Welfare Reform Criticized But State Panel Unfazed By Cda Crowd

Proposed changes to Idaho’s welfare system may do more harm than good, critics told state officials Tuesday night.

“The council has presented us with a recipe for disaster,” said attorney Alan Wasserman.

“You’re punishing the child for the parents’ lack of responsibility,” said former state Rep. Barb Chamberlain.

“We are taking mothers away from their little children,” said attorney Norm Gissel.

At issue were 42 proposals from Gov. Phil Batt’s Welfare Reform Advisory Council. The hearing was the sixth of seven, with the last tonight in Lewiston. Council member Sen. Gordon Crow, R-Hayden, said the changes would kick in about 1997.

Despite flak from many of the 115 people attending, council members didn’t seem fazed.

“Pocatello was far more heat than this,” said Sen. Grant Ipsen, R-Boise. “We’re here to hear.”

Most controversial was a lifetime limit of 24 months of benefits per person.

“I think we’ll hold tough on the 24 months,” Ipsen said.

Among the other proposals:

Welfare recipients must work, do public service, or go to school. College, however, wouldn’t count.

Parents of under-18 mothers - and fathers - would be financially responsible for the baby until the teen parents turn 18.

Idaho would have a one-size-fits-all welfare payment, regardless of family size.

Mothers must identify a child’s father in order to get welfare benefits.

“People know the system’s broken, and they know it harms families,” said Jeremy Pisca, a council aide from the governor’s office.

“Some of these (proposals) are kind of harsh, kind of tough-love, but people know we want to help.”

Not everyone was so sure.

Sen. Mary Lou Reed, D-Coeur d’Alene, said she fears the one-size-fits-all payment would leave pregnant mothers with an unsavory choice: spread the money even more thinly, or have an abortion.

Council member Stephen Ahrens bristled at that, saying the mother also had another choice: not getting pregnant.

“Oh, do condoms come with this package?” said Reed.

“Responsible adult behavior comes with this package!” said Ahrens.

The council’s proposals did have several fans.

The current welfare system has been “out of control for a long, long time,” said Gary Tucker of Oldtown.

Any reform must keep youths home, he said, and “Keep the chastity belts on.”

Sandpoint’s Paul Votava called the proposals a giant step forward.

Rather than a 24-month limit, he’d like it cut to 12 months.

“When you run out of money, that’s it,” he said.

“People either move, or whatever. I don’t want to pay anymore.”

Neither does Ipsen.

He said a single mother with one child, tapped into all available welfare, nets about $15,000 in benefits per year, tax-free. That’s roughly equivalent to a $21,000-per-year job.

“Why should we pay a person on welfare more than a lot of people in Idaho are earning?” said Ipsen.

“They keep saying ‘the state can afford it.’ Well, the state’s you and I.”

, DataTimes