Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, January 7, 1995 TAG: 9501090045
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: From Knight-Ridder Newspapers and the Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
In a closed-door meeting with 15 GOP governors, the Republican leaders agreed to rewrite the welfare bill, part of their ``Contract With America,'' so that states would have flexibility to run their own programs, according to meeting participants.
Controversial provisions such as ones denying benefits to legal immigrants and unwed teen mothers will be removed from the bill as mandates. States would be given federal money and allowed to enact their own rules aimed at curbing illegitimacy and getting welfare recipients into the workplace.
Still unresolved are what strings, if any, will be attached to the money - such as whether to penalize states that don't reduce their welfare rolls or cut down on the incidence of out-of-wedlock births.
The GOP plan still is expected to require states to limit how long welfare recipients can receive benefits - but likely will leave the details up to the states. It also is expected to include work requirements for welfare recipients, but let states set the rules, according to meeting participants.
The agreement by GOP leaders to back off the House welfare plan represents the first time any of the 10 bills outlined in the House Republican contract has undergone substantial changes.
Meanwhile Friday, Republican congressional leaders also won support from governors once cool toward a balanced-budget amendment. They rejected Democratic efforts to force an explanation of how they'd actually do away with the deficit.
At the White House, President Clinton opened a Democratic strategy session by resolving to resist key parts of the GOP program by painting it as a threat to the economic security of working families.
``I will stand against any effort to roll back or to rock the foundations of the [economic] recovery by proposals that explode the deficit or gimmicks that undermine the integrity of the budget,'' Clinton said.
White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, sharpening the message, demanded that newly installed House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and other Republicans spell out how they plan to balance the federal budget. ``Are they going to cut Medicare? Are they going to cut Social Security? Are they going to cut benefits for veterans?'' he asked. ``The American people need to know that.''
by CNB