Hoping to muscle into the welfare debate, President Clinton on Tuesday accused Republicans of backing reforms that are "too tough on children and too weak on work and responsibility."
With Republicans planning to trim the costly food stamp program and limit cash benefits to families, Clinton gave GOP lawmakers credit for improving on their "Contract With America" welfare plans."But some aspects of this current plan in the (Congress) could do more harm than good," he said.
Following House Speaker Newt Gingrich at a convention of county executives, Clinton said GOP plans don't do enough to help welfare recipients find work after being cut from the public dole.
"When people just get cut off without going to work, you know where they're likely to end up, don't you? On your doorstep," Clinton said. "That's not welfare reform. That's just shifting the problem."
He singled out a GOP plan to deny welfare to teenage mothers under 18. "I just believe it's wrong to cut people off because they're young and they made a mistake," Clinton said. "I think it's wrong to make small children pay the price for their parents' mistakes."
And he chastised Republicans for not backing his efforts to crack down on parents who dodge child support payments, forcing their families on to welfare. Leery of passing mandates to states, Republicans last week fought a Clinton plan to require states to revoke drivers' licenses of deadbeat parents.
"Parents in American have no right to walk away from their responsibility to raise their children," he said.
At least one Republican agreed with Clinton's support of the deadbeat parent measure.
"Taking licenses away from deadbeats is one of the simplest, most effective and easy-to-understand tools available to us," Rep. Marge Roukema, R-N.J., said Monday. "It has produced remarkable results in the states where it has been tried."
Clinton said he was confident Republicans and Democrats could fashion a plan that promotes welfare, not work, and requires responsibility from teens who get pregnant and parents who are obligated to pay child support.
The president also highlighted his administration's willingness to give states the freedom to experiment with welfare reform. Ohio today became the 25th state issued a regulation waiver under Clinton, and the president said he would like to abolish the waiver system and give states unlimited flexibility.
Clinton's welfare reform plan, introduced last year, received little public attention and became a step-child to health-care reform in the White House.
He proposed a two-year limit on cash benefits for welfare recipients, with expanded child care, training and education to promote the transition to work.
The new White House campaign came as the GOP-controlled House Ways and Means Committee neared a vote on a plan that would cut welfare spending for families and children by $35 billion over five years.
The House Agriculture Committee also was considering a bill to reform the food stamp program, cutting spending by $16 billion in the same period.
In a letter Monday to Agriculture Committee Chairman Pat Roberts, R-Kan., acting Agriculture Secretary Richard Rominger said the threatened food stamp reductions "jeopardize 30 years of health and nutrition accomplishments" and would reduce retail food sales by $3 billion to $7 billion over five years.
Also Monday, advocates for children said as many as 377,000 children from low-income families could lose their subsidized care under GOP welfare legislation.