ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, August 23, 1996 TAG: 9608230079
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: From The Dallas Morning News and The Washington Post
NOTE: Lede
President Clinton signed welfare legislation Thursday that rewrites six decades of social policy, ending the federal guarantee of cash assistance to the poor and turning welfare programs over to the states.
``Today, we are ending welfare as we know it,'' Clinton said. ``But I hope this day will be remembered not for what it ended, but for what it began.''
Clinton's endorsement of the bill fulfills a 1992 campaign promise that came to symbolize his image as a centrist Democrat. Still, he called the legislation ``far from perfect.''
His Republican presidential rival, Bob Dole, accused Clinton of adopting a GOP agenda to get re-elected: ``He's done everything but change parties in the last 30 days.''
The bill imposes a five-year limit on welfare benefits; requires recipients to work within two years; provides $4 billion extra for child care; and gives states the freedom to convert welfare checks into wage subsidies, encouraging employers to hire welfare recipients.
Supporters say it gives powerful new incentives to work, by ending a federal guarantee of aid to the needy that began with the New Deal.
``This probably is the most important piece of legislation in this half-century,'' said Rep. Clay Shaw, R-Fla., a chief drafter of the bill.
Opponents, including many church and charity leaders, say the bill blames the poor for changes in the job market that have made life increasingly hard for uneducated workers over the past few decades. They note that the Congressional Budget Office said the law falls $12 billion short of the amount needed to meet its work requirements.
``A work mandate without real jobs, education, job training and adequate day care will be a cruel joke for millions of families who already have too little hope,'' said Sen. Paul Simon, D-Ill.
Some governors and officials say the law represents abdication, not reform. They charge that it simply rolls problems downhill, and gives states powerful incentives to cut families off welfare even without jobs.
``Unfortunately, the American people are being misled. There is no way we can absorb the federal government's costs all at once,'' said Michael Hightower, president of the National Association of Counties.
``There's going to be real pain from this,'' said Colorado's Democratic Gov. Roy Romer, one of Clinton's guests of honor at the White House signing ceremony. ``In my own state there are some legislators who are saying, `Now we have a chance to cut welfare spending all off.'''
Clinton acknowledged that the bill could lead states in many different directions. ``This is not the end of welfare reform; this is the beginning,'' he said. ``We have to fill in the blanks.''
He did not object to the welfare-related provisions of the bill, but complained about cuts that he said have nothing to do with welfare reform.
The only detailed estimate of the bill's nationwide impact was made by Washington's nonpartisan Urban Institute, which predicted that the bill will drive at least 1.1 million children into poverty and will reduce the incomes of the poorest one-fifth of U.S. households by an average of $1,300 annually.
A U.S. Census Bureau report released Thursday said nearly one-fourth of all children under age 18 received food stamps or some other type of welfare assistance during 1993.
Republican leaders have said they hoped the welfare bill would force Clinton to choose between a veto that would alienate undecided voters and a signature that would anger traditional Democrats.
Dole campaign spokeswoman Christina Martin accused Clinton of ``selling out his own party'' by signing the bill.
Several hundred demonstrators outside the White House echoed that charge. They chanted, ``Shame! Shame! Shame!'' and carried signs reading, ``How many votes are 1 million children worth?''
Among the angry Democrats was one of Clinton's closest friends, Marian Wright Edelman, president of the Children's Defense Fund.
``President Clinton's signature on this pernicious bill makes a mockery of his pledge not to hurt children,'' she said. ``This act will leave a moral blot on his presidency and on our nation that will never be forgotten.''
LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. President Clinton hugs former welfare recipientby CNBLillie Harden of Little Rock, Ark., at the White House Thursday.
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