SECTION: EDITORIAL; Pg. A17

LENGTH: 725 words

HEADLINE: Giving New Workers The Tools to Succeed

BYLINE: Tommy G. Thompson

BODY:


Welfare reform in America is a tremendous success so far, but the job is not done. If we are sincere about helping low-income people become self-sufficient in the workforce, we must take even bolder steps in pursuit of our highest hopes for these families.

Welfare reform in this nation is working because six years ago Congress and the nation's governors rejected the status quo and were bold enough to create a better way for helping families escape generations of poverty. They helped people go to work. Now some want to play it safe and stand on the success of this first stage of reform. "As long as it's working, why change?" they ask. The answer is simple -- a clear next stage of welfare reform calls for helping those just entering the workforce to become more stable in the workforce. We have a moral obligation to finish the job.

With the same boldness as in 1996, we need to move beyond the existing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) legislation and improve the program so that it completes the transition of individuals from dependence upon a welfare check to the independence of a paycheck. The House has passed such a reauthorization; now the Senate must do the same.

President Bush put forth a compassionate reauthorization plan that sets high standards for states and gives them the flexibility and resources to meet those standards.

The president's plan raises the bar by requiring a 40-hour workweek, which must be our goal if we are to integrate individuals into the workforce. After all, 40 hours is the standard workweek across America.

But the plan provides increased flexibility to help individuals meet this societal standard. An individual needs to spend only 24 hours of the week in a job and can spend the other 16 hours in school, in job training or in alcohol and drug treatment. This provides the right balance between requiring work and helping workers get the skills to succeed on the job.

Additionally, the plan allows states to designate a number of activities as work for four months within any 24-month period for each client. This provision is designed to enable states to get recipients into jobs or prepared for work with intensive short-term training or substance-abuse treatment.

Where else are workers afforded the opportunity to work three days a week, go to school for two days and be paid for a full week? It's a flexible and generous opportunity that states and the private sector should readily embrace.

We are providing states even further flexibility in the form of broader waiver authority, a "superwaiver," that streamlines many federal work and assistance programs, giving states more latitude to mold these programs to meet the unique needs of their citizens. Flexibility is also increased by allowing states to use carry-over funds for such services as child care, training and education; allowing states to transfer more TANF money to the Social Services Block Grant, a popular program through which states fund a variety of services including child care; and allowing states to have flexibility in how to spend the $ 16.5 billion annual TANF block grant, which is not earmarked.

It is flat-out wrong to portray higher standards for work as a reduction in flexibility. The fact is the proposed TANF reauthorization gives states more flexibility than they had before.

As for resources, the plan maintains a substantial investment in welfare-to-work. The TANF block grant remains at $ 16.5 billion even though caseloads have been cut 56 percent. This means states will have the same amount of money to spend on fewer than half the people. The proposal also maintains the generous child-care investment.

The first stage of welfare reform brought unprecedented success. Millions of Americans now know the reward of work. Welfare mothers have found their long-lost self-esteem. And child poverty rates are at their lowest level since 1978, with child poverty rates for African Americans and female-headed households at their lowest levels ever. All this is proof of welfare reform's positive effect on children.

It would be irresponsible to now cling to the status quo when the potential to help families climb out of poverty and become self-sufficient is within our grasp.

The writer is secretary of health and human services.



LOAD-DATE: May 28, 2002