The Michigan Daily - Tuesday, February 15, 1994 - 9 President renews plea for reform of welfare WASHINGTON (AP) - One in seven children is on welfare, more than one in 10 Americans buys gro- ceries with food stamps and the num- ber of births to unwed mothers is climbing toward one in three. That's acrisis to PresidentClinton, who argues that the nation's welfare system must be revolutionized. Con- servatives agree, but many liberals question the need for drastic action, especially if the administration pays for reform by wringing savings from other programs for low-income fami- lies. One thing is certain: Caseloads are mushrooming and costs are soar- ing, draining federal and state trea- suries. Conservatives also see a crisis of illegitimacy and dependency. They say welfare is "illegitimacy's eco- nomic life-support system" and re- sponsible for a permanent class of broken families. "The welfare system is in a crisis. Millions of families are trapped in welfare programs that rob them of their dignity and deny them opportu- nity," said Rep. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, the senior Republican on the House Ways and Means Sub- committee on Human Resources. "The system sanctions and even encourages children to have children. We need to fix America's welfare system and we need to do it now," he said. Clinton has said he'll introduce legislation this spring to do -just that. Under his plan, single parents on welfare would get the education, train- ing and child-care they need to find work and then leave the rolls within 24 months. In the short term, it is cheaper to just keep writing welfare checks than setting up training, work and day- care programs for single mothers, many of them high school dropouts with little work experience. Widespread child-care 'shortages *and quality problems also could com- plicate reform, according to an inves- tigation by Rep. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the chair of the House Small Business subcommittee on regulation. At a hearing last week, Wyden said welfare reform could strain a child-care system that already is over- burdened and underfinanced, frag- mented and "creaking toward break- down." Some liberals are not convinced there is a "welfare crisis" at all, in- cluding Rep. Patsy Mink of Hawaii, a leader of liberal House Democrats who are pushing a go-slow approach to reform. "There are many things that could be changed in the welfare structure, but I don't believe it's of crisis pro- portions and requiring the doubling of money that we spend," Mink said. If there is a crisis, said Mink, it is one of children going to bed hungry and growing up poor. Other welfare experts say that while the situation may not be the nation's most urgent problem, there is growing consensus that however well-intentioned, welfare has failed taxpayers and the poor alike. Welfare reform will target Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), a state-federal program that supports about 5 million low-income families, most of them headed by single mothers. But food stamps, which help nearly 27 million Ameri- cans buy their groceries, will also be affected. Caseloads in both programs have risen dramatically since the economic downturn of the late 1980s. Food stamps have risen from 18.6 million recipients and a cost $12.3 billion in 1988 to 26.9 million recipi- ents and an estimated cost of $23.6 billion in 1993. AFDC has grown from 3.75 mil- lion families in 1988 and a total cost of $19 billion to 4.97 million families * and a cost of $25.8 billion in 1993. There are 9.3 million children in families on AFDC. A SINGLE RED CARNATION FOR VALENTINE'S DAY King demands independence for S. African nation LOS ANGELES TIMES CAPE TOWN, South Africa - In a move that creates a dangerous new crisis for this country's troubled tran- sition to democracy, the king of the Zulus abruptly announced yesterrday that he intends to set up his own independent state so he can rule as a sovereign monarch of South Africa's largest ethnic group. During a three-hour meeting with President Frederik W. de Klerk in the southeastern city of Durban, King Goodwill Zwelithini demanded that the government effectively restore the traditional Zulu kingdom and cede him exclusive control of the apart- heid-created Black homeland of KwaZulu and the entire eastern prov- ince of Natal. "I demand that you give the Zulu nation the opportunity to become free once again and to choose their own destiny for themselves," the king said. The new Zulu nation, he told tens of thousands of cheering supporters at a jammed soccer stadium rally prior to the meeting, would exist "on its own with its own territorial basis and with its own government." He in- sisted the Zulu people had "an in- alienable right to self-determination." The king, a mercurial figure who commands respect among many of the estimated 8 million Zulus, said that he would not abide by the results of the country's first free elections in April, and that he would not respect the recently negotiated interim con- stitution for a post-apartheid govern- ment. He said he would instead promul- gate his own constitution to "estab- lish a monarchy modeled after the best examples of democratic and plu- ralistic monarchies in the world." The proposed territory, essentially the northeastern quadrant of South Africa, would include all the land Zwelithini 's unexpected demand goes far beyond previous calls by Zulu leaders for regional autonomy, and adds sharp new pressures on the government and the African National Congress. conquered by British colonial forces from the Zulus in 1834. Zwelithini's unexpected demand goes far beyond previous calls by Zulu leaders for regional autonomy, and adds sharp new pressures on the government and the African National Congress. The ANC's president, Nelson Mandela, is expected to become the country's first Black president after the April 26-28 election. There is virtually no chance that the ANC would allow the Zulus to secede. But differences between Zulus and Xhosas, especially those in the ANC, have been a root cause of the spiral of political violence that has claimed more than 13,000 lives in the last four years. Both the white-led government and the ANC oppose the creation of separate