Bill Clinton: “Primarily two. One, I will offer a special tax incentive--there was a story about it today, I think, in the New York…”

“Primarily two. One, I will offer a special tax incentive--there was a story about it today, I think, in the New York Times--a special tax incentive that'll be a 50 percent credit for up to $10,000 a year in pay for people who are clearly, provably hired from welfare and put into new jobs. Secondly, we have given the States--and there was a story, I think, in the Post today talking about how a lot of the States are trying to push this down to the community level. That's good. That's not bad, that's good, as long as they give the communities the means they need. The second thing is that every community should know that the employers in that community, if they hire people from welfare to work, can get what used to be the welfare check for at least a year to use as an employment and training subsidy. Why? The welfare rolls have gone down 2.1 million in the last 4 years; it's the biggest drop in history. I think a fair reading of it would say about half of this decline came from an improved economy and about half of it came from intensified efforts to move people from welfare to work. Now, I don't have any scientific division, but anyway, there's some division there. The rest of the people that are on welfare now, by and large, are people who will be more difficult to move from welfare to work and have stay there. So I think we're going to have to give some incentives. But if it works and if every community in the country would set up an employment council and turn this into a family and an employment program like Kansas City has and all employers have those two incentives, I think we'll be able to meet the requirements of this welfare reform bill in a way that will be good for the people on welfare and good for their kids. Kathy [Kathy Lewis, Dallas Morning News]. Legal Immigrants and the Budget”