Welfare-Plus In Washington

The cruel Catch-22 of welfare is that it often punishes recipients who try to work their way out of poverty. By taking away benefits from the poor when their income starts to climb, welfare discourages incentive. A novel program in Washington State proposes to turn that problem on its head by offering bonuses as well as benefits to welfare recipients who work or undergo job training. In effect, Washington wants to tell the poor: Whatever you earn (up to a point), you can keep -- and we'll add to it.

Under the Family Independence Program proposed last November by Governor Booth...