House to Tighten Work Rules For Welfare

May 16, 2002

WASHINGTON(Reuters) -- The House expects to easily approve a Republican bill Thursday to build on the landmark 1996 welfare overhaul by adding stricter work rules for welfare recipients.

Adhering closely to the goals outlined by President Bush, the bill also includes marriage promotion programs and "abstinence only" sexual education for teen-agers.

It is expected to pass easily in an afternoon vote, with the backing of virtually all the Republicans and some conservative Democrats. But it faces modification when the Democratic-controlled Senate takes up welfare later this year.

The bipartisan 1996 law went by the slogan "ending welfare as we know it" and it replaced a 60-year-old open-ended relief program with a time-limited system that emphasized moving people from welfare into the workplace.

KEY PROVISIONS
• Reauthorizes 1996 welfare reform bill  
•  Boosts work requirements to 40 hours a week by 2007
• Authorizes up to $300 million for states to promote marriage  
• Adds $2 billion in child care funding  

A combination of the welfare reform and a strong economy helped slash the welfare rolls by more than half in the past five years. Child poverty rates, in particular, have fallen.

As that law expires, requiring Congress to modify and renew it by October, neither party has put forth a radical philosophical change for the welfare-to-work approach.

But Republicans are generally championing an even greater emphasis on work, extending the work week from 30 hours to 40 hours, although 16 of those hours can be used for education, training, substance abuse treatment or similar programs. They would also require 70 percent of all welfare recipients to work.

"Off the welfare roll, onto the payroll," said Virginia Republican Rep. Tom Davis, summing up his party's belief that work is the best path out of poverty.

Democrats want more flexibility to let welfare recipients get more training and education and they want to restore legal immigrants' eligibility for benefits.

Democrats also want significantly more money for child care for welfare mothers and the working poor -- Republicans are seeking $2 billion more over five years, while the Democrats want $11.5 billion. The Senate is likely to add at least some of those funds to their bill later this year.

"Education, child care and immigrants are the issues I hear about, and on those issues, Democrats are on the right side in both politics and policy," said Maryland Democratic Rep. Ben Cardin, lead sponsor of the Democratic alternative.

Many state governors from both parties share Democrats' concerns about flexibility and funding. Republicans tried to assuage those concerns by creating "superwaivers" for states but that caused a last-minute feud among Republicans Wednesday, forcing the House to postpone consideration of the bill for a day. The waiver language was watered down significantly.

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