A Rival Plan

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By Newsweek Editors

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WELFARE REFORM, IT seems, also makes strange bedfellows. Liberal Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin and conservative Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri will team up this spring on a bill to cut welfare costs and encourage self-sufficiency. The Harkin-Bond plan is modeled on a new Iowa program that has increased the percentage of women who work for benefits to 26 percent from 18 percent in three months. Under the plan, social workers draw up contracts requiring welfare recipients to take work-related steps in exchange for continued benefits. Harkin considers Clinton's proposed two-year welfare cutoff "too liberal" and his public-jobs program too expensive.

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