To meet budget targets, the bill would also send farm subsidies on a downward trajectory, ending their status as an open-ended entitlement and rewarding taxpayers.

The best solution would be an open-ended entitlement, which would avoid unseemly annual wrangling.

This time around, he said, advocates have chosen not to reopen the battle of 1996 over the abolition of the open-ended entitlement to assistance.

Medicaid is now an open-ended entitlement, available to anyone who meets the eligibility criteria.

"We can't afford an open-ended entitlement that has no limitations on costs," said Mr. Toomey.

Nor does he insist that Congress preserve welfare as an open-ended entitlement, available to any families that meet criteria set by Federal and state laws.

Under legislation he signed last summer, the Government will no longer guarantee an open-ended entitlement to assistance for poor children.

Medicare is now an open-ended entitlement.

The governors would keep these payments as an "open-ended entitlement," but would allow states to use some of the money for programs intended to prevent child abuse and neglect.

The Democrats' bill costs an estimated $6.6 billion over five years, and it is an open-ended entitlement.