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Show 1 Your Man j . 1 I" Washington j Uy U.S. Senator Orrin G. Hatch Time For Welfare Reform President Jimmy Carter, shortly after taking tak-ing office, promised a comprehensive reform of the nation's welfare system. The President assigned the tak to HEW Serretary Joseph Culifuno and said the reform package would he ready for Congressional action on May 1st. Califano Inter reported to the President that after several months of study it was clear the legislation could not he ready on time. On May 2nd the President announced an-nounced u delay in presenting the welfare package emphasizing that hi- and his advisors had reached one " ...important unun i in o ii s r on elusion. elu-sion. ..that tin' present uelfare programs should be strapped unil a totally new system implemented." imple-mented." He went on to say, "...these miiny separate I welfare I programs, pro-grams, taken together, still ilo not constitute u rational, ra-tional, inherent system that is aileipiate... " A new deadline for presenting the welfare reform package was set for tin' first week in August. The people of I tall, as in most states, are concerned con-cerned lliat tin welfare system of till' nation is so massive, riddled with fraud, anil so far out of icn.lrnl that il may never he corralled . I he comments of the President and r pressed fears of the nation are confirmed con-firmed by statistics, fur example, ill Michigan (lie incentive is gicnl to have the father of tin household abandon his responsibilities. respon-sibilities. It is worth nearly $2000 annually to the non-working mothers left alone. And for the single working mother, rii eiv ing all the availahlc welfare benefits, staying single is worth nearly Sl(HH) annually. an-nually. These type of w ork disincentives are causing die destruction of the traditional family system among the m h ir and are major weaknesses in the national welfare system. Another serious example can he found in Wisconsin where a part-time working father can earn up to $.'10(K) more per year receiving welfare benefits than n full-time employee earning the standard minimum wage. It is this kind of faulty legislation that encourages disrespect for go erninent and noncompliance non-compliance w ith the law . The President has promised his new welfare plan will he easier to administer ad-minister and w ill eliminate fraud with incentives for recipients to he honest. I n addition. President dorter lias said his plan w ill ha e no higher initial cost than the present system, that every person aide to work will have access to a jol, anil that incentives w ill lie given to the private sector to encourage employment of the poor. I f the ( larler plan has these provisions when presented the President Presi-dent should lie congratulated. con-gratulated. Anil If the plan is preseiili'd to Congress in this form it must lie carefully studied as a hissiIiIc answer to the pie-scnl pie-scnl hail sv sletn . |