THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 2, 1995 TAG: 9507020093
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Short : 35 lines
Gov. George Allen's welfare reform program got the go-ahead from President Clinton on Saturday when he announced in his weekly radio speech that he approved the necessary waivers for the program to begin.
``It's a good plan, and I'm proud to be supporting it,'' Clinton said.
Allen said the plan to have most welfare recipients work for their benefits would begin July 5 in Culpeper, Fauquier, Madison, Orange and Rappahannock counties. The program will be phased in over the next two years throughout the state.
``It is fitting that the . . . program, which we designed to break the debilitating trap of dependency in our current failed welfare system, would become law and be approved at the same time we commemorate Independence Day,'' Allen said.
The plan would require about two-thirds of Virginia's 74,000 recipients of Aid to Families with Dependent Children to begin working in staggered increments over the next four years. It would limit benefits to two years once an individual enters the work plan. Recipients could choose to receive a third year of ``transitional'' aid for child care, transportation and medical coverage. AFDC could not be reinstated for three years.
Under national welfare policy, the federal government must approve state changes in AFDC rules. by CNB