Kent Conrad: “I call a State flexibility amendment because it allows States to choose between the Dole AFDC and job training block…”

“I call a State flexibility amendment because it allows States to choose between the Dole AFDC and job training block grant and titles I and II of my own welfare reform plan, the WAGE Act, the Work and Gainful Employment Act, that I offered in May of this year. Titles I and II of the WAGE Act are based on four principles: First, work; second, protecting children; third, providing States flexibility; and fourth, preserving the family structure. I believe those are the fundamental principles of any serious welfare reform effort. My plan provides unprecedented flexibility to States while providing a safety net for children and an automatic economic stabilizer for States. My amendment expands this principle by giving States a choice between block grants, the pure block grant approach as contained in the Dole proposal, and my totally new approach to welfare that has a combination of a block grant and a temporary assistance program that includes an automatic economic stabilizer so that States are not put in a circumstance in which they may not be able to meet the needs of children in their States due to economic conditions or a natural calamity.”