Dole, Clinton Talk To The Governors On Welfare

FAJARDO, Puerto Rico (AllPolitics, July 16) -- Bob Dole called on Congress today to approve a tough welfare reform plan that gives maximum power to the states, and challenged President Bill Clinton to sign it. (224K WAV sound)

In a satellite talk to the National Governors Association meeting in Puerto Rico, Dole said Clinton has reneged on a promise to grant waivers of federal welfare rules within 30 days to states that are trying to transform the welfare system. It now takes an average of 210 days to get federal clearance and some states have given up asking, the Republican presidential candidate said.

"These delays must end," Dole said. "This is not a debate about ideology."

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Clinton, who followed Dole's talk with his own satellite speech to the governors, said he thinks Congress is poised to approve a welfare reform plan that he can sign. (224K WAV sound)

Clinton, who vowed in 1992 to "end welfare as we know it," called the latest proposal "a chance to transform our broken welfare system once and for all" and said it should happen before the August recess. Congressional leaders have backed off insisting that Medicaid block grants be included in the legislation.

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"We must not let this opportunity slip from our grasp," Clinton told the governors. "Let's put politics aside."

In his talk, Dole tweaked Clinton for backing off a promise to approve Wisconsin's welfare reform experiments, which includes work requirements, health and child care and time limits for receiving aid.

Dole said it's important to give "the states the power and authority to chart their own course, from dependence to hope."

Clinton defended his record, though, saying there are 67 experiments underway in 40 states, and that his administration has granted twice as many waiver of the federal rules as the previous two administrations.

A full 75 percent of welfare recipients are already covered by new rules, in what the New York Times has called "a quiet revolution" in welfare policy.

Still, Clinton said he wants to see a national welfare reform plan, which would make it easier to collect child support payments across state lines.

Dole also called on new steps to crack down on crime by teenagers and young adults, including an instant computer check to prevent youthful offenders from purchasing guns later in life.

"Juvenile crime is a hurricane just off our shore," Dole said. "Kids who once stole hubcaps now rape and murder."

Thirty-five percent of all violent crime is committed by people under 20 and the nation "cannot compromise with chaos," he said.

As president, Dole said, he would fight a real war on youth crime and drugs, not a war of rhetoric. But he also said the nation needs to ask some deeper questions about what causes youngsters go turn to crime and violence. "How can hearts so young become so hard?" he asked. (224K WAV sound)

Much of the progress against illegal drug use that occurred in the 1980s has eroded away, with marijuana and LSD use on the rise again among teenagers, he said.

Dole said he did not want to be unduly partisan, but that the Clinton Administration has offered mixed messages, alternately condemning drugs and suggesting legalization. Mostly, Dole said, "we have heard silence."

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Dole, Clinton Talk To The Governors On Welfare

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