Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company  
The Boston Globe
March 12, 2002, Tuesday ,THIRD EDITION
SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A3

LENGTH: 514 words

HEADLINE: MARRIAGE IS GOAL IN WELFARE BILL

BYLINE: By Mary Leonard, Globe Staff

BODY:
WASHINGTON - The GOP lawmaker who will guide new welfare legislation through the House said yesterday that his top priorities are promoting marriage and requiring work for people who "aren't doing anything" for their welfare checks.

Representative Wally Herger of Chico, Calif., chairman of the human resources subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters he would try to work with House Democrats on a bipartisan bill.

    But Herger said he was prepared to move his own version of a bill reauthorizing the 1996 welfare overhaul to the House floor by May.

A father of nine children, Herger said he hoped to provide financial incentives for states to create programs to encourage single mothers to marry the fathers of their children.

"It's tough enough to raise children with two parents, let alone one," Herger said.

Saying there were "very negative results" for children raised in poverty with one parent, he said, "We must work to do something about it."

Herger called welfare re author i zation "one of the most important pieces of legislation coming through the House this year" and said he agreed with President Bush that it was essential to stiffen work requirements for people now receiving federal cash assistance.

Herger said he was disturbed by data, collected most recently by the Department of Health and Human Services in 1998-1999, that show that 57.6 percent of those still on welfare are not working at a job. Since 1996, welfare caseloads are down nearly 60 percent across the country, the result, at least in part, of work requirements and time limits on federal cash assistance, both provisions of the welfare law.

Federal law requires states to have 50 percent of welfare recipients in work activity. States then get credit for moving more clients to work and have considerable flexibility in what they will require of those still on the rolls. Herger suggested that some states may be "gaming the system."

Deborah Harris of the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute said that many of those who continue to receive welfare today have substantial barriers to work, including disabilities, substance or domestic abuse issues, or very young children.

"Half of those remaining on the caseload in Massachusetts either have serious, identified disabilities or are caring for someone with a disability," Harris said.

Ninety-one percent of adults on welfare in Massachusetts are exempt from all work requirements. The state operates under a 1995 welfare-reform waiver that exempts it from the mandates of the federal welfare law.

Under the president's welfare proposal, all federal waivers would be abolished. But Herger indicated that he would examine how well waivers had worked and might allow some states to continue operating under them.

Massachusetts welfare officials say that losing the waiver would require a significant restructuring of the state program. Between 1995 and January 2002, the state's caseload dropped from 103,472 to 46,150, a 55 percent decline.

Mary Leonard can be reached at mleonard@globe.com.

LOAD-DATE: March 13, 2002