Tug-Of-War Expected Over Welfare

House GOP On Board With Bush; Democrats Have Other Ideas

(AP)  Republicans are hoping to carry the president's welfare legislation through the House by Memorial Day, seeing a chance to put Democrats on the defensive as Congress begins revising the landmark 1996 overhaul.

House GOP members plan to introduce legislation mirroring the White House plan this week and then move it quickly. But more complicated political maneuvering lies ahead — among the nation's governors and in the Senate, where moderate and liberal Democrats are working on other versions.

Governors are on the record supporting a welfare policy that is closer to the Democratic plan, and a survey of state welfare directors suggested that a key element of the White House plan would be unworkable. At the same time, Republican governors face political pressure to line up with the president.

"They're in a tough spot," said Democratic Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont. "The White House is just putting a lot of pressure on the Republican governors. Privately, I think they are making the case behind the scenes."

Meanwhile, in the Senate, the top Democrat and Republican on the Finance Committee are working on a bipartisan bill they hope will attract overwhelming support.

"Any time you deal with welfare reform you're going to have a tough fight. I don't expect this one's going to be any different," Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson said in an interview.

Some of the issues are straightforward. Democrats want to increase overall welfare spending and spending on child care; the White House wants to maintain current levels. Democrats want to let states give legal immigrants benefits; the White House doesn't.

Questioned by Democrats on a House committee, Thompson signaled there's room for compromise on child care. "I know there will be negotiations," he said Tuesday.

It gets more complicated over the issue of work requirements — what states must require of welfare recipients, and what the federal government requires of states.

Under current law, 50 percent of welfare recipients must be working, but states have largely avoided the requirement through a provision that allows them to meet it by moving people off welfare altogether. Under the Bush plan, this credit would be gone, and the percentage of recipients required to work would climb to 70 percent.

The House GOP bill differs slightly from the Bush plan. States would still have to reach 70 percent, but they would retain most of their caseload reduction credit.

The Bush plan's definition of "working" would require a welfare recipient to be in a "work activity" for 40 hours a week, up from 30 hours. At least 24 hours each week would have to be in a job, up from 20 hours now. The remaining hours could be spent in education or training programs.

In another small change, the House GOP bill would allow some flexibility for welfare recipients to take sick time and holidays off.

A survey of state welfare officials found that most states believe the Bush proposal would require them to make "fundamental changes" to their welfare programs. Several said they were concerned that it would require them to redirect money they are spending elsewhere and limit their ability to offer recipients education and training.

This survey was conducted by the American Public Human Services Association and the National Governors Association. The results were consistent with general state resistance to new federal requirements.

But several Republican governors balked at the implication that the Bush plan was flawed. Gov. John Rowland, R-Conn., said he didn't know who filled out the survey for his state and questioned its findings.

"Some person four times below me doesn't speak on behalf of me," Rowland said in an interview Tuesday.

Rowland, chairman of the Republican Governors Association, sent a letter to congressional leaders Tuesday making it clear that he supports the Bush plan.

His GOP colleagues are also praising the Bush proposal, even as they suggest significant changes to the work requirements.

Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., said the survey reflects real concerns. For instance, he said, the credit for reducing overall caseloads should remain in the law, and states should be able to put welfare recipients into education and other programs and have that count as work. Still, he said, governors support the Bush plan.

"For us, it's a part of improving an already good approach," he said in an interview.