House and
Senate Poised to Act on TANF Reauthorization
CONTACTS WITH MEMBERS NEEDED NOW!
February 7, 2005
Background
Having failed to meet deadlines of reauthorizing the 1996
Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation
Act in both the 107th and 108th Congress, the 109th Congress
appears ready to try again.
The House plans to hold a hearing on "Welfare Reform
Reauthorization Proposals" on February 10, 2005 before
the Human Resources Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means
Committee and the Senate is discussing moving a reauthorization
bill in early March, even before taking action on a congressional
budget resolution.
The Human Resources Subcommittee held a series of welfare-related
hearings during the 107th Congress (2001-2002), but held no
hearings during the last Congress, the 108th (2003-2004). The
House passed welfare reauthorization bills in both Congresses,
but the Senate failed to do so in either. The closest the Senate
came to completing action was in April 2004 when they passed
an amendment on the floor to increase child care funding, but
could get no further. The bill was pulled from further consideration
over disagreements on increasing the minimum wage, overturning
new overtime rules, and extending unemployment benefits.
Absent a full reauthorization, the TANF (Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families) program has been kept operating through
a series of short-term extensions. The eighth and current extension
expires on April 1, 2005 .
Current Issues
Issues in this year's debate are the same as when President
Bush first announced plans to radically redesign the current
TANF program by tightening work rules, increasing the number
of hours TANF recipients must be engaged in work activities,
increasing the percentage of a state's caseload that must be
participating in work activities, and providing states additional
dollars to focus on marriage promotion.
The bill currently before the House, the Personal Responsibility,
Work, and Family Promotion Act (HR 240), is nearly identical
to last year's HR 4. HR 240 would:
(1) increase the number of hours participants must be engaged
in core work activities to 40
(2) increase the percentage of participants that must be engaged
in core work activities to 70 percent of the caseload
(3) narrow the scope of what counts as a "core work activity"
(4) limit treatment for mental health disorders, substance
abuse and other "hidden" barriers to 3 months
(5) fail to increase funding for child care
(6) increase funding for marriage promotion activities
The bill currently before the Senate, the Family and Community
Protection Act (S 6), is very similar to the Personal Responsibility
and Individual Development for Everyone (PRIDE) Act (HR 4),
passed by the Senate Finance Committee last year. S 6 is an
improvement over the House bill, but still inadequate to successfully
move TANF recipients from welfare to work. Differences include:
(1) increasing the number of hours participants must be engaged
in core work activities to 34
(2) permitting 10 percent of the caseload to be engaged in
higher education or vocational education
(3) counting treatment for hidden barriers for 6 months
(4) counting caring for a child with a disability as a work
activity
(5) enhancing data collection to document disparities in treatment
among racial and ethnic minorities
NASW's top priorities this year also are similar to those
in previous years:
(1) increasing the amount of time addressing hidden barriers
can count as work
(2) enhancing efforts to address treatment disparities among
racial and ethnic minorities
(3) increasing access to education and training
(4) increasing funding for child care
ACTION NEEDED
Given the fact that these issues have been before Congress
for so long, that the Republicans have strengthened their majorities
in both the House and Senate, that congressional leaders may
want to "clear the decks" of "smaller" issues
before tackling Social Security, health care, and tax cuts,
and given that the current extension expires the end of March,
NOW is the time to contact your congressional representatives
and senators.
A draft letter, for your use, is posted on NASW's CongressWeb: http://63.66.87.48/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=NASW
As always, the congressional timeline could slip, and
AS ALWAYS, THANKS FOR YOUR ADVOCACY!
Cynthia Woodside
Senior Government Relations Associate
National Association of Social Workers
750 First Street NE,
Suite 700
Washington , DC 20002-4241
Phone: 202-336-8324
Fax: 202-336-8311
cwoodside@naswdc.org
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