SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE BILL TAKES STEPS IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION, MUST BE IMPROVED IN THE SENATE

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Deepak Bhargava, Director of the National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support and Chief Organizer of the Make TANF Work! campaign, commented on the Senate Finance Committee TANF reauthorization bill unveiled today:

"The bi-partisan bill drafted by the Finance Committee is significantly better than the disastrous plans proposed by the Administration and passed by the House, and includes provisions that represent progress over current law. In order to get final legislation that will help low-income families escape poverty, however, significant changes are needed as the bill moves through the Finance Committee and the Senate.

Final legislation must do more to make work pay, bolster the well-being of poor children, and include all families under the safety net. The Senate must insist on a bill that does more for education and training, fully includes immigrants, and that rewards work by stopping time limits for low-wage workers. These are priorities that are supported by the American people, states and low-income people most affected by the legislation."

WORK REQUIREMENTS
*The mark maintains the total weekly work hour requirement at 30 hours per week, thereby rejecting the House and Administration proposals to increase work hour requirements to 40 hours per week. The mark also replaces the existing "caseload reduction credit" with an "enhanced employment credit" which has the potential to change the incentives for states so that they invest in moving families in to good jobs rather than simply pushing people off assistance. A number of technical but important changes to the employment credit should be made to realize the potential of the employment credit to change incentives.

COUNTABLE ACTIVITIES: EDUCATION AND TRAINING & BARRIERS
*The mark takes important steps to increase access to vocational education by increasing from 12 to 24 months the amount of time that low-income parents can focus on skill enhancement and by excluding teen parents from the 30% cap on the portion of the caseload that can engage in education and training. The bill does not, however, currently allow post-secondary education to count as a work activity. Senators Bingaman and Snowe are likely to offer amendments to address this issue in Committee.

*The mark represents progress over current law in that it allows states to count barrier-removal activities, such as substance abuse treatment, English as a Second Language classes, mental health counseling, and basic education, for three to six months as a work activity. The bill should do more to help the large number of low-income parents who lack basic skills, who do not possess a high school degree and who have limited English proficiency.

IMMIGRANTS
*The mark takes a crucial step forward by allowing states to restore TANF benefits to immigrants. The bill does not, however, restore Medicaid benefits to immigrants. An amendment to add these provisions is likely to be offered in the Senate Finance Committee by Senator Graham.

SUPPORTING CHILD WELL-BEING
The mark takes a number of important steps to improve the well being of children, including:

*Creating a $30 million per year fund for At-Home-Infant-Care to help low-income families balance the demands of work and family life.

*Enhancing child support pass-through to low-income parents.

*Eliminating discrimination against two-parent families in access to TANF benefits.

Child care funding under the bill, however, should be increased to address the needs of the working poor. The mark does not suspend work requirements or time limits for parents with disabled children, an important issue that will be raised in the Committee or on the floor.

WORK SUPPORTS
The bill takes a number of positive steps to address work supports for low-income families, including:

*Renewing Transitional Medical Assistance for five years, and making needed reforms to ensure that families leaving welfare retain their health insurance coverage.

*Creating a $200 million per year fund for wage paying transitional jobs and for initiatives to help low-wage workers advance in the workforce.

*Including provisions that ensure that the minimum wage applies to workfare workers, and that existing workers are not displaced by workfare workers.

Funding for transitional jobs should be increased.

TIME LIMITS
*The mark does not include provisions to exclude income supplements to low-wage workers from the definition of "assistance," thereby stopping the time limits for working poor families. This will be a crucial battle on the Senate floor.

RACIAL EQUITY AND FAIR TREATMENT
*The mark requires states to make publicly available relevant data regarding the employment, earnings, and well being of TANF families, including data on race.

A number of other important issues, however, such as due process protections for welfare parents, protections against unfair sanctions, and guaranteed access to translation services are not included.

The National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support (NCJIS), a project of the Center for Community Change, is a coalition of more than 1000 grassroots anti-poverty groups that has been organizing since 2000 to transform TANF into a meaningful anti-poverty program. Under the banner Make TANF Work!, the National Campaign is spearheading a national effort to fashion a progressive policy and political strategy on welfare reform.

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