EMERSON PLEASED BY REPORT ON WELFARE SIMPLIFICATION

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Rep. Bill Emerson said Tuesday he is pleased with the work accomplished by a Welfare Simplification and Coordination Advisory Committee.

The group was formed as a result of an amendment offered by Emerson in 1990 to the Farm Bill, and the final report suggests that existing programs and benefits should be simplified, coordinated, and have a component that is tied to progress toward self sufficiency.

The findings of the committee were announced at a press conference in the capitol Tuesday.

"There is a better way to provide assistance," said Emerson. "This distinguished panel was charged with the responsibility to try to find the better way. Through its recommendations and the efforts of the newly established Clinton interagency working group on welfare reform, I hope we will discover and implement a better way to help our needy citizens."

Emerson said he saw the need for the advisory panel soon after becoming the ranking Republican on the Nutrition Subcommittee in 1983, which has jurisdiction over the Food Stamp Program.

"It soon became apparent to me that families participating in the Food Stamp Program had other needs as well - the need for financial assistance, help in finding a job, housing and medical assistance are among the major problems facing poor families," said Emerson.

"The system then, as it is now, with the lack of coordination and resolution of the differences among the programs, is very troublesome."

Emerson added that states have tried to deal with these problems in the welfare system, but are limited to further improvements without federal legislation.

Said Emerson: "I would like to see a system in which we provide benefits to people in a coordinated and simplified manner and also provide employment and training for able bodied participants. We must maintain programs for those who are aged or disabled, but we must simplify the programs we have and provide a method to make taxpayers of those able bodied people now in need of help."

Congress established the committee to look at major public assistance programs: food stamps, AFDC, Medicaid, and housing assistance. The committee was to identify differences that make it hard for needy families to receive the benefits, examine the reasons for the differences, and recommend simplified programs to reduce those problems.

The primary recommendation of the committee is to replace the numerous programs that currently serve the needy with one, family-focused, client-oriented, comprehensive program. The three key criteria for the program would be: simplicity of design; service tailored to need; and benefits contingent upon progress toward self-sufficiency.

The three types of need would be short term assistance for those who are employable; extended assistance for those who need to acquire additional skills to get a job; and long term assistance for those unable to earn a living due to mental, social or physical limitations.

Other recommendations of the committee are to give states greater flexibility, establish uniform definitions, encourage states to form public-private partnerships to meet client needs, combine some services, streamline the verification process, using a single case manager for all public assistance programs and services, and permit the sharing of client information among agencies.