Gregoire ponders cuts to welfare

Gov. Christine Gregoire is considering a recommendation to make the deepest cuts in Washington's cash-grant welfare program since it was overhauled in 1997.

The cuts to WorkFirst, suggested by an advisory panel earlier this month, would end cash payments for about 2,700 families who have run afoul of welfare-to-work rules. In addition, about 2,250 low-income working families would lose hundreds of dollars in monthly child-care subsidies.

Gregoire could accept the controversial cuts or ask the Legislature to increase welfare spending.

She hasn't decided which tack to take, said press secretary Carol Andrews. There are some tough decisions to be made, she said.

The state's welfare caseloads fell from 88,200 in 1997 to about 55,000 in 2000 and have hovered there since. The program is now running a $42.5 million annual budget deficit because caseloads are no longer dropping, federal support has stagnated and the state has a relatively generous child-care subsidy.

Washington keeps payments flowing to families who exhaust their five-year lifetime limit, as a means to keep children from going hungry or homeless. It also gives reduced payments to families who fail to look for or find work.

The advisory panel recommended cutting off both groups, an estimated 2,700 in all, said Carole Holland, Gregoire's senior WorkFirst coordinator. "It would certainly impact families, but the question is, are you doing any favors to keep them in a state of not improving their self-sufficiency?" Holland said.

In a sharp dissent, panel member Liz Schott said the cuts would eliminate "a safety net for children."

Jonathan Martin: 206-464-2605 or jmartin@seattletimes.com