Welfare programs around the country are currently in a holding pattern because of a stalemate in Congress that has prompted state officials to postpone new investments in child care, expansions in job training and other initiatives for welfare recipients and low-wage workers.

Republicans have insisted that stricter work requirements be part of any effort to renew the 1996 welfare law. Major provisions of the law were scheduled to expire in September 2002. However, since then Congress has passed seven bills extending the program.

If the stalemate persists states could lose money. Both the House and Senate have tentatively agreed to continue providing $16.5 billion a year for the main welfare program. However, with large budget deficits looming, Congress will be under pressure to cut this amount next year.

The 1996 welfare law eliminated the individual entitlement to cash assistance and gave each state a sum of money with vast discretion over how to use it. Now, uncertain about federal spending levels and the direction of federal policy, state officials have deferred major decisions. If Congress were to require welfare recipients to work longer hours, states may be forced to expand child care for welfare recipients, at the expense of child-care subsidies now paid to low-income workers who have left welfare.

State officials are also worried that Congress might cut grants to states under the main federal welfare program, given the sharp decline in welfare rolls. State officials want to expand the definition of work to include more vocational education and drug treatment, or to permit families on welfare to keep more of the child support that states collect on their behalf.

Governors and state legislators of both parties are asking Congress to reauthorize the welfare program for five years.

The House and Senate welfare bills differ in many ways, but both require that 70 percent of adult welfare recipients should be engaged in work activities by 2008, subject to certain adjustments.