Landmark Welfare Reform Bill Advances

Turning aside protests from liberals that the legislation is punitive and inadequate, Senate and House negotiators Tuesday approved a landmark welfare bill that would provide aid recipients with education or training to help them leave welfare rolls and find jobs.

The compromise plan, backed by the White House and bipartisan leadership in both chambers, is scheduled for final approval by Congress this week after an 11th-hour agreement that broke a months-old deadlock.

Under the bill approved by Senate and House conference committee members, welfare parents with children over the age of 3 would be required to participate in basic education courses, job training and job search programs to the extent that funds are available for these programs.

A total of $3.34 billion would be allocated over the next five years to pay for the training and provide transitional Medicaid coverage and child care to welfare recipients during their first year of employment.

Two-Parent Families

In one expansion of benefits, the bill would require all states to pay welfare to two-parent families if the father is unemployed and living with the family. Currently, benefits are required only for one-parent families, and only about half the states pay two-parent families on a voluntary basis.

Despite broad support across party lines for the legislation, it almost came unraveled in the final conference when liberal Democrats attempted to strike a provision that would allow states to pay welfare recipients only the minimum wage--and not the prevailing rates for workers not on welfare--for jobs created to give them work experience.

That move was defeated, 11 to 9, in a vote by House conferees from the Ways and Means and Education and Labor committees. Then all the House conferees--including those from two other committees--voted, 26 to 8, for the compromise bill.

Senate conferees approved the legislation unanimously, 9 to 0, indicating that it would have no trouble clearing the Senate later this week.

Called Far From Perfect

Despite the swift action, even the bill’s sponsors said that it is far from perfect and critics charged that its education and training provisions were weakened too much to do any good. Rep. Augustus F. Hawkins (D-Los Angeles), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, said that Congress could come up with a better plan next year.

Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, however, said that it is the first time in 20 years Congress has managed to change the welfare system in a fundamental way.

Rep. Thomas J. Downey (D-N.Y.), replying to Hawkins, called the bill a vast improvement over current law and said that “the votes aren’t there” to accomplish any more.

Sen. William L. Armstrong (R-Colo.), one of the most conservative conferees, also hailed the measure, saying: “This is a good bill--a good step forward.”

But Rep. Robert T. Matsui (D-Sacramento) disagreed, charging that the work requirements are punitive, adding: “I’m a little ashamed of my party for supporting this bill.”