Chenoweth To Redefine Disability Proposes Cutting Benefits For Addicts, Kids With Add

U.S. Rep. Helen Chenoweth thinks Americans should not receive Social Security disability benefits just because they are alcoholics, drug addicts or even children with attention deficit disorder.

“I was one of five in my freshman class that pushed to take drug addicts and alcoholics out of the ‘disabled’ category,” the Idaho Republican told a Boise women’s club Monday.

The next step, she said, is to “look at children with attention deficit disorder.”

Alcoholics and drug addicts no longer will be eligible for Social Security disability benefits as of January as a result of legislation passed by Congress last spring.

The move will save an estimated $2 billion over the next five years.

The effects of the change will be slight in Idaho.

A spokesman for the Social Security Administration said 440 Idaho residents receive Social Security disability or SSI benefits solely because they are addicted to drugs or alcohol.

Taking benefits away from children with attention deficit disorder could have more of an effect.

Social Security estimates there are 1,300 Idaho children who suffer from attention deficit disorder and qualify for SSI benefits because they belong to low-income families. And despite Chenoweth’s call to look into the issue, the change has already begun.

Welfare reform passed by Congress with Chenoweth’s support and signed into law by President Clinton would end federally subsidized Social Security disability for children with attention deficit disorder by July 1997.

Chenoweth said it may be appropriate for those children to receive some financial help, but not from Social Security.

Monday’s luncheon talk was one of the last stops after a weekend in Idaho campaigning against Democratic challenger Dan Williams.