House Cuts Welfare Reform Cost

WASHINGTON — The House today instructed its negotiators to limit the five-year cost of welfare reform to $2.8 billion, following warnings by Republicans that anything higher would doom the chances of an overhaul this year.

The House voted 227-168 to accept a GOP move to instruct lawmakers meeting with the Senate to draft a compromise bill to abandon the $7-billion price tag on the House-passed version in favor of the lower ceiling adopted by the Senate in its version of the legislation. Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, acknowledged that to get President Reagan’s signature on a welfare compromise, “obviously the bill’s cost will have to be closer to the Senate.”