On Saturday (5-18), President Clinton endorsed a Wisconsin plan to end welfare. Criticized by child-welfare and women’s rights advocates, the plan would eliminate Aid to Families with Dependent Children and would replace the Federal guarantee of cash assistance for poor children with wage subsidies for single mothers who work. Every adult recipient would be required to work, a factor that worries critics concerned about the children of parents who fail to participate in the work program. Devised primarily by Republican Gov. Tommy Thompson, the Wisconsin plan cuts off assistance after five years without guaranteeing that families would receive any forms of aid thereafter. Opponents of the plan also point out that it relies upon a strong economy in the state, which might not last.
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