WASHINGTON - The General Accounting Office (GAO) released a report today illustrating the difficulty many disabled welfare recipients have in finding employment. The GAO analysis, which was requested by Representatives Benjamin Cardin (D-MD) and Pete Stark (D-CA), found that welfare recipients with impairments were only half as likely to leave the welfare rolls compared to recipients without impairments. The study also said that those with disabilities who did leave welfare were much less likely to be employed than other former welfare recipients.

   Of particular concern was the GAO finding that 36 percent of those with impairments have no source of income when they exit the welfare rolls (including earnings, income from another household member, or disability payments from the Supplemental Security Insurance program).

   Responding to the report, Representative Cardin, Ranking Democrat of the Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee, declared, "This report clearly tells us that Americans with disabilities are struggling in their efforts to leave welfare for work. Unfortunately, under the welfare bill recently passed by the House, states would be forced to focus all of their attention on complying with new unfunded mandates to increase the number of welfare recipients engaged in unpaid, make-work activities, rather than helping those with barriers to employment get the skills and assistance they need to find a real job. Before a bill goes to the President's desk, we need to provide States with the resources and flexibility necessary to move welfare recipients, including those with disabilities, into employment and out of poverty."

   Representative Stark, a senior member of the Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee, responded, "It's simply not right that one-third of disabled American who rely on public assistance leave welfare with no source of income. Something desperately needs to be done to level the playing field to help them succeed. But, the Bush Administration and House Republicans passed a plan that flatly ignores the difficulties faced by these Americans. More than just lacking plain sense, their plan lacks basic compassion."

   The GAO report found that welfare recipients are more than three times as likely to have a physical or mental impairment compared to the general population. The report analyzed data from a Census Bureau survey between July 1997 and July 1999 (the survey of income and program participation) and relied on a definition of impairments developed by the Census Bureau (which assesses difficulty in performing certain activities, such as seeing, hearing or walking, or whether an individual has certain conditions, such as mental retardation).