THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, February 9, 1996 TAG: 9602090025
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Most Americans appear to favor a bipartisan, split-the-difference deal between president and Congress to balance the budget, in part by reforming welfare and entitlements. Wall Street, a core Republican constituency, has signaled a preference for compromise over confrontation. Now, the nation's governors have shown such a compromise is more than wishful thinking.
On Tuesday, the state leaders unanimously endorsed plans to reform welfare and Medicaid and urged the president and Congress to follow their lead. They may. President Clinton described the proposals as ``a huge step in the right direction.'' Majority leader Bob Dole was similarly upbeat.
The Medicaid solution the governors propose is one that has seemed obvious, almost inescapable, all along. Many governors believe that Washington red tape wastes millions and prevents the states from providing efficient services to the poor and disabled - including many elderly nursing-home patients.
Critics have worried that giving states block grants and carte blanche was likely to doom patients, especially in poorer states, to inadequate care.
The proposed compromise would require states to guarantee a minimum level of care to the most vulnerable populations - pregnant women, children under 12, the disabled and the elderly. But beyond that, states would be free to design their own plans. Federal aid to the states would be based on need, and an emergency fund would provide a safety net in times of unusually heavy demand.
The welfare compromise also relies on giving more control to the states but retaining some federal safeguards. Welfare recipients would have to find work or face a cutoff of benefits after five years, a less-stringent requirement than states like Virginia have insisted on. Money for the program would be provided in the form of a block grant.
This conservative approach would be mitigated by the provision of $4 billion in child-care aid for mothers of young children required to find work under the plan and by another $1 billion contingency fund to be tapped in the event of economic emergencies.
There's reason to hope this bipartisan proposal may spur action. As a former governor himself, Clinton really does feel the pain of his fellow governors when they complain of federal red tape. He's experienced it first hand. Also, the unanimous vote of governors as diverse as Colorado's Roy Romer and Virginia's George Allen is hard to ignore.
The push from the governors shows a firm grasp of the realities. While the Washington politicians grandstand, they've got to provide the services and pay the bills. Tommy Thompson, the GOP governor of Wisconsin and leader of the National Governor's Association, noted that Medicaid, welfare and jobs and training programs add up to 43 percent of state budgets.
If Congress and the president don't craft a solution, Thompson warned, the states face a serious fiscal crunch. The governors have now shown a way to avert it. Time for Washington to get the message. by CNB