Welfare Hike Riles Lawmaker Appropriations Chairman Raises Prospect Of Economic Downturn

Legislative budget writers ran up against the stark reality of welfare reform on Thursday.

The Batt administration detailed a 1999 spending plan that not only consumes modest savings from a plunging direct welfare caseload but also adds nearly $20 million.

Health and Welfare Director Linda Caballero tried to sum up the message Gov. Phil Batt has been sending since he launched the welfare reform drive early in his term: It could cost more in the beginning to turn welfare from a denigrating way of life into a safety net that quickly returns people to productive roles in society.

But House Appropriations Chairman Bob Geddes remained upset that the governor wants this year’s $236.6 million general tax budget hiked to $256.8 million, and that was after Batt cut $22 million from the original proposal.

“We have one of the best economies the state of Idaho has ever known, virtually no unemployment, and yet we see the need that’s here,” Geddes said.

“I just can’t comprehend with the circumstances we have in Idaho … that we have to ask for an 11 percent increase in the budget in Health and Welfare,” the Preston Republican said. “What’s going to happen when we have a downturn in the economy and there’s a real need out there?”

While the state’s Work over Welfare program has been successful in dramatically slashing cash welfare payments and increasing individual self-reliance, Caballero said “a fundamental change in our thinking at Health and Welfare” has occurred in the past year.

“We learned that self-reliance is a matter of degree,” she told the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee. “We must provide the supports those families need to remain in their communities, on the job, being productive, tax-paying citizens.”

Cash welfare cases, food stamp recipients and Medicaid beneficiaries are all lower now than a year ago, Caballero said. But there have been dramatic increases in the demand for child care, child health programs and child support payment recovery.

“For low-income families, even if they’re employed, child care and child health issues are really critical,” she said.