FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                    CONTACT:  CHRIS GALLEGOS
August 1, 1996                                     (202) 224-7082

DOMENICI: WELFARE REFORM BILL "BEST HOPE"
TO HELP THOSE CAUGHT IN DEPENDENCE TRAP

Senate Gives Final Approval to Major Welfare Overhaul

Domenici, as chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, managed The Personal Responsibility & Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (Welfare Reform Bill) in the Senate. He voted for the measure, which cleared the Senate on a 78 to 21 vote. The legislation will now be sent to the President, who announced he will sign the bill.

"While I have some concerns about certain provisions in the legislation, I believe this legislation is the best chance we have today to provide hope for a future for those families and children in our society who are otherwise without hope," Domenici said.

"For today, I believe this is our best opportunity to change the culture of welfare and to provide a hand-up, not a hand-out, to those current beneficiaries wanting a better life," he said.

Domenici said the bill will accomplish five major objectives:

1. Those able bodied persons who seek assistance should first seek work and employment and only after failing to find employment should they turn to the taxpayer for assistance.

2. Personal responsibility is stressed and incentives are created for families to stick together. The bill reestablishes one simple rule, that parents should take care of their children first. The bill has provisions to track down and punish dead beat fathers and mothers.

3. End the concept of an entitlement to cash benefits. Welfare will have a five year life time limit. No longer will welfare be a way of life. It will be a helping hand not a hand out.

4. Cut endless, unnecessary federal regulations and bureaucrats by returning power and flexibility to the states and communities where help for those in need can best be determined and best be delivered.

5. Finally, this is a budget reconciliation bill and these reforms will slow the growth of federal and state spending for these programs.

"Nevertheless, this will save the American taxpayer about $55 billion less than what they would have cost without this legislation," Domenici said.

Domenici said the final bill includes provisions aimed at protecting children, in particular keeping Food Stamps as a separate federal entitlement program, adding funding for child care and development block grants, and sustaining current Medicaid protections.

The final bill contains a funding formula originally drafted by Domenici and Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison to give states, like New Mexico and Texas, additional federal support because they have fast population growths. The plan would allow for a 2.5 percent annual increase in the grants for "growth" states.

The funding formula would mean New Mexico would get approximately $945 million over six years as it crafts a welfare program tailored to meet the needs of New Mexicans.

The bill also includes a "maintenance of effort" provision that Domenici helped broker to guarantee that states continue to support and contribute to the welfare system.

In addition, the bill also contains a Domenici-authored provision to give states the option to determine the benefit level for babies born into welfare families. The amendment dropped a federal mandate that would have prohibited states from making additional cash payments to these children.

"Welfare reform has been and will continue to be a contentious issue. This legislation is tough love. We have not seen the last of welfare reform in this country and I expect that we will revisit and refine our efforts," Domenici said.

"But we need to be honest and sober about this legislation. I believe both proponents and opponents may be overstating what will result, both positive and negative. The legislation represents a fundamental change in social policy. We elected officials should not -- and I will not -- assume that the legislation is perfect. The one thing the last 61 years of welfare policy should have taught us is that no one can be all knowing," he said.