Family Cap

Decrying the welfare system as a form of "slavery" that can rob people of their incentive to succeed, the Maryland NAACP has endorsed in principle a Schaefer administration welfare-reform plan.But the Maryland State Conference of NAACP Branches, which is to release a letter to Gov. William Donald Schaefer today, stopped short of backing the most controversial element of the governor's plan: a "family cap" that would deny additional benefits to mothers who have babies while receiving public assistance.

Welfare reform was high on Gov. William Donald Schaefer's list of priorities this year. But the welfare reform bill that passed the General Assembly is sitting on his desk, facing a possible veto because it does not contain a "family cap," a provision that would deny an increase in benefits to a woman who has an additional child after being placed on the welfare rolls.The cap appeals to fairness, but the governor's attachment to it is somewhat puzzling. He asserts that it would save money, but that is a dubious proposition since it would affect only a minority of women on welfare.

WASHINGTON -- In a double-barreled defeat for conservative Republicans, the Senate voted yesterday to scuttle a proposal to deny additional cash benefits for welfare recipients who have more babies and rejected an amendment to deny cash to unwed teen mothers.The provisions sparked intense debate as the Senate moved toward final passage of welfare reform.The legislation, which Majority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas said would likely go to a final vote today, would engineer the most extensive welfare changes in six decades.

Carolyn Colvin, Maryland's Human Resources secretary, once expressed the hope that the state's attempt at welfare reform would blaze a trail for the Clinton administration.In hindsight, that now seems overwhelmingly ambitious for a plan that was largely a pastiche of proposals already tried, or about to be tried, in other states.The family cap? New Jersey gets to take credit for that innovation, which freezes benefits when welfare recipients have more children. (Early results are promising, but incomplete.

The governor's proposed welfare reforms will either end the cycle of poverty or hurt innocent children, depending on who is talking.The House Appropriations Committee heard both arguments in Annapolis yesterday from people who claim to have the interests of welfare families at heart.At issue was Gov. William Donald Schaefer's proposal to impose new limits on welfare benefits in an experimental effort to encourage recipients to be more self-sufficient.Under his pilot proposal, the state would no longer increase payments to women who, once they start receiving welfare, have more children.

Gov. William Donald Schaefer vowed yesterday to continue trying to impose a so-called "family cap" on Marylanders who receive welfare payments -- despite the measure's defeat in the waning hours of the legislative session Monday night.The governor, weary after watching some of his bigger initiatives weakened or killed on the final day of the General Assembly, also said he might veto the welfare reform bill that lawmakers did approve.Welfare reform was a key piece of the governor's agenda.

Gov. William Donald Schaefer moved to salvage his embattled welfare reform proposal yesterday, agreeing to lift restrictions on state-financed abortions for poor women in return for legislation denying higher payments to welfare mothers who keep having children.As a further inducement to win the support of wavering legislators, Mr. Schaefer also proposed a 2 percent increase in welfare benefits.The governor told the General Assembly, which is considering his welfare measure, that he would strike from the state budget longstanding restrictions on Medicaid-funded abortions -- if his so-called family cap is enacted as part of the welfare reform bill.

WHATEVER THE merits of Governor Parris N. Glendening's new welfare reform proposals, they are based on a questionable assumption. For months, it has been conventional wisdom that the federal government would pass welfare reform legislation. States everywhere expected something before now, even if the changes were less than sweeping.So far, nothing. Just as it proved on health care legislation, the federal government is showing again that it is capable of reaching gridlock no matter how high the expectations or fierce the desire for change.

Gov. William Donald Schaefer did the right thing by signing a bill permitting Baltimore City to experiment with a needle-exchange program in an attempt to combat the AIDS epidemic. Although the governor does not personally approve of free needle exchanges, he had the courage to recognize the AIDS situation demands some unusual responses."It is so easy to say no, stay the same, don't take any chances, not be progressive," Mr. Schaefer said at this week's bill-signing session in Annapolis. That is not the Schaefer way, though.

Geraldine Aronin, author of a letter to the editor published yesterday, was incorrectly identified. She is legislative affairs officer of the Maryland Chapter, National Association of Social Workers, and a former deputy secretary of the state Department of Human Resources.The Sun regrets the error.Problems of Family Cap ProposalI am writing in response to the Feb. 20 article, "A case for the family cap," by Carolyn Colvin, Maryland secretary of human resources.The Maryland Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers, representing over 3,600 social workers statewide, strongly opposes the family cap, which will deny public assistance for any child born 10 months after the parent receives assistance.