Experts Respond to Bush's Welfare Plans

The 1996 law cut welfare rolls by 50 percent and is up for congressional renewal.

The president is pushing programs that will encourage low-income couples who co-habit and have children to get married. Bush pledged $200 million in federal funds for such programs and $100 million in matching state funds.

But UNC public policy Professor Carolyn Heinrich said she thinks the best way to support low-income families is to help them with counseling, arrangements for childcare and splitting of work hours.

Heinrich said she thinks these methods will encourage longer-term commitments like marriage. "This will solidify couples."

In addition to encouraging marriage, Bush wants to continue the 5-year ban on benefits for legal immigrants.

Bush also would like Congress to require 50 percent of welfare recipients to be employed immediately and 70 percent by 2007. In the average state, 30 percent of welfare recipients have jobs.

If Congress made Bush's proposed move, states would be allowed to put those on welfare in educational and training programs for a maximum two days a week.

The president also is proposing to allow states' welfare recipients an opportunity to participate in job training or drug rehabilitation on a full-time basis for three months, once every two years.

Orange County Social Services Director Nancy Coston said she will support the reauthorization of the welfare bill if it contains provisions for job training. But Coston said additional work requirements complicate matters.

She said Orange County has already cut the number of welfare recipients without jobs in half and that doing so again would be difficult.

"I'm not sure how realistic cutting it in half would be," Coston said.

Wake County Director of Services Thomas Hogan said 2,704 of Wake's citizens are on welfare, with 1,292 welfare cases being children living with non-parent guardians. He said Wake County's Work First program includes welfare recipients with various barriers that prevent them from attaining a job.

He said these recipients include single parents of severely disabled children, people with trauma, victims of crime and those with little education.

Hogan said most people in Wake County are off the welfare system within 18 months.

The state only can allow 20 percent of its cases to go over the 5-year limit.

"There exists a 5-year limit on the federal level and a 2-year limit on the North Carolina level," Hogan said.

He added that almost half of the new intakes are immigrants who have heard that employment is high in the area. "What they don't know is that housing costs are astronomical (here)," he said.

Hogan said he isn't sure of every detail in Bush's proposal and that he thinks it will be difficult to achieve. "There are always jobs," he said. "It may be somewhat more difficult in this economy. The possibility of training makes it more competitive."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.