11.   Assembly Democrats have proposed softening the impact of the new federal welfare law.

12.   Asked whether the new federal welfare law was too tough on the poor, Torricelli said that the bill that finally passed was a significant improvement over the original.

13.   Bloomberg, like many Republicans in Congress, favors more local flexibility in the spending of federal welfare money.

14.   Bloom said the Connecticut findings underscore concerns about how poor families will fare in a recession if they have exhausted their federal welfare benefits and lose their jobs.

15.   A federal welfare program, Supplemental Security Income, or S.S.I., supports people who are, essentially, unable to work at all.

16.   A more conservative Congress that has, among other things, gutted federal welfare programs and sought to abolish affirmative action programs.

17.   About a dozen states created food-stamp programs for poor legal immigrants who are not naturalized citizens in response to the federal welfare law.

18.   Administration officials warned that converting federal welfare programs into grants could hurt many states.

19.   Administration officials now say they want to wait until the debate over federal welfare overhaul is resolved.

20.   Additionally, the administration will encourage Congress to mandate that states receiving federal welfare and child care funds for preschool programs require early learning and literacy.