White House May Hire Welfare Recipients
White House May Hire Welfare Recipients
WASHINGTON (CNN, Jan. 10) -- The White House is looking into the possibility of hiring welfare recipients to work in the administration as part of welfare-to-work initiatives President Bill Clinton has been promoting. The news comes as the president meets with CEOs from companies already involved in, or thinking about, such programs. White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry says that outgoing Chief of Staff Leon Panetta has asked the Office of Presidential Personnel to look at the guidelines for employing or training welfare recipients. McCurry says the issue is complicated by the fact that the White House is restricted in its use of volunteers and special training programs. McCurry also responded to criticism by House Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Bill Archer (R-Texas) that welfare-to-work programs should not displace low-income workers. McCurry said the White House is not trying to do that, that its objective is to create jobs, and he pointed to the 11 million jobs created during the Clinton presidency.
Unemployment Rate Holds Steady
WASHINGTON (CNNfn, Jan. 10) -- A surging U.S. economy created 262,000 non-farm payroll jobs in December, the Labor Department reported Friday. The unemployment rate remained unchanged at 5.3 percent, after November's figure was revised downward from 5.4 to 5.3 percent. Wall Street economists, expecting the economy to generate 190,000 new jobs for the month, were surprised by the report. Several said the jump could be enough evidence to convince the Federal Reserve to raise short-term interest rates in a move to head off inflation. The December report comes after a series of economic figures that suggested the economy is expanding at a steady pace. The strongest job growth came in the service sector, where 222,000 jobs were added to payrolls. For all of 1996, the economy created 2.6 million non-farm jobs, up from 2.2 million created the year before.
Tsongas Hospitalized
BOSTON (AllPolitics, Jan. 10) -- Former U.S. Sen. and one-time presidential candidate Paul Tsongas, 55, is under treatment at Brigham and Women's Hospital for a dysfunctional liver and irregular heartbeat, hospital spokeswoman Terri Hornbach-Torres said today. Tsongas was admitted last Friday and is in serious but stable condition. He is expected to be hospitalized for another week.The senator chose not run in 1984 for a second term, after being diagnosed with lymphoma, a cancer of the lymph system that Tsongas fought by having two bone marrow transplants. A hospital statement released Thursday said there is no evidence that the cancer has returned. An irregular heartbeat has been a recurring problem for Tsongas, but it is not life-threatening. The Boston Globe also reported that he has been treated for a pre-cancerous blood disorder and doctors have considered surgery to relieve a liver obstruction. Tsongas launched an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic nomination in 1992.