LITTLE ROCK, ARK. ? President Bush said Monday that a failure by Congress to enact his welfare legislation would “lower the bar and lower the standards” on policies that have helped push millions of Americans from welfare rolls since 1996.

“It’s important for the Congress to recognize that this has been an incredibly successful piece of social policy,” the president said during a brief Arkansas visit.

President Bush talks with Welfare-to-Work participants Spring Davidson, left, Jeanette Cain, center, and Vivian Webb during a forum at The Church at Rock Creek in Little Rock, Ark. Bush traveled to Arkansas Monday to promote his plan to change the nation's welfare system.

The trip had a whiff of politics.

Bush narrowly won former President Clinton’s home state in 2000, and Arkansas is key to his re-election hopes. It also is the site of a campaign that could determine who controls the Senate after the 2002 elections: Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark., is running against Democratic state Atty. Gen. Mark Pryor, son of former Sen. David Pryor, D-Ark.

Hutchinson accompanied Bush aboard Air Force One and introduced the president at a campaign-style rally downtown.

Up for renewal by Congress this year is a 1996 law that, combined with a roaring economy, cut welfare rolls by more than half. The president wants the Senate to approve a House-passed measure that would stiffen work requirements and provide hundreds of millions of dollars to promote marriage.

“We should not weaken the work requirement in welfare,” Bush said.

Critics want to give states more power to count education and training as work, and they are skeptical about a House provision backed by Bush requiring each person to log 40 hours per week.

The 1996 bill was signed by Clinton, whose presidential library is being built on the banks of the Arkansas River a few blocks from where Bush spoke to 1,000 GOP faithful.

“The bill I’ve submitted that passed the House is a bill that’s got adequate funding,” Bush said. “It’s got high standards and that’s what we want.”