territories on the basis of race or ethnicity. Under apartheid, homelands were created to separate the races and deny South African citi- zenship to Blacks. De Klerk appeared to downplay Zwelithini's demand, telling report- ers after the meeting that he would formally respond to the king's "new position" on Thursday after consult- ing his Cabinet. He said the constitu- tion could be amended, if necessary, to accommodate "special needs." Packwood asks for further delay in release of personal diaries ELIZABETH LIPPMAN/Daily Valentine's Day works its charm on this Ann Arbor couple yesterday, prompting them to stop at this local florist. Clinton predicts U.S. economy w grow at3.1 rate in WASHINGTON (AP)- President, Clinton used his first annual economic report yesterday to proclaim his poli- cies had put the country on track for rising prosperity for years to come. Clinton forecast that the economy would keep growing through the rest of this decade and the pace would be fast enough to meet his campaign pledge of 8 million new jobs during his first term. His administration, he told Congress, had replaced "drift and deadlock with renewal and reform." The 398-page report conceded that this optimistic scenario could be in danger if long-term interest rates sud- denly start rising, consumer spending falters or weakness in such big over- seas markets as Europe and Japan is more prolonged than expected. The annual report predicted that the overall economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, will grow by 3.1 percent this year and 2.8 per- cent in 1995. That outlook, upon which the president based his 1995 budget, is in line with private forecasters. The National Association of Business Economists said yesterday it believed the economy would grow 3.2 percent this year and 2.8 percent in 1995. The 49th edition of the "Economic Report of the President" represented a sharp break from the past 12 Repub- lican versions which had sung the praises of government deregulation and lower tax rates. "For too long and in too many ways, our nation has been drifting," Clinton said in a message transmit- ting the report to Congress. "For 12 years a policy of trickle-down eco- nomics built a false prosperity on a mountain of federal debt." Clinton praised his $500 billion deficit reduction plan, half of which comes from raising taxes, for putting the country on a sounder economic footing in just one year by lowering interest rates and thusspurring a boom in sales of big-ticket items such as homes and cars. "As a result of our efforts, the economy now is on a path of rising output, increasing employment and falling deficits," the president said. "In considering President Clinton's gusher of praise for his eco- nomic record today, we should re- member that no modern president's economic program has required less than 18 months to have an impact on the economy," said Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Texas ). The Clinton document devoted several pages to attacking a key sup- ply-side tenet, that cutting tax rates can result in higher tax revenues and that boosting tax rates on the wealthy can actually result in lower taxes as more income is sheltered. The report said a review of tax history proved these claims false. The Clinton report sought to build a case for a more activist federal ap- proach. It said the government must invest more in education, training and research to boost American produc- tivity. One chapter in the book was de- voted to building a case for Clinton's massive health reform program, seek- ing to answer critics who have con- tended its employer mandates to pro- vide health coverage will cost the economy jobs. While noting possible risks to the economic outlook in the form of an unexpected jump in interest rates or flagging consumer demand, Laura D'Andrea Tyson, head of the president's Council of Economic Advisers, told reporters that the ad- ministration was comfortable with its economic outlook, especially because it was in line with most private fore- casters. "There is widespread agreement that the fundamentals for the economy look particularly strong compared to the past 20, 30 years," she said. THE BALTIMORE SUN WASHINGTON - Sen. Robert Packwood (R-Ore.), carried to a higher court yesterday his running fight with Senate ethics investigators over the privacy of his personal diaries, asking for more time to let the constitutional dispute unfold. In a request for a speedy ruling by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals here, Packwood also sought a delay in any release of his diaries to the Senate Ethics Committee for use in its investi- gation of misconduct charges. U.S. DistrictJudgeThomas P.Jack- son has ruled that Packwood has no constitutional right to withhold the dia- ries from the committee. Still, thejudge has given the senator until Feb. 22 to pursue an appeal. That is "insufficient time" to get the constitutional issues decided, the Cir- cuit Court was told by Packwood's lawyer, Jacob A. Stein. If the Ethics Committee is cleared next week to start reviewing diaries, the harm to his pri- vacy "cannot be erased" even if the senator ultimately wins his challenge, the attorney said. The senator claims that the committee's demand for his taped dia- ries and the written transcripts of them is unconstitutionally broad, allowing the investigators to "rummage" through his private life. The diaries, the lawyer said, deal not only with his work as a senator, but also "his innermost thoughts on a wide variety of private, personal matters." In addition, the senator fears that the committee inquiry willforce him, through the diaries, to give evidence against himself that could be used in a Justice Department criminal investiga- tion. The department also has subpoe- naed the diaries, but the courts have yet to rule on that separate question. v 338 S. State nnOo1k1Ua PRIIZErjS! come in costume, come as you are! FREE MASKS & BEADS (Hey, Mister! Throw Me Something) Northwestern College of Chiropractic is now accepting applications for its next three entering classes. (April 1994, September 1994, January 1995) General requirements at time of entry include: o Approx. 2.3 years of college in a life or health science degree program. WING IT! AT