Clinton Pushes Programs to Cut Welfare Dependency

President Clinton used the latest report of shrinking welfare rolls--cut nearly in half since 1993--to prod Congress for child care, housing and transportation programs that he said will move even more welfare recipients into jobs.

He also announced final regulations that give states greater leeway in using federal welfare grants to set up such programs themselves.

“With these steps, we can make the legacy of welfare dependency a memory of the 20th century,” Clinton said in Saturday’s weekly radio address.

Rep. J.C. Watts Jr. of Oklahoma, chairman of the House Republican Conference, responded by calling Clinton’s ideas “warmed-over Great Society thinking.”

Nationally, more than 7.6 million Americans were receiving public assistance at the end of December, down from almost 8 million at the end of September and 14.3 million in 1994, he said.

“You can see the evidence of our progress in communities across our country,” Clinton said. “You can see it on inner-city streets where a new storefront--tax preparing businesses--are helping people file their income tax returns, some for the very first time in their lives.

“April 15 may not be the most favorite day for Americans, but for these people it’s a cause for celebration.”

Earlier this year, the president announced that the number of people on welfare had fallen to its lowest level in 30 years. Saturday’s figures show a further decrease of 340,000 recipients in the three months from October through December 1998.

The new regulations enforce part of the welfare overhaul law that Congress enacted in 1996 and hold states to task for moving welfare recipients into jobs.

Although Clinton said the rules also make it easier for states to use existing welfare block grants to pay for welfare-to-work social services, he also pushed Congress for additional child care, transportation, job training and housing money.

“The president still doesn’t get it,” said Watts. “He continues to demonstrate his belief that the answer to every American challenge is money spent by the Washington bureaucracy.”