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President Bush Unveils TANF
Reauthorization Agenda (2/28/02)
Plan Undermines Support for
Low-Income Families
On February 26, President Bush
announced his proposal for the upcoming reauthorization of the
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, the
primary source of government-sponsored benefits and work
support services for low-income families in this country.
While the President's plan claims to protect children and
strengthen families, critics warn that many of its provisions
will do just the opposite.
At the cornerstone of the
President's proposal are provisions to tighten work
requirements. Currently, states face penalties if they do not
ensure that 50 percent of all TANF families with an adult are
engaged in work activities 30 hours per week; the
Administration's plan calls for increasing the work
participation rates to 70 percent by 2007. At the same time,
the President proposes to abolish the caseload reduction
credit, which has greatly reduced or eliminated the work
participation rates in many states.
The combination of
these two measures will significantly increase the number of
people required to enter the workforce - at a time when the
economy is in recession and jobs are scarce - but the
President's proposal contains no additional funds to provide
work supports to these individuals. High unemployment rates
coupled with the fact that a substantial portion of those
remaining on the welfare rolls face serious barriers to
employment, such as mental illness or domestic violence, will
make the work participation rates President Bush is calling
for extremely difficult to implement.
The
Administration also proposes increasing from 30 to 40 the
number of hours per week recipients must be engaged in
work-related activities. Recipients would have to engage in a
narrowly defined set of work activities for at least 24 hours
per week: subsidized or unsubsidized employment, on-the-job
training, and community work experience programs. According to
the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, just six percent
of TANF recipients currently participate in these activities
each month. Job search and vocational education would no
longer count toward meeting the first 24 hours of a
recipient's work requirement.
Under the proposal,
substance abuse treatment, certain rehabilitative services,
and work-related training could count as work for nor more
than three consecutive months in any two year period. This
provision falls short of what is needed to ensure that
recipients with severe barriers to employment get the
assistance they need to become economically self-sufficient.
Effective substance abuse treatment programs, for example,
tend to require 12 to 18 months of participation.
Despite claims to provide assistance to legal
immigrants in need, President Bush's proposal continues the
five-year ban on welfare benefits for legal immigrants
entering the country after 1996 to "safeguard against welfare
dependency among non-citizens." As previously announced, the
President does call for the restoration of food stamps to
legal immigrants after they have been in the country for five
years.
As expected, marriage and family formation are
a key component of President Bush's welfare reauthorization
plan. Under the plan, $300 million would be available to
subsidize state and local programs that emphasize pre-marital
education and counseling, and to fund research on and bonuses
for state initiatives that promote "healthy marriages." The
President also calls for the reauthorization of abstinence
education programs, and increases funding for abstinence
education grants to states from $40 million in fiscal year
2002 to $73 million in fiscal year 2003.
The
President's initiative does provide financial incentives for
states to pass through a larger share of child support
collected directly to families. However, its claims to protect
children through funding for the Child Care Development Block
Grant (CCDBG) do not appear to be supported by the details of
the plan. Under the plan, spending on the CCDBG would be
frozen at current levels - $4.8 billion per year. Advocates
warn that level funding is not adequate to meet the growing
demand for child care assistance that will accompany the
Administration's plan to push significantly increased numbers
of low-income parents into work activities.
In
accordance with the President's budget request for fiscal year
2003, the newly released TANF proposal does not call for
increased funding over the annual $16.5 billion awarded to the
states currently. Without an inflationary adjustment, by 2007
the real value of the TANF block grant will be 22 percent
lower than in 1997.
In numerous ways, President Bush's
agenda for TANF reauthorization is at odds with what the
National Governors Association (NGA) is seeking. Facing budget
deficits, weak economies and rising caseloads, the governors
have asked Congress to increase federal spending on the block
grant to keep pace with inflation. They have also said that
current work requirements are unrealistic for some families
and, therefore, state work participation rates should be
relaxed rather than tightened, as the President has proposed.
In addition, NGA's recently approved, bipartisan welfare
policy statement calls for broadening rather than limiting the
types of activities that can count as work.
The
nation's governors also disagree with President Bush on
providing assistance to legal immigrants. Unlike the
President, NGA has called for a state option to restore
welfare benefits to legal immigrants. Furthermore, governors
would like greater flexibility to extend time limits for
recipients under certain circumstances.
On Capitol
Hill, many Republican lawmakers praised the President's
welfare reauthorization agenda. Some centrist Democrats also
embraced parts of the plan. Senators Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Tom
Carper (D-DE) are expected to introduce legislation that
mirrors some of the provisions contained in the
Administration's proposal. Like President Bush, Bayh and
Carper would increase work participation rates to 70 percent
and maintain annual TANF funding at $16.5 billion. However,
the Senate legislation would boost child care funding by $1
billion and direct $300 million to reduce teen pregnancy and
expand employment opportunities.
In the House,
Representatives Ben Cardin (D-MD) and Patsy Mink (D-HI) have
both introduced comprehensive reauthorization bills that
emphasize poverty reduction, enhance education and training
opportunities, boost work supports, and restore benefits to
legal immigrants. Congressional action on TANF reauthorization
is expected to begin in March with House and Senate hearings.
Floor action is possible before Congress adjourns for its
August recess.
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