Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, August 9, 1995 TAG: 9508090069
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
``We will bring up welfare again on the 5th of September,'' said Majority Leader Robert Dole, R-Kan., after he bowed under pressure from senators and governors of both parties and declared the four-week cease-fire.
``I hope the Senate will place welfare at the top of its agenda in September and take swift action,'' said President Clinton in a written statement. ``It is time to put partisanship and politics aside and get the job done.''
Dole started with only 33 of the 54 Republican senators pledging support for the bill he introduced Saturday. The pause will give him more time to continue the search he began in June for a bill that will attract a 51-vote majority.
``We would like, where we can accommodate different views, to make those changes,'' Dole said. ``It might avoid a lot of amendments later on.''
Combatants on all sides expressed relief at the delay.
Most senators agree that reforms should change welfare to workfare, set time limits for benefits, give states more flexibility and restrict aid to some groups such as teen-age mothers and immigrants. But after two days of public speeches and private negotiations, many also said they wanted more time to avoid gridlock over the details.
``I think we are closer to consensus than we were two days ago,'' said Sen. Phil Gramm, R-Texas, one of the conservatives who said Dole's bill didn't go far enough. Gramm said his staff and Dole's were meeting ``to find language on which we can agree.''
The delay creates ``an opportunity on both sides of the aisle to come together in a significant way to address welfare reform,'' said Sen. Nancy Kassebaum, R-Kan., one of the moderates who thought parts of Dole's bill went too far.
``Clearly the pending Republican bill needs more work,'' said Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts, one of the Democrats who support a rival bill. ``No welfare reform bill that fails to deal adequately with child care and job training deserves to pass.''
``Negotiations are continuing'' within and between the Senate's Democratic and Republican caucuses, said Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. He said the delay ``enhances the chances of success,'' because it gives the sponsors of more than 50 proposed amendments ``a chance to think through their amendments'' and decide which are crucial and which, while desirable, could be dropped.
Dole called for the delay after he and other Republicans spent several hours at a strategy session with Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, a Republican who last week became chairman of the bipartisan National Governors Association.
Because the governors must run welfare programs, their views influence many senators and the president. At the start of this week's debate, the governors still were split along strict party lines.
``Since then, we've reached [bipartisan] agreement on most issues,'' Thompson told reporters Tuesday. ``But on three points there are still disagreements.''
He said the partisan splits yet to be bridged concern child care for children of working welfare recipients, a proposed switch from entitlements to block grants, and whether to require states to spend as much on workfare as they did on welfare.
``I think it would be very helpful to get the governors involved,'' Daschle said.
by CNB