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

DATE: MONDAY, January 23, 1995                   TAG: 9501240064
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Boston Globe
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

DOLE PLANS TO SEEK PRESIDENCY IN 1996

Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole predicted Sunday on CBS' ``Face the Nation'' that he will run for president. He staked out moderate turf on issues like welfare, immigration, gun control and the balanced budget.

Asked when he would make a formal announcement of his presidential candidacy, with money already being raised under the name of an exploratory committee, Dole said ``sometime in April or late March.''

``You're running?'' asked CBS newsman Robert Schieffer.

``I think so,'' Dole said. ``Last time I checked.''

Dole also said Congress should not, and would not, cut off all benefits to young welfare mothers who cannot find a job.

Asked if he sided with House Republicans who say benefits should be cut off if welfare mothers can't find a job, Dole said: ``I don't think it's going to happen. ... I don't believe we can do that. I wouldn't recommend that.''

Dole, whose own family at times relied on public relief during his childhood days in the Depression, said government ``still has an obligation'' to help the poor.

``If you can't find a job, if you can do every other thing you try to do to find some alternative and you can't find it, somebody has to take care of the child,'' Dole said. ``In this case, children - babies having babies.''

Dole also said he disagreed with efforts to curb welfare spending by denying benefits to legal immigrants.

Dole's comments on welfare, if they reflect the Senate's political mood, make it more likely that Congress may pass a bipartisan welfare bill that President Clinton can sign.

Clinton has said he will oppose legislation that would terminate welfare benefits for unwed mothers aged 18 and under and their children.

Dole's stand puts him at odds with House speaker Newt Gingrich and the other authors of the GOP's ``Contract With America.''

The Kansas senator said he personally supported the call for a balanced-budget amendment that would require a three-fifths vote of Congress to increase taxes, but that ``it would not pass in the Senate.'' He also said a GOP call to repeal the ban on assault weapons sales would fail in the Senate.

Keywords:
POLITICS

by CNB