An Indiana House panel endorsed a bill Monday that would end the state's privatization of food stamps, Medicaid and other welfare benefits.

The House Ways and Means Committee voted 14-10 along party lines in favor of the bill after hearing five hours of testimony. The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Gail Riecken, D-Evansville, now heads to the Democratic-controlled Indiana House for consideration.

Monday's vote came hours after the Family and Social Services Administration announced details of its new "hybrid" system for welfare intake. The pilot system, which relies on private contractors, will begin next month in 10 southwestern counties around Evansville.

FSSA Secretary Anne Murphy told the panel she's confident the hybrid system will alleviate problems that developed under the state's recently canceled 10-year, $1.3 billion contract with IBM Corp. to take over Indiana's welfare intake system.

The problems included lost documents, lengthy hold times for its call centers and too many errors in processing of food stamps and Medicaid.

During a testy exchange, state Rep. Ed Delaney, D-Indianapolis, asked Murphy how much money the state had lost when it canceled the IBM contract.

Murphy said Indiana had paid IBM about $418 million before the contract was ended but said it would be hard to calculate how much the state lost when it ended IBM's contract.

"My testimony is that we're moving forward to fix it and I have not looked back to figure out what the loss is," she told DeLaney. "I don't think we've wasted money."

Gov. Mitch Daniels fired Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM as the lead contractor on the welfare automation project in October after a hail of criticism from clients, lawmakers and federal officials. IBM's contract expired Monday.

Murphy told the committee the contract "wasn't a total failure" because Indiana gained improved technologies for processing welfare benefits.

Affiliated Computer Services Inc., one of IBM's subcontractors, is working with FSSA on the new hybrid welfare intake system. The federal government has approved the hybrid system.

But under Riecken's bill, the state would be barred from contracting out the services for administering or processing the eligibility intake programs for Medicaid, food stamps and a program that provides temporary assistance for needy families.

Murphy told the committee Riecken's bill would threaten numerous FSSA contracts and would cost the agency an estimated $65.8 million in order to bring those services in-house _ an assertion the panel's Democrats questioned.

Riecken, a Democrat who has been a vocal critic of Indiana's welfare privatization under its Republican governor, said her bill has nothing to do with politics.