Copyright 2002 Globe Newspaper Company  
The Boston Globe
April 10, 2002, Wednesday ,THIRD EDITION
SECTION: NATIONAL/FOREIGN; Pg. A2

LENGTH: 828 words

HEADLINE: THE NATION;
A BATTLE IS BREWING IN CONGRESS OVER GOP WELFARE PLANS

BYLINE: By Mary Leonard, Globe Staff

BODY:
WASHINGTON - House Republican leaders, determined to move more welfare recipients off the rolls and into jobs, intend to unveil legislation today that would make tougher work requirements the centerpiece of welfare policy for the next five years.

But the Republican proposal to renew the 1996 welfare-overhaul law, which largely mirrors a plan put forward by President Bush in February, is running into unexpectedly stiff opposition from some Democrats, governors, and welfare advocates. They say Congress should focus on supporting low-wage workers through education, training, and child care, instead of mandates that could force states to set up unpaid public-works programs to reduce caseloads.

   The GOP bill requires welfare recipients to be engaged in "work activities" that could include training for 40 hours a week, up from 30 hours under current rules, and in jobs for 24 hours a week, up from 20 hours, said Christin Tinsworth, a spokeswoman for Republican members of the House Ways and Means Committee.

"This is an important step, since 40 hours is the normal work period for all Americans," Tommy Thompson, secretary of health and human services, told the House Committee on Education and the Workforce yesterday. "We want the men and women who are transitioning from welfare to understand what will be demanded of them in the real world."

The Republican plan also would require states to gradually move 70 percent of their remaining welfare caseloads to work by 2007, and it would reduce the credit that states now receive when they move clients from welfare to work. The credit has allowed many states to sidestep the current work requirement, now at 50 percent of the caseload, and keep on public assistance many people with young children, disabilities, substance abuse problems, and other barriers to work.

Representative John Boehner, an Ohio Republican who chairs the Education and Workforce Committee, said it was unacceptable that 58 percent of welfare recipients nationally - about 800,000 - are not participating in any work activities. "We still have work to do," he said.

Nationally, welfare caseloads have dropped more than 50 percent since 1996. In Massachusetts, 50,000 people have left the rolls since 1995, when the state received a federal waiver that allowed changes in its welfare system. The GOP reauthorization proposal, which expires Sept. 30, would extend for five years the annual $16.5 billion block grant that states share for cash welfare benefits and family support programs, and add $300 million for programs to promote marriage among welfare recipients.

House leaders say they hope to move the bill through the Ways and Means Committee by the end of the month and to a floor vote by Memorial Day.

Democrats at the welfare hearing yesterday urged Thompson to help craft a bipartisan bill that put as much emphasis on reducing poverty as on requiring work. "Work is important, but shouldn't we ask about the quality of that work and whether it will give people the ability to move up the economic ladder?" asked Representative Tim Roemer, an Indiana Democrat.

According to a recent survey by the National Governors' Association, welfare officials in 38 states, including Massachusetts, report that the GOP work rules would require them to create costly community-service "make-work" jobs and divert resources used now to train and support clients moving into wage-paying jobs in the private sector.

Claire McIntire, Massachusetts' welfare commissioner, said stricter rules on work would force the state to create workfare programs and put new strains on the agency's tight budget, which already has required recent cuts in programs and staff.

Opponents of the GOP measure say they expect House Republicans to pass it largely intact. But they are counting on the Senate Finance Committee to produce a bipartisan bill that is more flexible and supportive for people moving off welfare.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy met with advocacy groups last week and expressed "profound concern" that the work requirements proposed by the president and House Republicans would hurt families, said one participant. The Massachusetts Democrat told the group he was interested in holding hearings on how a 40-hour-week rule would affect the need for subsidized child care.

Kennedy also said he will attempt to protect the federal waiver that allowed Massachusetts to experiment with welfare changes before the 1996 law was enacted. Under the waiver - which the GOP bill would abolish - Massachusetts set up its own rules for work, training, and time limits for welfare recipients. Under the state program, 34,000 welfare recipients in the state, or 91 percent of the current caseload, is exempt from work requirements.

At the hearing yesterday, Thompson told Representative John Tierney, a Salem Democrat, that the waiver issue was negotiable. "It's not a big thing for me," Thompson said.

LOAD-DATE: April 10, 2002