TANF Reauthorization Debate
Heats Up (5/24/02)
Senate Prepares for Finance
Mark-Up
House action on the reauthorization of the
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Program (TANF)
culminated on May 16 with the passage of the Personal
Responsibility, Work, and Family Promotion Act of 2002 (HR
4737). Approved by a 229 to 197 vote, the House bill closely
resembles President Bush’s reauthorization proposal, including
a “superwaiver” provision that would grant sweeping authority
to the Executive Branch to allow states to waive federal rules
that govern a range of low-income and other domestic programs.
In addition, the House bill imposes strict work
mandates on welfare recipients while providing no new TANF
block grant dollars, and while increasing mandatory child care
funding by just $1 billion over five years – an increase that
would not even keep pace with inflation over that time. The
measure would also continue to deny welfare benefits to legal
immigrants, require states to terminate a family’s benefits
after just two months of failing to meet program requirements,
and devote significant TANF resources to marriage promotion
activities.
Meanwhile, Senate action on TANF
reauthorization is in full swing, with the Finance Committee
slated to mark-up a bill as early as the week of June 10. On
Thursday, May 23, a group of nearly 20 Democratic senators –
led by Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Chair
Edward Kennedy (D-MA) – outlined their TANF priorities in a
letter to Finance Committee Chair Max Baucus (D-MT) and
Ranking Member Charles Grassley (R-IA). Advocates are pleased
with many of these principles, which include maintaining the
current 30-hour per week work requirement, providing an
additional $11.25 billion for childcare, allowing flexibility
for more education and training, and restoring benefits to
legal immigrants.
For their part, a “tripartisan”
group of senators – John Breaux (D-LA), Olympia Snowe (R-ME),
James Jeffords (I-VT), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Jay Rockefeller
(D-WV), and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) – weighed in with their own
set of welfare reauthorization principles on May 2. While many
advocates believe that the tripartisan plan does not go far
enough in addressing the issues facing welfare recipients, the
proposal makes some key improvements over the House bill and
President Bush’s plan. Like the principles endorsed in the
Kennedy letter, the tripartisan proposal rejects the
Administration’s plan to mandate that recipients work a
40-hour workweek, includes increased funding for childcare,
and restores TANF benefits to legal immigrants. Baucus and
Grassley are expected to incorporate some of the tripartisan
principles in the bipartisan bill they will introduce in the
next few weeks.
The Work and Family Act (S 2524) –
introduced by Senators Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Tom Carper (D-DE)
– was referred to the Finance Committee on May 15. Supported
by a small group of centrist Democrats, this measure would
follow the House plan and the President’s proposal to increase
the work requirement for TANF recipients from 30 to 40 hours
per week. The measure would also give states the option to
restore benefits to legal immigrants, but includes only
limited improvements to the meager education and training
opportunities available under current law. Senators Joseph
Lieberman (D-CT), Bob Graham (D-FL), Hillary Clinton (D-NY),
Zell Miller (D-GA), Jean Carnahan (D-MO), Ben Nelson (D-NE),
and Bill Nelson (D-FL) are all original cosponsors of the
bill.
In other Senate activity, Senators Olympia Snowe
(R-ME) and Max Baucus (D-MT) introduced a bill (S 2552) on
Wednesday, May 22 that holds up as a model Maine's Parents as
Scholars program, a post-secondary education program that has
been successful in helping parents transition from welfare to
work. The Pathways to Self Sufficiency Act of 2002 would
create a similar program in TANF. Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
also introduced a bill (S 2548) on Wednesday that would
further expand education and training opportunities. Among
other things, the measure would lift the 30 percent cap on the
number of TANF recipients allowed to participate in education
and training and eliminate the time limits currently attached
to education and training activities.
In addition,
many senators - including Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Dianne
Feinstein (D-CA), and Russ Feingold (D-WI) - are individually
weighing in with Senate Finance Committee members about
specific TANF priorities. Congress must reauthorize
legislation governing the TANF program by September 30, 2002.
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