DES MOINES, April 6 (UPI) -- U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kansas, said in Des Moines, Iowa, that welfare reform should encourage low-income people to marry.
"One of the things we need to do is drive up the number of people who get married," the Republican presidential hopeful said as he chatted with attendees at the Iowa Prayer Breakfast, the Des Moines (Iowa) Register reported Friday.
Brownback said current welfare recipients stand to lose 88 percent of their aid by getting married.
"People act economically rational," he said. "They are just not going to do that."
Brownback promoted a marriage development account program he said Congress started two years ago.
Brownback was not a speaker at the morning event, where some Republicans said they want a candidate who is conservative on moral issues such as abortion and gay marriage.
"I don't think there's a clear candidate who stands for the moral values of our country," Des Moines resident Jim Hugley told the Register.
