New Welfare Law Should Be Amended, Sen. Boxer Says

U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer predicted Wednesday that the welfare reform bill signed by President Clinton will be amended to safeguard the lives of children and the elderly--but perhaps not until after demonstrable damage is done.

She said that the danger to the needy was particularly acute in California because Gov. Pete Wilson has told counties that they need not offer general assistance to those who fail to qualify for other aid.

“So there’s no place to go for a last resort,” Boxer, a Democrat, told political reporters during a breakfast meeting in Hollywood. “We could see children very, very sick. Maybe children die.

“Americans are, I think, on the whole compassionate people,” she added. “Maybe compassion is out of fashion. . . . But I don’t think so.”

Boxer, who voted against the Republican bill that Clinton signed, supports liberalizing the welfare reform law before problems arise. She also expects Clinton’s upcoming budget to boost funding for the children of welfare recipients and the elderly who are threatened by welfare cutbacks.

But there is no indication, she acknowledged, that Republicans who control Congress want to revisit the issue. They contend that the changes in the nation’s welfare policy were necessary to end a destructive, generational dependence on government handouts.

“All I can say is I think we need to fix some of this, and I think if we don’t fix it now we’re going to eventually fix it,” Boxer said. “Because there’s going to be some horrible thing that’s going to happen. The country’s going to be stunned, the country’s going to be shocked, and everybody’s going to say, ‘Oh, gee, we didn’t mean that.’ ”

Generally an avid supporter of the president, Boxer made no attempt to defend Clinton’s approval of the welfare reform bill, something he regularly boasted about during his reelection campaign.

“Maybe he thought Democrats would pick up seats and take back control” of Congress, so they could make changes in the law, she said. “I don’t know what he thought.”

Although she supported a mandatory time limit on welfare recipients, Boxer said she wanted to ensure that the children of people kicked off the rolls are protected. Specifically, she favored giving out vouchers to pay for the children’s food, medicine and other necessities.

Boxer’s views on welfare reform put her at odds with many voters just as she kicks off her 1998 reelection campaign. Her pace of appearances in California has quickened recently, and she said she will use the same team of consultants that helped her win in 1992. She also said she does not expect to have a Democratic challenger.

Asked which Republican she expected to run against her, she laughed.

“Well, almost every Republican in the House with a pulse is looking at the race,” she said.

Republicans in California see Boxer as a vulnerable target, and a host of them are actively considering the race, including San Diego Mayor Susan Golding, state Treasurer Matt Fong and U.S. Reps. Christopher Cox and David Dreier.

Boxer’s first victory, many Republicans believe, was largely a result of the Democratic landslide in California in 1992. That year, Clinton became the first Democratic presidential candidate since Lyndon B. Johnson to win the state and Democrat Dianne Feinstein also captured a Senate seat.

Whoever runs, Boxer said, the race will be “very hard.” She said that she plans to raise more than $20 million to finance her effort.

“It’s sort of like an out-of-body experience, to be honest with you, to look at the kind of funding I have to raise,” she added.