Democratic Women, Welfare

* Jessica Yellin missed the point in her take on the role of House Democratic women in the welfare reform debate (“A Slip-Up in the Sisterhood,” Commentary, April 12). Were it not for the aggressiveness and compassion of the Democratic women, the debate over welfare reform would have been much more narrow, and the GOP welfare bill would have been much more tough on women and children. Two examples illustrate this clearly.

The original Republican welfare bill made no attempt to crack down on parents who skip paying child support, despite the fact that over 300,000 women and 500,000 children could move off the welfare rolls immediately if they received the back due support.

Following intense pressure from Democratic women, Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee agreed to include child support enforcement in their welfare bill, but not the tough measures, like revoking the professional licenses of deadbeat parents, that were offered by the Democratic women. Ironically, the same Democratic measures rejected by Ways and Means were eventually embraced by the Republican leadership and overwhelmingly approved by the full House, only this time Republicans got credit for them.

Likewise, the original Republican welfare bill demanded that women go to work, but made that impossible by making huge cuts in child care. Democratic women pointed out the GOP’s schizophrenic policy and demanded more child care. The GOP refused. After further outcry from the Democratic women, the Republican leadership gave in and increased child care funds, although not by nearly enough.

Considering that the bill was rammed through the House to meet a deadline Newt Gingrich’s Republicans set for themselves in a TV Guide advertisement last fall, it is a testament to the 31 Democratic women that they were able to force these major changes in such a partisan and charged atmosphere. By no means did these improvements make the Republican welfare bill acceptable to the Democratic women, but without their hard work and commitment, poor women and children would be in far greater danger.

REP. LYNN WOOLSEY

Co-Chair, House Democratic Task Force on Welfare Reform

D-Petaluma