Gop Record On Social Programs Is Inconsistent

With welfare reform scheduled for debate later this month, House Speaker Newt Gingrich is on a mission to recast Republicans as the only true advocates of children.

In speeches, news conferences, and interviews, the speaker has accused Democrats of “trapping” poor people - and their children - in a system that “is literally killing them.”

But after years of opposition to even the most popular programs for children, conservative Republicans may have trouble getting past their own records before they can claim to be the party of compassion.

In a speech Thursday to the American Chiropractic Association, Gingrich charged that “liberals” created a welfare system that “punishes marriages” among the working poor.

For example, “under the earned income tax credit, if you earn $11,000 and marry somebody that earns $11,000 you lose $4,600 in tax credits by the act of marriage. Then we say, gee, why are kids being born outside of marriage?” Gingrich said.

But there are two problems with Gingrich’s remarks:

First, his figures are wrong. The couple would only lose $2,700 in tax breaks if they got married, according to Bob McIntyre, head of Citizens for Tax Justice.

And, secondly, Gingrich - and every other House Republican - voted against legislation in 1993 that reduced the amount of the so-called “marriage penalty” from $3,300 for a family earning $22,000 to its current $2,700.

The legislation? President Clinton’s budget package.

“He voted against it because it raised taxes on rich people, but it would have lowered the tax penalty on the working people he cited in his speech,” said McIntyre.

In Thursday’s speech, Gingrich also defended his party’s decision to cut future increases in funding for child nutrition programs, including school lunches and Women, Infants and Children, or WIC food program.

Gingrich said the only thing cut by the Republican plan is the Washington bureaucracy because money for the programs will be rolled into block grants and managed by states.

“We are working with governors to give all 50 states a chance to experiment because we know the federal system has failed,” said Gingrich.

The problem?

By limiting the amount of increase to such programs, Republicans run the risk that funding will not keep up with demand in the next five years. If that happens, states will have to pay more or cut services to poor children and mothers to make up the difference, Democrats and some governors charge.

Ironically, in 1993, Gingrich was one of 64 Republicans to vote in favor of an appropriations bill that included the largest increase ever for the same food programs his party is now bent on carving out of the federal system.