Family Cap

Recently Connie Tolbert, a former welfare mother, recalled the day in 1990 when she first paid for groceries with her paycheck instead of food stamps. Ms. Tolbert had been off and on welfare for eight years. Unaccustomed to budgeting, she was suddenly stricken with fear that she wouldn't have enough money to feed her four kids and pay the rent.But those anxious moments in the supermarket checkout lasted only a few minutes. She presented her groceries and paid the bill. And she still had money in the bank.

No one likes the welfare system, least of all those who depend on it. But float a proposal for reform and, just as surely, objections will abound. A good example is the controversial "family cap," one of Gov. William Donald Schaefer's reforms now pending before the General Assembly. It would halt automatic increases in welfare payments if a recipient has an additional child.Advocates for the poor strongly object. They note that 77 percent of welfare recipients have only one or two children and that there is no sound evidence such caps influence childbearing.

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 has proposed to make Maryland one of the toughest states in the nation in its willingness to limit benefits to welfare mothers.The centerpiece of his reform package, submitted this week to the General Assembly, is a controversial and relatively untested proposal not to increase payments when a welfare recipient has an additional child.The so-called "family cap," once vehemently opposed by Mr. Schaefer, is now used only in New Jersey.Another Schaefer proposal is a variation on "time-limited" welfare -- the approach favored by President Clinton Tuesday night -- in which benefits would end altogether for recipients who refuse to look for a job or do community service.