The Gazette from Cedar Rapids, Iowa • 19

Thit CfliMr n.iplits fiaoIlM Sun Mtifi.h 1005 1 9A SL7Q RrPrrfff Twpnc km 5ii ay 1 1 i M. Lobbying to save programs from welfare cuts By David Lynch Gaalla Washinyton mportor WASHINGTON Welfare re-(arm is a ti ghtening phrase to Julie Beckett, the Cedar Rapids Woman who almost single-handedly forced the federal bureaucracy to break its rules and coyer cheaper and more eifec-tfto home care for her daughter, KMie. Uhen President Ronald Reagan pointed to Katie Beckett exception that proved the ruwd for more flexible rules for federal disability assistance programs. a decade and billions of federal dollars later, the House Ways and Means Committee, carrying out the House Republicans' "Contract With America," hns approved a welfare reform program. GOP sponsors say the reform will curb wasteful spending while providing states with said, Hut nhe says there Is chance the waiver will become an unintended victim of welfare reform.

"My goal is that no child will ever have to go through what my child had to go through," she told The Gazette, Julie Beckett said she favors the thrust of the Republican reform movement giving states more control over federal programs affecting their citizens. But she is concerned that all the states "do the right thing," especially since cash benefits under the proposed block grants will bo reduced by 25 percent and possibly an additional 30 percent. She also is concerned that the states don't fully understand the programs they want to administer with the block grants. Julie Beckett is heartened by the prospect of the Senate coming up with its own welfare reform proposal. She said that proposal will be put together by staffers and senators who know a lot more about the programs than the House members and staffers who put together the House Ways and Means She expects the Senate to proceed at a much more deliberate pace than the House.

NUSSLE SAID Beckett has offered the committee some "interesting and useful ideas and concepts." But lie said she has nothing to worry about. "Our bill provides the mother of all waivers," he said, "and I don't see Katie or anyone else in a similar situation having trouble getting coverage under the reform bill." Beckett said, "I'm not sure (Nussle) understands how the program works for all kids, and it's very difficult to know when the committee is moving so quickly." Nussle said the Ways and Means Committee conducted what is known as a "conceptual markup" the panel discussed and voted on the concepts first and then had the staff put it in legislative language. Beckett said she's waiting for the final language before claiming victory or defeat. treatment that would be far cheaper than hospitalization. But the government would pay only for hospital care.

Julie Beckett appealed that decision and state oll'icials told Iter "rules were rules, and there was nothing they could do," She refused to accept that and appealed to then Rep. Tom Tauke, Iowa, who helped her fashion a waiver that technically opened SSI eligibility that led to Medicaid coverage at home. That has become known as the Katie Beckett Waiver. Sen. Tom Harkln, I) Iowa, has introduced welfare reform legislation that is modeled after the Iowa welfare reform program that he and other members of the state congressional delegation got a federal waiver for two years ago.

MEANWHILE, IOWA Gov. Terry Branstad and Sen. Charles Grassley, Iowa, are working with a national GOP coalition on the welfare reform package that is being developed by the House Ways and Means Committee. Julie Beckett, who calls the GOP agenda the "Contract On America," said Nussle has been helpful in dealing with her con Gazette (lie photo In 1984, Katie Beckett greeted then-President Ronald Reagan as he visited Iowa. In 1982, Reagan used the Beckett family as an example of the need for more flexible rules for federal disability assistance programs.

imir.iL talized for more than three years. Her doctors determined she would do better at home with the use of a ventilator, a block grants and wide discretion iii administering welfare programs to suit the needs of their citizens. rJulie Beckett was in Washington recently with a coalition called Family Voices, trying to ptbvide guidance to the House Wjiys and Means Committee. She also was trying to enlist Rep. Jim Nussle, R-Iowa, a leading advocate of welfare reform, in.

her efforts to ensure that future Katie Becketts will be eligible for home treatment under, the Supplemental Security Income (SSI), which enabled her to qualify for Medicaid at home. cerns with the welfare reform package. He and other Republicans have assured her that the SSI key to the Katie Beckett Waiver will remain untouched by the welfare reform bill, she Katie, 17 now, is a junior at Regis High She still needs to be on a ventilator 12 hours a day for her respiratory condition. But she lives an active life, which has included a number of visits to Congress to serve as living testimony for home care. Katie suffered viral encephalitis as an infant and was hospi lift ti 4 ni 333 Hi-Yield 3-Step Lawn Care ,5,000 sq.ft.

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