THE COMPROMISE

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Tumulty says Senate Democrats were able to win important concessions, notably a requirement that states actually spend at least 80 percent of the plan's welfare block grants on welfare. "Everyone was aiming for a bill the President can sign," Tumulty says. "The public is demanding action, and both sides understood that. No one thought it was a perfect bill, but it would have been really hard to vote against it." Still, some Senate conservatives promise to fight to draw the final version closer to the House plan, which would flatly ban cash welfare for unwed teen mothers and end it for women who have more children while on the rolls.