How to Regulate Biotechnology?

Welfare dollars are needed

Regarding the front page article "Welfare-Reform Sentiment Sweeps Through Statehouses," March 6: It's unfortunate that during these hard times when people are looking for a scapegoat, they have resorted to using the politically weakest groups available - women and children.

As a California welfare recipient and mother of two, I receive less than $8,000 a year. That hardly puts me "well above the poverty level," as Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation implies the California benefits do. In wages, that computes to a paltry $4 an hour, which barely covers child care for two, not to mention rent, utilities, transportation, food, clothing, and medical costs. For many, including myself, that welfare check is the only thing that keeps us from joining the ranks of homeless Amer ican families.

Instead of getting tough on women and children, as California's Gov. Pete Wilson threatens to do by cutting benefits again, why doesn't he go after the fathers who are responsible in part for the needs of AFDC families? Janet Wright, Goleta, Calif.

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