Survey: Welfare Will Stay Same for Many

As deadlines approach for states to change the way they handle welfare, lawmakers in many statehouses are preparing deeper spending cuts than those ordered by the federal government--or have already imposed them. Yet a 50-state survey by the Associated Press indicates large numbers of people will see little immediate effect. Some states actually will receive more federal money per recipient this year than before. The reason is that block-grant federal payments that will go to the states were calculated, in part, on each state’s 1994 or 1995 welfare caseload. Since then, welfare rolls have declined in many states, either because of tough new work requirements, a generally favorable statewide economy or a combination of the two. The result, at least for 1997: more federal money for fewer welfare recipients.