For Growing States, GOP Block Grants ‘May Be a Trap,’ Clinton Says

President Clinton on Thursday warned the Florida Legislature that fast-growing states could fall into a fiscal “trap” under GOP plans to convert federal welfare and crime-fighting programs to annual lump sum payments to the states.

Seeking to forge a new alliance in his battle against the Republican proposals, Clinton told a legislative joint session that Congress’ primary purpose in using “block grant” maneuvers is to save itself money.

And while awarding sums could generate a profit for states with stable or declining populations, it could penalize those likely to be forced to stretch the funds across a growing caseload.

A Republican bill approved last week by the House would overhaul the 60-year-old entitlement welfare system, which now provides automatic increases in federal spending when caseloads increase. Another Republican bill would convert spending under the Clinton-backed 1994 crime bill into block grant form, giving states significantly more discretion in how to spend money now specifically earmarked for additional police officers and crime prevention programs.

The bill has passed the House.

The block grant approach can be “very attractive and seductive,” Clinton said. But “for states with high growth, it may be a trap,” he said. “So watch it--read it.”

The warning presumably would apply to California too, which is growing through its natural birthrate as well as from immigration.

The White House and congressional Democrats have been hoping that they could enlist governors and legislatures in their efforts against the block grant plan, which this week gained momentum when Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, endorsed the concept.

Clinton’s remarks, his first to a state legislature as President, came during a three-day swing through the South that increasingly has taken on the cast of a campaign-season swing. In 1992, Clinton campaign officials had hoped to win Florida but lost there, 39% to 41% for President George Bush, with Ross Perot taking 20%.

Clinton’s speech followed a violin performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by a 12-year-old Cuban girl, Lizbet Martinez, who was picked up during the Cuban boat lift last summer in a drifting boat by the U.S. Coast Guard as she played the anthem, a sight said to have brought her rescuers to tears.

The President said that-- through the work of Atty. Gen. Janet Reno, the former Florida prosecutor who accompanied him--the federal government will complete the resettlement of Cuban refugee children formerly encamped with refugees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, “in the very near future.”