Invest in Families
Poverty Reduction, Not Caseload
Reduction
A Grassroots Agenda for TANF
Reauthorization
August, 2001
Most observers agree that the 1996 welfare reform law
has dramatically reduced welfare caseloads, but that
deep, persistent poverty has not declined appreciably.
Poverty reduction should be the central purpose of TANF
reauthorization in 2002. What's needed now is a bold new
vision for providing support and opportunities to lift
low-income families out of poverty and a policy
framework to make that vision real.
Debates about TANF reauthorization should be firmly
grounded in the realities of the low-wage labor market:
low-wages, few benefits, lack of "family-friendly"
policies, high turnover, few opportunities for
advancement, and areas of high poverty and high
unemployment. Existing federal policies like
Unemployment Insurance and the Family and Medicaid Leave
Act do not generally benefit low-wage workers, and other
benefit programs are inadequate to provide the level of
support that families need. TANF can play a critical
role in filling the gaps left by the low-wage labor
market and other support programs.
We know that increased family incomes are the key to
child and family well-being. TANF reauthorization should
therefore be a vehicle to provide opportunity and
support to all low-income families,
including families now receiving welfare, low-wage
working families who may or may not have received
welfare in the past, two-parent families and immigrant
families who are by statute or in practice denied
assistance. In this "new world of welfare," TANF should
be redefined as an "opportunity" block grant that is
broadly available to low-income families to supplement
low wages, provide assistance for parents seeking
education and training, and allow parents raising young
children to balance the competing demands of work and
family life. A broad vision for poverty reduction that
focuses on the needs of all low-income families makes
the case for increased funding to meet the needs
of diverse low-income families.
Some states have adopted innovative policies that
increase family incomes, and provide real education and
training opportunities that allow for advancement in the
workforce and wage progression. Many other states,
however, impose time limits on poor families who are in
compliance with federal welfare requirements, deny
parents the education and training that they need, fail
to accommodate the realities facing single parents with
young children, and discriminate against millions of
immigrant families.
Despite the widespread rhetorical support for the
"working poor," it is telling that only a few states
have taken advantage of the flexibility offered by the
TANF block grant to provide income support to millions
of families who never received welfare but would benefit
from earnings supplements or from education and training
that would allow them to advance in the workforce.
We are not likely to return to a pre-1996 welfare
system. And we shouldn't. AFDC failed to lift poor
families and children out of poverty. Ironically, some
states have perversely retained many of the worst
features of that system that deny opportunity while
grafting on to it punitive policies that deny assistance
to struggling families. For example, many states
discriminate against low-wage workers by denying them
income supplements, health coverage or certain education
and training opportunities because they have earnings.
Others continue to discriminate against two-parent
families by retaining arbitrary rules adopted under the
AFDC system.
TANF reauthorization provides a vehicle for
committing to and investing in low-income families. A
TANF reauthorization agenda focused on poverty reduction
and the provision of supports and opportunities for
low-income families would:
1) Ensure that all low-income families -
including current and former welfare recipients,
low-wage workers who have never received assistance and
two-parent families - receive income supplements that
support employment and access to education and training
opportunities.
If policymakers are serious about supporting
low-income families, including low-wage working
families, and providing opportunities for wage
progression and advancement in the workforce, several
significant policy changes are required. TANF
reauthorization legislation should:
- Prohibit discrimination by states against low-wage
workers and two-parent families in the establishment
of eligibility and resource rules for TANF, including
cash assistance. Procedural obstacles that deter
access to needed supports and sanction policies that
unfairly terminate assistance to families trying to
comply with complex rules should be eliminated.
- Allow education and training to count as a work
activity without restrictions. Specifically, the 30%
cap on the number of families who may be engaged in
education and training and count towards a state's
work participation requirements should be lifted. The
one year limit on vocational training for parents
should be eliminated to allow parents adequate time to
complete education and training.
- The time limit should be suspended for all
families who are in compliance with federal work
requirements. Families who are "playing by the rules"
should be rewarded not penalized; families that are
making every effort to lift their families out of
poverty should not have their lifetime benefits clocks
ticking.
- States should be required to develop an index
reflecting the real cost of living for low-income
families. A number of states have increased benefit
levels for poor families since 1996. Most states,
however, have failed to increase benefit levels.
