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Children

In recent years, the status of America's children has assumed a more prominent role in many policy debates.

The Children's Defense Fund and other groups regularly issue report cards on how the nation's youngsters are faring, and some of the president's liberal advisors counseled him not to sign last year's welfare legislation expressly because of its potential impact on poor children.

Some of the numbers collected by advocacy groups paint a bleak picture about the lives of children in the United States.

About one in five American children lived below the poverty line in 1994, higher than any other age group. For African-American children, the figure was nearly 44 percent.

A significant number of people without health care insurance are children; they comprise an estimated 11 percent of all uninsured persons under age 65.

And in 1994, according to the Child Welfare League of America, an estimated 3,140,000 children were reported abused or neglected. That was a 4.5 percent increase from the number reported in 1993. From 1985 to 1994, the total number of reports of child abuse and neglect increased 63 percent.

But even on what seems like an innocuous issue, there are political tensions. Some conservatives believe the recent high-profile lobbying on behalf of children really masks a desire by social liberals for more government spending and an intrusion into concerns better left to families.