The Nation : Congress Gets Welfare Bill

President Reagan sent to Congress legislation to overhaul the welfare system by giving states more latitude to experiment with programs aimed at getting people off the benefit rolls. In a message noting his transmission to Capitol Hill of the Low Income Opportunity Improvement Act of 1987, Reagan maintained that many Americans who are not poor receive public assistance benefits, “even as many others remain in poverty.” A centerpiece of the legislation is a provision that would authorize lawmakers to waive a host of rules and other federal requirements that the President said stand in the way of innovative demonstration projects in states, cities and towns.