Lowry Will Try To Ease Welfare Reform Impact
Gov. Mike Lowry, a passionate critic of federal welfare reform, said Tuesday he will seek to ease its impact on Washington’s poor in one of his last official acts before leaving office in January.
His announcement, which was expected, is drawing fire from Republicans controlling the Legislature, who say they are determined to make sure Washington stays with the federal law.
At a news conference, Lowry said he will use the authority of a 1994 federal waiver that allowed the state to custom-design its welfare system to override some elements of the strict new federal law. State officials believe the waiver supersedes the federal law, but federal authorities still must rule on that position.
Lowry said he intended to submit the plan to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Jan. 10.
The Legislature or Gov.-elect Gary Locke, who has yet to take a solid position on the issue, could push to amend Lowry’s plan before July 1, although the Legislature has failed to pass a major welfare-reform bill in each of the past two years, despite aggressive efforts to do so.
“Of course we don’t like his plan, and of course we will submit our own plan,” said House Children and Family Services Chairwoman Suzette Cooke, R-Kent.
Both House and Senate leaders said they will work to submit a plan that would conform to the federal law.
Sen. Dan McDonald, a Bellevue Republican who will be the Senate majority leader next year, said, “If he (Lowry) thinks, as a lame-duck governor, that he is going to frustrate the will of the Legislature and the new governor by submitting some plan that is outside of the mainstream of what people want to do about welfare, then he’s got another think coming.”
Among elements of Lowry’s proposal:
Replace the federal five-year limit on welfare benefits with a 10-percent annual reduction in benefits for any recipient who is on welfare for four out of five years. “Those people who are found to be unemployable can be granted hardship exemptions,” Lowry said.
Continue to provide economic and work-training benefits to legal immigrants, something not allowed under the federal law.
Ease work requirements for single parents with children younger than 3 and for parents of disabled children. Lowry’s plan would, however, retain the federal provision that requires able-bodied people to work after two years on welfare.
“Able-bodied” would be defined as people who need no training, education, or other supports and are “ready to work.” Those not ready to work would need to be enrolled in the state’s job training program.