Changes in welfare policy since 1996 mean that many
families are doing everything they can and are
"playing by the rules," but are still poor. There is
no excuse for states not to set benefit levels based
on real needs and costs, and federal law should
encourage states to do so.
- A new program should be created that provides
publicly financed wage paying jobs to parents with
limited skills and work experience. Such programs in
Pennsylvania, Washington and elsewhere have proven to
be an effective model for enhancing employability and
skills and provide a needed buffer in areas of high
unemployment. Such a program will be especially
valuable in rural and urban areas and on Native
American reservations.
- States should be held accountable for results in
reducing poverty. This suggests that Congress should
eliminate "process" measures –such as work
participation rates—and embrace "outcome" measures
instead, such as increased wage levels and higher
family incomes. States must also be held accountable
for ensuring that programs do no discriminate at any
level on the basis of race or ethnicity. This implies
rigorous outcome-based data collection broken down by
the race and ethnicity of applicants and recipients.
All such data should be promptly made available to the
public.
- Deep, place-based poverty persists despite
caseload reductions. Therefore significant resources
must be dedicated for outreach and other efforts to
ensure that rural and urban areas of concentrated
poverty have real access to all opportunities that
families are eligible for. States should also be
required to ensure that realistic and affordable
transportation options are available to families
living in areas of high unemployment.
2) Allow low-income parents with young
children to balance the demands of work and family
life.
Families of all economic backgrounds face increasing
stress because of the competing demands of work and
family life. This problem is especially acute for single
parent families and for families with young children.
Low wage jobs typically don't provide sick leave or
vacation time, forcing families to make impossible
choices regarding the well-being of their children. This
family/work dilemma is compounded by the lack of high
quality, affordable child care, especially child care
for infants and toddlers.
- States should not be permitted to require parents
with young children to engage in work activities. The
federal time clock should be suspended for that
period.
- States should not be permitted to require parents
with sick or disabled children, or ill relatives for
whom they have primary caregiving responsibility, to
engage in work activities. The federal time clock
should be suspended for these families.
- Grandparents and other kinship caregivers should
not be subject to work requirements or time limits,
and should have full access to support services made
available to other recipients.
- States should be prohibited from discriminating
against two parent families in determining eligibility
for cash assistance or other benefits.
- High quality, affordable child care must be
available to all low-income families.
Taken together, these provisions amount to a real
pro-family agenda that speaks to the realities facing
diverse low-income families in America today. TANF
reauthorization must make investments in all low-income
families who need support, and should not discriminate
among families based on marital status or other
factors.
3) Provide Full Access to Opportunity and
Supports for Immigrant Families
The 1996 welfare law denied access to TANF and other
programs for large and growing numbers of immigrant
families. These provisions are untenable on policy or
moral grounds and create a second class of Americans who
lack access to a safety net or ladder or opportunity.
Our country is changing, and TANF and related programs
must keep pace with new demographic realities. Families
that pay taxes and contribute to the economy and society
should not be denied assistance.
- Full restoration of a level playing field for
immigrants, including immigrants who entered the
country after 1996, for TANF and other programs.
- Require states to administer TANF and other
programs in a way that promotes full access for
immigrants, for example by counting ESL as a "work
activity" and providing funding to make systems
culturally appropriate and fully accessible to people
with Limited English Proficiency.
A cramped vision for TANF reauthorization focuses on
reducing caseloads, and discriminates among low-income
families based on marital, immigration or employment
status. A bold new vision makes poverty reduction the
central purpose of TANF, creates ladders of opportunity
for families, and leaves no child, no family and no
community behind.
A poverty reduction focus will require an increase in
funding for the TANF block grant, and constant or
greater levels of state spending. State practices that
divert TANF resources away from low-income families
should be prohibited under federal law.
A real opportunity agenda also includes policies
outside TANF, including changes to tax policy that
support families and low-wage workers, a higher minimum
wage, greater access and benefit levels in the food
stamps program, and high-quality child care and health
insurance for all low-income families.
Click here to download: From Caseload Reduction to
Poverty Reduction, A Fresh Vision for TANF
Reauthorization.
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