Compromise Isn’t a Dirty Word After All : Governors agree on issues that figure in federal impasse

The Medicaid and welfare overhaul endorsed by the nation’s Republican and Democratic governors provides a lesson in bipartisan compromise that should prove instructive for a bitterly partisan Congress and a White House that also is playing hardball. Though vague and imperfect, the governors’ proposals provide at the very least a decent starting point for renewed negotiations on these two big-ticket spending items that have contributed to the prolonged federal budget deadlock.

President Clinton, a former president of the National Governors Assn., praised the plan. So did Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.), who covets the White House and therefore has no political motivation to be collegial. House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), the most inflexible participant in the Washington negotiations, also lauded the governors’ work.

But the praise isn’t universal; both liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans are finding a lot not to like about the governors’ proposal. The House is expected to hold hearings as early as Feb. 20; the Senate also plans hearings.

That timing could work well for Dole, who will run hard in the Feb. 20 New Hampshire presidential primary. A better than expected showing in the nation’s first primary would strengthen Dole’s hand at the negotiating table.

With the current political carping, a deal is far from a given. Maybe the uncivil Congress needs reminding that good governance requires compromise.

The governors have great credibility on these issues because states share the costs of welfare and Medicaid with the federal government. Savings are a paramount issue, whether this debate is held in a statehouse, Congress or the White House.

On Medicaid, the Republican governors, led by Wisconsin’s Tommy Thompson, a veteran architect of state welfare reform, gained endorsement of greater flexibility in how states run the health care program for the poor. In the agreement, the Democratic governors, led by Nevada’s Robert Miller, nailed down a guarantee of health coverage for the poor and an important federal safeguard for the disabled. The secretary of health and human services would retain final approval over who qualified for disability-related coverage.

That’s a start, but the devil is in the details. Some in Congress will surely question the proposed eligibility guidelines. Under the governors’ Medicaid proposal, children up to the age of 12 are guaranteed coverage, but it is less clear whether their poor mothers would remain eligible. That change could deprive millions of women in California of access to medical care.

On welfare, the GOP governors gained the freedom to change state welfare programs without seeking federal permission, a painfully slow process. And, the Democratic governors gained an additional $4 billion in child-care subsidies for welfare recipients who go to work. Inadequate child-care subsidies were one reason cited by Clinton when he vetoed the Republican welfare overhaul in December.

The governors’ plan is clearly unfinished, but there is merit in their effort, especially if it gets Republicans and Democrats back to the negotiating table in Washington.