible to gain enactment of
H.R. 1750 in a relatively short time, I would be glad to see the
objective accomplished through departmental regulation.
I hope I may have a reply from you in the near future.
Best regards,
/s/ Jerry Ford
Gerald R. Ford, M.C.
GRF:pc