THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, September 19, 1996 TAG: 9609190395
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ALEXANDRIA LENGTH: 50 lines
Angela Walston had relied on welfare for her income for three years. For four months now, she has worked for a living thanks to the state's welfare reforms, and she likes it better.
Since May 15, the mother of three has been a typist at Alexandria's Department of Human Services, maintaining a database for the Department of Employment Training.
``It feels real good because I'm doing something again,'' said Walston, 24.
Virginia's welfare rolls have shrunk by 14 percent since reforms took effect in July 1995 that require some welfare recipients to have jobs. The measure has been implemented in 31 of the state's 135 localities, and more than 1,600 welfare recipients now work for their benefits.
The state law gives recipients 90 days to find jobs and curtails benefits after two years. It takes effect next in Winchester and two counties on the Eastern Shore on Oct. 1.
President Clinton signed similar reforms into federal law last month.
Virginia provides welfare benefits to the families of about 1,500 legal immigrants, and Gov. George F. Allen has not decided whether to rescind their cash benefits and Medicaid funding, as the federal law allows.
``It's consistent with the governor's policy that legal immigrants would become citizens'' before they receive welfare benefits, said Scott C. Oostdyk, a deputy secretary for health and human resources.
Such a policy would force local governments in Alexandria and Arlington and Fairfax counties - home to immigrants from around the world - to decide whether they can provide cash assistance as a stopgap safety net for legal immigrants.
Albert C. Eisenberg, a Democrat on the Arlington County Board of Supervisors, told The Washington Times he supports ``a modest amount of support'' for legal immigrants if they lose their welfare benefits.
A policy that would deny welfare benefits to legal immigrants is ``morally wrong and practically stupid,'' Eisenberg said.
``This is a terrible provision. It is mean. It is harsh. There isn't any question in my mind people will suffer. I can't think of anything that makes more of a mockery of the Statue of Liberty.''
The U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform voted unanimously in the spring to oppose federal welfare reforms that deny benefits to immigrants, legal or illegal.
KEYWORDS: WELFARE REFORM VIRGINIA by CNB