Batt Says Clinton’s Veto Blocks Welfare Reform

Gov. Phil Batt says President Clinton’s veto of a Republican welfare reform bill undermines Idaho’s efforts to find “far-reaching remedies to the ills of the current system.”

In a letter to the president on Thursday, Batt outlined how his Welfare Reform Advisory Council had recommended 44 proposals stressing work, personal responsibility and self-sufficiency.

The proposed reforms, “if implemented, will go a long way toward promoting and restoring the human will, dignity and pride that have been debilitated by the present structure.

“Most of these proposals are dependent upon reforms under consideration at the federal level,” Batt wrote. “In your campaign for the presidency, you promised to ‘end welfare as we know it.’ Idaho responded in good faith that this promise would be kept.”

Clinton charged that the bill he vetoed this week was designed to meet an arbitrary budget target rather than to achieve serious welfare reform. He said it would make structural changes and budget cuts that would fall hardest on children and reduce states’ ability to move people from welfare to work.