ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 5, 1996 TAG: 9605070020
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
President Clinton directed the states Saturday to keep teen-age mothers, who apply for welfare, in their homes, in school and on track for a job.
The president announced a four-step plan he said would help end the cycle of welfare dependence for teen mothers.
Clinton also renewed his call for the Republican-controlled Congress to pass a welfare reform bill tailored to his specifications, including money for child care to permit parents to take jobs.
``If Congress sends me a welfare reform bill that is tough on work instead of tough on children and weak on work, I will proudly sign it,'' Clinton said in his weekly radio address.
But Republican governors and the House Republican Conference immediately attacked Clinton's overall welfare proposals, saying they keep the system in the hands of federal bureaucrats and sustain welfare as a way of life for millions.
Clinton said: ``We have to make it clear that a baby doesn't give you the right, and won't give you the money, to leave home and drop out of school.
``Today, we are moving to make responsibility a way of life, not an option,'' the president said as he announced these steps directed at the states:
* Require teen-age mothers to stay in school as a condition for receiving welfare. Twenty six of the 50 states already have such a requirement. ```We're going to audit the progress of every state and make the results public,'' the president said.
* Challenge all 50 states to exercise their option to require teen-age mothers to live at home, a step now taken by only 21 states. ``There should be no incentive to leave home for a bigger welfare check,'' Clinton said.
* Authorize states to pay bonuses to teen-age mothers who go to school and complete high school and to cut back the welfare checks of those who don't.
* Require teen-age mothers who have dropped out of the education system and are receiving welfare to go back to school and sign contracts spelling out ``exactly how they're going to take responsibility for their own lives.''
The contracts require the teens to pledge to live at home, work toward finishing high school, attend parenting classes, and establish the paternity of their children in order to help obtain child support. The contract states that benefits may be reduced for noncompliance.
The president said his administration has already slashed red tape to permit 37 states to ``take steps to fix our broken welfare system'' and asserted that welfare and food stamp rolls are down as a result, that teen pregnancy rates have dropped and that more welfare recipients are working.
But Republican governors said they were not impressed.
``Four years ago, Bill Clinton came to Wisconsin and promised to end welfare as we know it,'' said Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson. ``It's now 1996 and Wisconsin has ended welfare but Bill Clinton hasn't done a thing.''
In January, Clinton vetoed the Republican version of welfare reform, contending that the measure would make policy changes and budget cuts that would fall hardest on children and undermine states' ability to move people from welfare to work.
LENGTH: Medium: 63 linesby CNB