Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) on Thursday said that the federal government uses welfare to “lure” women into “servitude.”

“We need to encourage and incentivize young women, not declare war on them by leading them into ruts like the Democrats did. You want to see who cares? It’s the people that try to help them reach their potential, not lure them into servitude away from it,” Gohmert said on “Fox and Friends,” while arguing that welfare checks make women dependent on the government. “So, the problem is the government, not those single moms.”

Gohmert was defending remarks he made on the House floor earlier in January about fraud, during which he said women had children in order to receive welfare checks.

“I heard the story over and over and over, how as a young girl in high school she was bored with high school and someone suggested, ‘Well, why don’t you just drop out of high school and have a baby and then the government will send you a check?'” he said on the House floor. “It began to really eat away with me that in the ’60s the federal government, desiring to help poor moms who were dealing with deadbeat dads that weren’t helping, decided, ‘We’ll help, we’ll give a check for every child you can have out of wedlock.'”

On Thursday Gohmert defended his comments, noting that he blamed the federal government for welfare abuse, not single moms.

“The left tried to say was attacking single moms,” he said. “What got me is, for so many young women the government — meaning well — lured them into a hole or a rut they couldn’t get out of.”

Gohmert thanked “Fox and Friends” host Brian Kilmeade for letting him clear the air.

“Literally, Brian, thank God for Fox News,” Gohmert said. “You give the truth out. You get actually what was said.”

Watch the full Fox interview with Gohmert:

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H/t Mediaite