Bob Dole: “We have taken care of maintenance of effort and the job training. We are going to make it freestanding, under a time…”

“We have taken care of maintenance of effort and the job training. We are going to make it freestanding, under a time agreement. And contingency grant funds, which we did not have in our bill, was sponsored by the Senator from Ohio, Senator DeWine. He thought about $530 million was appropriate. We made it $1 billion. So if some State has a calamity, they do not have to pay it back. We kept the loan funds of $1.7 billion, and we have accepted some of the triggers suggested. The work bonus program, that has been done. On the vouchers, we have not reached an agreement, but we have increased the hardship exemption in the bill from 15 to 20 percent. We have added $75 per year for abstinence education, which has broad support. And program evaluation, of interest to the Senator from New York, and others, $20 million to evaluate the program. If that is not enough, we can raise it to $25 million. I talked to Dick Nathan, who suggested that amendment; he is a well-respected academic. Food stamps, which we have discussed with the Democratic leader, has certain escape hatches. We do not think it punishes anybody. We think it is a good package, and we think we can complete this whole bill in a couple of hours.”