Welfare Reform

The federal government awarded Maryland $25 million yesterday for showing one of the nation's largest declines in births to unwed mothers. Part of the 1996 Welfare Reform Act provided for bonus payments to states that reduce out-of-wedlock births without increasing the abortion rate. Between 1999 and 2002, the most recent years for which Centers for Disease Control and Prevention birth statistics are available, the percentage of births to unwed mothers declined from 34.73 percent of all births to 34.62 percent, which amounts to 245 births out of about 146,000 for that period.

WHILE CONGRESS procrastinates, many programs for the working poor wait in limbo. State by state, officials who run welfare reform programs are saying their ability to plan for the future is hampered as lawmakers let the clock run down to Election Day. No one expects lawmakers to push ahead on reauthorizing the nation's main welfare program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), at least until voters choose the next president -- but they should. It takes a certain arrogance to put partisan politics before the needs of the poorest citizens, who have done as asked of them -- they've taken jobs that too often don't cover their bills, they've enrolled in training programs to gain new skills, and by and large they've embraced a work ethic instead of dawdling between welfare checks.

THE PUBLIC BUYS presidential memoirs to get the inside story. Presidents write memoirs to solidify their legacy or, if that is too thin a reed, as in the case of Bill Clinton, at least to market it. In truth, for some presidents, and Mr. Clinton is one of them, presidential memoirs are the latest addition to the permanent campaign. They now join in a seamless web of war rooms and campaign autobiographies as exercises in presenting candidates and presidents as they would prefer to be seen rather than who they are. Mr. Clinton is a man whose intelligence, verbal facility and life-long practice in self- and public deception makes the effort to find the real story both treacherous and doubtful.

WITH A show of election-year bipartisanship, the U.S. Senate last month stood up for poor families -- if only for a few moments. The senators added $6 billion for child care to their version of the law to renew the nation's welfare reform program, to ensure that the neediest children are in quality day care while their mothers work or receive training. Currently only about one in seven eligible children benefits from a child care subsidy, so this was a big step in the right direction. The vote on the child care amendment should have set the stage for passage of the full Senate welfare reform package to renew the 1996 law for five years, including the $16.5 billion-a-year Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program.

Welfare reform lifts children from poverty The Sun's recent editorial on President Bush's plan to strengthen welfare reform stated that reform "has barely dented poverty since the 1996 legislation" ("Welfare to work," March 29). I guess that depends on your definition of "barely." The truth is that, because the 1996 welfare reform law encouraged work, millions of children and families previously dependent upon welfare have been lifted out of poverty. In fact, since 1996, the child poverty rate has fallen from 20.5 percent to 16.7 percent.

ONE WAY to measure the success of welfare reform is by caseload counts: Since 1996, America has cut its caseload by more than half. Another indicator is the resilience of welfare reform's working mothers, who have retained their jobs throughout the recent economic downturn. Their progress is the reward of their hard work and embrace of the American dream. And contrary to dire predictions, as a recent New York Times analysis of federal statistics also notes, these last-hired low-wage earners were not the first fired in this recession - they don't hold the technology and other skilled service jobs that have been shed.

THE SAME administration that's atwitter over programs to promote responsible fatherhood and healthy marriage among the poor turns a cold shoulder to the neediest working moms and their children. It apparently hasn't occurred to some lawmakers that improving child care and temporary assistance programs also helps foster the kind of stability that sustains families. Marriage has many acknowledged benefits, but America won't conquer poverty by marrying off the poor. What will make a difference is equipping any who are ambitious and eligible for help with the tools and resources to advance to gainful employment - one of the goals of successful welfare reform programs.

WASHINGTON -- Liberal activists, frustrated by what they see as powerful conservative voices in the media -- including Rush Limbaugh, Fox News Channel and the Heritage Foundation -- have begun creating institutions they hope will compete with conservatives in churning out appealing policy ideas. The creations range from a think tank headed by former President Bill Clinton's chief of staff to a nascent liberal radio network to a legal society designed to offset the influential Federalist Society.

Primary leaves City Council even weaker The outcome of the Democratic primary was a great disappointment to those citizens who were looking forward to a rejuvenation of the City Council ("Council incumbents rack up victories," Sept. 10). Low voter turnout and lack of name recognition of the challengers have been given as the reasons for the success of incumbents in every district in which they ran for office. Another important reason was the holding of the primary election in September 2003 -- 14 months before the November 2004 general election.