WELFARE REFORM IS LABORATOY OF DEMOCRACY

Welfare has ended as we have known it, effective July 1. Credit should go to the Republican majority in Congress and to President Bill Clinton, who on the third try, reversed his earlier vetoes and signed the GOP welfare bill.

Changes are dramatic: The 60-year federal entitlement to welfare has ended, replaced by an ambitious plan to move recipients into jobs. "When people walk into our offices, they'll understand this is no longer an entitlement," said Bruce Liggett, an Arizona welfare official. "We're here to help you get a job." Said another, "I think we're going to be more like career counselors."

Welfare rolls have been dropping nationwide. About 4 million people were on these rolls in March, down 20 percent from the 1994 peak. In states such as pioneering Wisconsin, rolls have dropped an amazing 60 percent in some counties. In the Badger State, there is no welfare -- just help in finding a job, and if necessary a paycheck in for showing up at community service. Although less radically, every state has increased work requirements and refocused their programs toward getting people into jobs. Federal law requires recipients to work after two years, and states must have 25 percent at work by this fall. That percentage will climb until it reaches 50 percent in 2002.

In all this, with varying plans, each of the states is acting as the laboratory of democracy that our founders intended. Different states will try different plans and see what works, and what doesn't. The general direction is clear, though: Away from a lifetime entitlement, and toward work.