Newt Gingrich on Fox Business Channel's Kudlow | May 5, 2021

NEWT:

Sure. The essence was, that we believed that encouraging dependency crippled lives, set a terrible example for the children, limited incomes, and basically the entire welfare system had been designed around coaching people into being dependent and doing nothing. So, we fundamentally changed it. Every welfare office in the country became an employment office. We set up standards for people to go to work, part-time initially and then full time. We had the best improvement in child, children and poverty in American history up to that point. I think Trump probably matched it in January and February. Prior to that nobody had seen that and what happened of course is, incomes go up for the family. The children are better off. The government is spending less on welfare. As people go to work, they start paying taxes. It was a totally win-win model and the left hated it. They, they're desperate for a society in which a large part are dependent on government, which they can buy their votes as only source of revenue that they have. It is a very deep philosophical fight.

NEWT:

Well, look, when it passed the house, we carried the Democrats exactly even, 101 Democrats voted yes, 101 voted no. So, almost everything we did for four years was bipartisan because we knew if we didn't get Clinton's support, it wouldn't go into law. So, four consecutive balanced budgets, reform of the food and drug administration. Reform of telecommunications, all these things were bipartisan. We would fight, we had partisan fights, but we were very careful to keep the two separate and I'm very proud of the welfare reform bill because we also did something by Washington standards was very radical. We went out to governors, like Thompson of Wisconsin, Holland in Virginia, Engler in Michigan, we said to them, will you loan us your people? And their best welfare people came in, people that actually ran the departments. People who knew reality. Federal staff hated it. They were theoreticians and up there with everything, and making it work with people out in the countryside. That was the key why it worked. We had very practical common-sense people who had been in the business, in the field, knew what they were doing, and it was remarkable effort of creative reform.

NEWT:

Well, because of their left-wing idealogues, who believe in a radically different America. They think it is terrific if they give you enough money and you don't go to work. They don't think about the effect that has on your children. We thought it was important for children to see their parents get up and go to a job. We thought it would shape their lives. Left-wing Democrats believe that if you can live off of the government the rest of your life, that's fine. They believe that if they can give you enough money to live in public housing, give you enough money for, for government-provided health care, give you enough money to, you can sit at home, this is why they passed an additional unemployment amount. There are articles all over the country about restaurants and others who can't get workers.

Because people are sitting at home being practical. I get this much out of the government, why would I go to work? I think you will see a surge in employment in September if the extended unemployment benefits are allowed to run out which I think we probably will be.

NEWT:

Yeah. Look, this changes the whole culture from a culture of opportunity and striving and risk-taking, to a culture of passivity and being taken care of by something else. I think that it is extraordinarily dangerous to the country. Remember this has been a long fight. Even before we won a majority in '94, I was teaching a course on renewing American civilization. We had a section in there people like Jesse Jackson would sneer at hamburger flipping jobs, people that worked at McDonald's and burger king, because they learned the first rule, show up for work. The second rule, take care of the customer. The third rule, have accurate accounting, you need to learn enough math to close out the cash register. All these things are the first step on the ladder of success. And the left believe that is it is too demeaning. That it’s better to be indolent, do nothing, live off the government. Your dignity is better served by sitting around waiting for your next government check. It's a terrible model. It has never worked. It will not work this time. And the country will presently rebel against it, repudiate it.