Ill STAT. 2742 CONCURRENT RESOLUTIONS-JUNE 5, 1997 availability of economic support is a critical factor in poor women's ability to leave abusive situations that threaten them and their children. (6) The restructuring of the welfare programs may impact the availability of the economic support and the safety net necessary to enable poor women to flee abuse without risking homelessness and starvation for their families. (7) In recognition of this finding, the House Committee on the Budget unanimously passed a sense of Congress amendment on domestic violence and Federal assistance to the fiscal year 1997 budget resolution. Subsequently, Congress passed the family violence option amendment to last year's welfare reform reconciliation bill. (8) The family violence option gives States the flexibility to grant temporary waivers from time limits and work requirements for domestic violence victims who would suffer extreme hardship from the application of these provisions. These waivers were not intended to be included as part of the permanent 20 percent hardship exemption. (9) The Department of Health and Human Services has been slow to issue regulations regarding this provision. As a result. States are hesitant to fully implement the family violence option fearing it will interfere with the 20 percent hardship exemption. (10) Currently 15 States have opted to include the family violence option in their welfare plans, and 13 other States have included some type of domestic violence provisions in their plans. (b) SENSE OF THE HOUSE. —I t is the sense of the House that— (1) States should not be subject to any numerical limits in granting domestic violence good cause waivers to individuals receiving assistance for all requirements where compliance with such requirements would make it more difficult for individuals receiving assistance to escape domestic violence; and (2) any individuals granted a domestic violence good cause waiver by States should not be included in the States' 20 percent hardship exemption. Subtitle B—Sense of the Senate SEC. 311. SENSE OF THE SENATE ON LONG TEIUVI ENTITLEMENT REFORMS, INCLUDING ACCURACY IN DETERMINING CHANGES IN THE COST OF LIVING. (a) FINDINGS.— (1) ENTITLEMENT REFORMS. —The Senate finds that with respect to long term entitlement reforms— (A) entitlement spending continues to grow dramatically as a percent of total Federal spending, rising from fifty-six percent of the budget in 1987 to an estimated seventy-three percent of the budget in 2007; (B) this growth in mandatory spending poses a longterm threat to the United States economy because it crowds out spending for investments in education, infrastructure, defense, law enforcement and other programs that enhance economic growth;
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