ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, July 24, 1996 TAG: 9607240059
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune note: above
THE LEGISLATION would hand welfare over to the states and cut into a variety of benefits. But the bill may be headed for a veto.
The Senate passed sweeping legislation Tuesday to hand power over welfare programs to the states, including some provisions that might invite a veto from President Clinton.
The bill would end the 61-year-old Aid to Families With Dependent Children program and slash into food stamp and other federal programs that provide tens of billions of dollars a year in public aid to eligible families.
It was approved 74-24 with broad bipartisan support. It was opposed by 23 Democrats and one Republican, Lauch Faircloth of North Carolina, who thought some elements of the bill were too liberal. Both Virginia senators, Democrat Chuck Robb and Republican John Warner, voted for the bill.
"While this plan is far from perfect, it focuses on the right things - work and responsibility,'' Robb said.
Six of the seven Democrats seeking re-election voted for the bill, including Max Baucus on Montana and liberals Carl Levin of Michigan, Tom Harkin of Iowa, Jay Rockefeller of West Virginia, John Kerry of Massachusetts and Joseph Biden of Delaware.
It's a measure of the perceived popularity of welfare reform that among the Democrats seeking re-election, only Paul Wellstone of Minnesota voted no.
Senate Minority Leader Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., voted no, asserting that it came down too hard on children. ``And what about kids?'' he said. ``When it comes to their safety net, this bill is still too punitive.''
But Majority Leader Trent Lott, R.-Miss., said he was ``shocked to hear the Democratic leader say ... the answer will still be no. There are many here who talk about welfare reform; but when they get right up to it, they back away.''
The legislation, like the House version, would limit lifetime welfare assistance to five years per family and require recipients to accept work if offered after two years on welfare.
The bills would cut welfare and food stamp benefits by roughly $60 billion by 2002, compared with current law. Of that sum, food stamps and other federal nutrition programs, including school lunches, would be slashed about $30 billion.
The legislation also would deny a wide range of benefits - including welfare, disability and Medicaid - to legal immigrants, amounting to $18 billion.
If Clinton signs the welfare overhaul bill, each state would be able to establish its own rules of eligibility and level of benefits.
A House-Senate committee will bring the two bills into agreement, and final approval from both houses is expected by Aug. 4.
Clinton has said repeatedly that he wants to sign the welfare bill, but he has vetoed two earlier proposals., and Republicans dared him to do it again - and risk the wrath of the large majority of voters who say they want reform.
The president said during a Western campaign swing Tuesday that he would sign a truly ``bipartisan'' bill that represented ``real welfare reform.'' And he said he was pleased by a few changes made by the Senate to cushion the bill's impact on children.
But he also indicated the bill did not yet go far enough in meeting his demands: "You can put wings on a pig, but you don't make it an eagle. We want real welfare reform. ... If we can keep this progress up, if we can make it bipartisan, then we can have a real welfare reform bill.''
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