Bush Wades Into Welfare Debate

President Bush is entering the welfare debate by campaigning in Arkansas for changes that would require recipients to work more hours and provide hundreds of millions of dollars to promote marriage.

Up for renewal by Congress this year is a 1996 law that, combined with a roaring economy, cut welfare rolls by more than half — a drop Bush was touting with fresh government figures on Monday. He was also reporting that along with dropping welfare rolls, the number of people living in poverty was 5 million fewer in 2000 than in 1996.

The upbeat figures were in a congressionally required report being issued by the Department of Health and Human Services.

Mr. Bush was meeting with former welfare recipients in Little Rock to promote his proposals to stiffen aid requirements. The House passed a bill last month that closely mirrors changes he seeks, and the Senate is to take the matter up this month. The president is trying to shape the bill through public appearances this week.

The average state now has about 30 percent of welfare clients in jobs; Mr. Bush and House Republicans would require states to get to 70 percent by 2007. Bush and the House GOP would provide up to $300 million in grants for experimental programs encouraging marriage.

The House passed its package May 16 along party lines; Republicans who control the House did not consult Democrats along the way.

In the Democratic-run Senate, compromise appears more likely. Moderates of both parties agree that states should be required to put more people to work. However, many also want to give states more power to count education and training as work, and they are skeptical about a House provision requiring each person to log 40 hours per week.

Senate moderates also are skeptical of the GOP plan to push marriage. Democrats contend that states will be forced to create make-work jobs simply to fill their quotas, and states will lose the power to devise the most effective plan for each person on welfare.

As he has in the past, Mr. Bush was meeting with people who moved from welfare to work, among them Shandria Oates, who lost her job at American Express, then moved off public assistance through a transition program. The event was at a church that has provided training to help such people make the shift.

Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark., said he and Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., were accompanying the president on Air Force One to Little Rock.

Hutchinson is seeking re-election against Democratic challenger Mark Pryor, the state attorney general and son of David Pryor, who retired in 1996 after 18 years in the Senate.

Mr. Bush's first fund-raiser as president was for Hutchinson in April 2001; the race is one of several that could tip the balance of the Senate back to GOP control. No fund-raiser was scheduled Monday, but Hutchinson's appearance with Mr. Bush could boost his campaign.

Also appearing with Mr. Bush was Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a Republican who is seeking re-election.