ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 22, 1996 TAG: 9605220051
SECTION: NATL/INTL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FOND DU LAC, WIS.
SOURCE: Associated Press
NOTE: Above
Vowing to end liberalism's ``greatest shame,'' Bob Dole on Tuesday outlined his plan for a welfare overhaul that includes a five-year lifetime limit for benefits and giving states the option of testing recipients for drug use.
In a speech in Wisconsin, Dole said President Clinton has repeatedly promised ``to end welfare as we know it,'' but has twice vetoed Republican plans to revamp welfare.
``As we have seen time and time again ... the words of candidate Clinton bear no relation to the actions of President Clinton,'' Dole said.
Dole said welfare and other Great Society programs were ``liberalism's greatest hope, its greatest boast. Today, it stands as its greatest shame; a grand failure that has crushed the spirit, destroyed the families, and decimated the culture of those who have become enmeshed in its web.''
If elected president, Dole said, he would:
Require all able-bodied welfare recipients to find work within two years. States would have the right to impose stricter work requirements.
Give states the power to halt cash welfare payments to unmarried teen-agers.
Impose a five-year lifetime limit on welfare payments with exceptions only for those unable to work.
Deny all but emergency benefits to illegal immigrants. Clinton has vigorously opposed such measures.
``Above all, I mean trusting the nation's governors with the flexibility they need to create the laboratories of our democracy,'' Dole said. ``President Clinton's plan means trusting only federal bureaucrats in Washington.''
As evidence of his commitment to state experiments, Dole said states should have the right to deny welfare benefits to individuals who test positive for drug use when applying for jobs. He also said that states, if they wish, should be allowed to drug-test welfare recipients themselves.
Some advisers had pushed Dole to support a federal drug-testing requirement as a condition for welfare. But aides said Dole rejected this advice on grounds it was inconsistent with his view that such details be left to the states.
Dole said Clinton has not delivered on his 1992 promise to ``end welfare as we know it.''
To support his argument, Dole noted that the White House already was retreating from Clinton's weekend embrace of a Wisconsin welfare-to-work experiment. ``Too often, President Clinton's statements are like the tornadoes in the movie `Twister' - it looks like a lot is happening, but in reality it's all just special effects.'' He suggested Monday the president had engaged in ``probably petty theft'' in trying to offer himself as the get-tough candidate on welfare reform.
Clinton on Saturday had announced his support for a Wisconsin experiment that ends the guarantee of welfare benefits and requires work. But within days, White House aides were cautioning that while Clinton supported the overall thrust of the Wisconsin plan, the administration would have to negotiate the details before the plan could gain federal approval.
Five GOP governors, in a letter to Clinton, said Monday that they welcomed his spoken support for the Wisconsin program. But they called on him to state clearly that he would fully support federal waivers the state needs to implement the program.
The governors also took issue with administration claims that Clinton had approved every state request for a waiver since he took office. The governors noted that three states had been denied waivers and that 27 applications from 18 states were under review. They also said Clinton had not kept his word to the governors to act on waivers within 30 days.
White House press secretary Mike McCurry on Tuesday said there wasn't much difference between Dole and Clinton on ``central elements'' of welfare reform such as guaranteed work and time limits on benefits.
``Whether it gets done or not depends on whether or not this Congress wants to move a sensible bipartisan approach so the president can sign it,'' McCurry said. ``They will most likely want to give him yet another measure that he has to veto so they can have a political issue. If that happens, then we will just continue with reforming welfare as we know it at the state level.''
LENGTH: Medium: 89 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Republican presidential hopeful Sen. Bob Dole ofby CNBKansas on Tuesday endorsed allowing states to test welfare
recipients for drug use. color. KEYWORDS: POLITICS PRESIDENT