THE POOR DESERVE EQUAL PROTECTION NO BLOCK GRANTS ADMIT IT: SOME

Block grants are to Congress what loose-fit blue jeans are to fat men. They feel good and hide the problem at the same time.

In our zeal to jettison federal programs to the states it's easy to forget that there are certain responsibilities best left with the federal government. Taking care of the nation's poor is one of those responsibilities.

Like it or not, there have always been and there always will be poor people: Men and women who can't or won't earn enough money to support themselves and their families. Many are working on the slippery edge of poverty, trying hard to eliminate their dependency on public assistance.

It was the conscience of the country that led to many of the federal welfare programs that now seem so misguided. Those policies can and should be changed at the federal level.

Welfare reform enjoys bi-partisan support in Congress. It's one of the few things the politicians can agree on. However, allowing each state to form its own welfare program would open the door to discrimination against poor people and would not necessarily cure the ills imbedded in federal policies.

States with large welfare rolls would be able to legislate programs that drive their poor people to states with more tolerable public assistance programs. Responsible states would become magnets for people in poverty. Some states would be forced into a downward spiral of increasingly and unconscionably tough welfare programs.

There is no evidence to suggest that state welfare agencies are any better equipped to handle block grants, or reform public assistance programs, than federal agencies are. In fact, lobbyists can exert more pressure on the states, than they can on Congress, to direct welfare money to the advantage of states' corporate interests and away from the people who need it.

The Department of Social and Health Services houses the biggest bureaucracy in Washington state government with nearly 17,000 employees. It can't explain to taxpayers right now how the money in its budget is spent. It makes no sense to try to flush the inefficiencies from this agency with billions in block grants.

The smart, fair thing to do is reform welfare at the federal level. It is the only way to keep the playing field level for poor people across the country.

Copyright 1995 Cowles Publishing Company
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.