Stating that welfare reform will devastate California residents, Senator Dianne Feinstein wants to amend the newly-passed legislation. Though mindful that the 105th Congress is not likely to overhaul the welfare reform, which destroys the 60-year-old federal guarantee of cash assistance to the poor, Feinstein is determined to make changes which will accommodate California’s large and diverse population.
After talking with welfare directors in counties throughout California, Feinstein’s staff has found that some of the legislation’s edicts are impossible to attain. In order for welfare recipients to find work within two years, the state would have to provide 160,000 new jobs, three times the number it currently provides per year. The edict that 90 percent of two parent welfare families find work by 2002 may be impossible under any circumstances.
Feinstien’s goals include continued federal funding for elderly and disabled noncitizens in the country before this year’s enactment of the bill. She would also like to double, from six to twelve weeks, the time allowed for recipients to search for a job. The Senator faces tough opposition from a Republican Congress and Pete Wilson, the Republican California Governor bent on destroying welfare programs in the state.
