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                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 25, 1993                   TAG: 9302250370
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A-12   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

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BRIEFLY PUT . . .

> PRESIDENT Clinton should adhere to his campaign pledge "to end welfare as we know it."

The system doesn't work. Too often, single parenthood, unemployment and dependency are being passed from one generation to the next.

Under Clinton's proposal, welfare would never be, for the employable, a long-term one-way handout. Parents on welfare would be given benefits, as well as job training and education aid. But only for two years. After that, they'd be expected to find a job or, if jobs aren't available, to perform community service in exchange for further assistance.

This is not just a crackdown. Clinton proposes provision of health insurance and wage supplements for single mothers who get married or work their way off welfare - thus changing the incentives so that they promote self-sufficiency and responsibility.

The problem is, many prominent Democrats oppose work requirements - including Donna Shalala, secretary of health and human services. Clinton should reject the bureaucrats' resistance and, for the sake of the poor, end welfare as we know it.

HILLARY RODHAM Clinton's husband has asked her to coordinate efforts to address the health-care crisis. This has her working long hours.

The other day there was a minor health-care crisis in the Clinton family. Chelsea Clinton, at her Sidwell Friends school, didn't feel so good, and needed parental permission to get an aspirin.

According to Newsweek, Chelsea told a school nurse: "Call my dad, my mom's too busy." The nurse did just that and the president came through.

It's good that Chelsea's mom is busy, but it will take more than an aspirin to fix America's health-care system.

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