ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 21, 1996 TAG: 9605210071
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
PRESIDENT Clinton's praise for Wisconsin's welfare-reform plan - and his suggestion that he would sign, if Congress offered it, a similar proposal into federal law - cannot be dismissed as just another political ploy.
To be sure, it's a shrewd move politically. Wisconsin's governor, the chief architect of that state's welfare reform, is Tommy Thompson, a prominent Republican. In his Saturday radio address, Clinton clearly meant to demonstrate that the obstacles to bipartisan, national welfare reform don't reside in the White House. As with other issues, from federal downsizing to family values, Clinton has maneuvered to take the edge off potential GOP criticism by agreeing with "reasonable" conservative positions.
Even so, the president's kind words for Wisconsin's experiment are entirely consistent with his long-held views regarding welfare, starting with his campaign promise four years ago "to end welfare as we know it." Clinton erred horrendously by trying to reform health care before welfare, but he has remained committed to overhauling a system that breeds intergenerational dependency.
Indeed, the president has quietly encouraged state welfare experimentation across the country, approving 60 waivers of federal rules in 38 states - Virginia included. Earlier this month he issued an executive order holding states accountable for withdrawing welfare benefits from teen-age mothers who drop out of school. The order also allows states to provide bonuses to mothers who do stay in school, and requires states to help fund child care - a critical feature of carrot-and-stick incentives.
Under Wisconsin's plan, called "Wisconsin Works," not just welfare as we know it but welfare itself is ended. If you're able-bodied, you have to go to work.
The state will help the needy get jobs - if necessary with a wage subsidy to encourage employers to take chances on unskilled workers. If no private-sector jobs are available, workers will be given community-service jobs. They'll have five years to move into unsubsidized private-sector jobs. Meantime, child care and health care are guaranteed. And child-support from non-custodial parents is more vigorously enforced.
Gov. Thompson's proposal puts work at the center of reform, where it belongs. But it also acknowledges that to succeed in making workers of welfare-dependents, reform will cost more before it begins saving money.
If the Clinton administration is assured of accountability for continued investment in support services such as child care, as well as for monitoring and relief of effects on innocent children, the administration ought to grant Wisconsin the waiver from federal rules that it seeks.
Congress, meanwhile, should try harder to produce a national welfare-reform plan that the president could sign. Good politics and good policy needn't be at odds.
LENGTH: Medium: 55 linesby CNB