WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) today announced she was seeking the support of the other women Senators on a letter to Majority Leader Daschle and Minority Leader Lott regarding the reauthorization of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and its impact on women and their children - who account for 85 percent of welfare recipients.

The text of the draft letter follows:

The Honorable Thomas Daschle
The Honorable Trent Lott

Dear Majority Leader Daschle and Republican Leader Lott:

Welfare caseloads have dropped dramatically since 1996, but poverty rates - particularly for women and children - remain high and are greater than in any other industrialized country in the world. We have much work to do to increase opportunity and incomes for the poorest families.

When we passed the 1996 welfare reform bill, the nation's welfare rolls had soared to record levels, and one in five children was living in poverty. Today, the proportion of children in poverty has declined to 16.2 percent, the lowest level in more than two decades. But the drop in the welfare rolls has been much steeper - nationally there are 2.2 million fewer families on welfare than when we passed the 1996 law. Sadly, this number reflects a drop in participation but does not reflect a drop in the number of needy families eligible for TANF assistance. Despite the fact that poverty has declined since 1996, it has not decreased as much as it should have given the increase in work effort by low-income families.

We write to you to share our views on welfare reform legislation that we hope will come shortly before the Senate. As we look to reauthorize Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), we must remember that women and their children account for 85 percent of welfare recipients. As daughters, mothers, and sisters, we have a unique perspective on the issues facing welfare mothers and their children.

Education and Training: We believe that education and workforce preparation are critical in making certain that TANF meets the goal of breaking the welfare cycle. Roughly 42 percent of mothers on TANF do not have a high school diploma. The job-opportunities for women with this level of education are few and low paying. To be successful, a reauthorized TANF program must recognize knowledge and skills as essential ingredients to creating opportunity in the changing economy. Even though TANF is not primarily a training program, its impact upon the provision of that knowledge and those skills is significant, and could be even greater.

Numerous current and former TANF recipients do not require retraining to re-enter the workforce, but for many others TANF remains the best path to self-sufficiency. TANF reform should advance and promote existing state efforts to identify people who could benefit from pre-employment training and from additional approaches to worker preparation. A small investment for training and education could make a lifetime of difference.

We are pleased that the bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee expands access to vocational education, and are particularly pleased that the Committee adopted Senator Snowe's amendment, which will allow some welfare parents to pursue post-secondary education. We hope these positive provisions can be protected in the final welfare legislation reported out of conference committee.

Childcare: Many working women face the problem of finding affordable, quality childcare for their children. Currently, only one in seven low-income children eligible for childcare assistance actually receives it and many states have long waiting lists for childcare assistance. The number of licensed infant care slots only meets 18 percent of the need, and childcare for sick or disabled children is even more scarce and expensive. These obstacles lead to a failure to comply with work requirements, which results in sanctions against good mothers who are simply caring for their children.

States should be required to notify individuals of their childcare rights and their implications for TANF work requirements. Finally, we support further increasing funding for childcare assistance above the amount provided in the Senate Finance Committee bill.

Domestic Violence: Violence creates and sustains women's poverty. As many as 60 percent of women receiving welfare have been subjected to domestic violence as adults. In addition to the direct effect physical violence can have on a woman trying to hold down a job, emotional stress, stalking, harassment, and an abuser's refusal to cooperate with childcare arrangements can all undermine a survivor's ability to comply with TANF requirements or sustain employment.

The 1996 law included the Family Violence Option (FVO), which permits states to opt to screen for domestic and sexual violence, refer to services, and temporarily waive TANF program requirements for survivors. While the majority of states have adopted the FVO, implementation has varied widely in quality and degree. Every state must be required to implement the FVO with basic provisions to ensure women's safety and economic security. To that end, TANF should encourage caseworker training, and develop and disseminate information about best practices.

Making Work Pay: Most welfare leavers work in low-wage jobs that do not enable them to escape poverty. In many states women earn wages so low that they are still eligible for supplemental cash assistance or other work supports. However, states that choose to supplement low earnings with supplemental grants or other work supports cannot use TANF funds without triggering time limits, and many have been forced to use state funds to operate such programs. It would help these states if they had the option to use federal TANF funds for benefits to low-wage workers without running time limits on working families. States should also be encouraged to develop self-sufficiency standards to accurately assess the cost of living for families on a geographic basis, and use such standards as a benchmark in developing welfare-to-work and related policies.

This legislation provides an important opportunity to help low-income women and their children. We encourage you to support mothers raising children by providing them with the skills, training, and assistance they need to move off of welfare, out of poverty, and into safe and economically secure futures.

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