The Nation : Welfare Changes Sought

The nation’s governors, reaching a “broad and deeply felt bipartisan consensus,” asked Congress for sweeping changes in the national welfare system that include requiring work or job training in exchange for assistance. The National Governors’ Assn. approved the new welfare policy with only one governor dissenting and, armed with Reagan Administration support for the low-cost elements, sent its leaders before the House Ways and Means Committee to lobby for the plan. “I hope that the chemistry of bipartisan support that we are looking at here will give us the tools that will help get Congress to act,” New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, a Republican, said.