Once
Again, TANF Reauthorization Pushed Off Until “Next
Year”
November
7, 2003
Legislative Status
Once again, Congress has failed
to reauthorize the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work
Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA). The 1996 welfare
law was to have been reauthorized last year, but due to a
lack of agreement and time, has been extended quarter by
quarter. The House passed its version of the reauthorization
bill, the Personal Responsibility, Work, and Family Promotion
Act (H.R. 4) back in February. After months of delay, the
Senate Finance Committee finally approved its version, the
Personal Responsibility and Individual Development for Everyone
(PRIDE) Act, on September 10, 2003. The latest extension
of current law runs through March 2004. Senate floor action
is not expected until early next year.
The PRIDE Act, approved along
party lines by the Senate Finance Committee, is an improvement
over the House bill, but still falls far short of what is
needed to help families move from welfare to work. Some of
the bill’s modest improvements are the result of advocacy
by NASW and its coalition partners in the association’s priority
areas.
- Improving
services to families with disabilities: (1)
increases from three months to six months the amount
of time addressing barriers, such as mental health
or substance abuse problems, can count as “work;” (2)
allows caring for a child or adult family member with
a disability
to count as work; and (3) requires states to review
each case and attempt to contact the family prior to
imposing
a sanction.
- Eliminating
racial and ethnic disparities: (1)
limits the use of samples in providing case record
information; and (2) requires states to collect data
on the race of
each minor parent and include information on families
who become ineligible for assistance broken down by
reason for their quarterly reports.
More general improvements over
the House bill include:
(1) increasing
the number of hours recipients must work to 34, rather
than 40;
(2) allowing
up to 10 percent of the caseload to pursue postsecondary
education or vocational education; and
(3) limiting
superwaiver authority to three programs—Temporary Assistance
to Needy Families (TANF), Title XX, and the Child Care
Development Block Grant (CCDBG).
Additional funding for child care
is expected to be added to the bill on the floor.
NASW Action
NASW continues to meet with key
Senators in an effort to make additional improvements to
the PRIDE Act as it makes its way to the Senate floor. Specifically,
NASW is working to extend the time participation in “rehabilitative
services” can count as work beyond six months. The extension
is included in a bill, Pathways to Independence Act (S. 1523),
introduced as a result of NASW’s advocacy in late July by
Sens. Gordon Smith (R-OR), Jim Jeffords (I-VT), and Kent
Conrad (D-ND).
NASW is also continuing to build
support for improving the welfare workforce, eliminating
discriminatory practices, increasing educational opportunities,
increasing child care funding, providing funding for transitional
jobs, and restoring benefit eligibility for immigrants. NASW
is opposing the superwaiver provision, the increase in work
hours and participation rates, and funding for marriage promotion
activities.
NASW submitted written testimony
for a welfare hearing by the Senate Finance Committee in
March 2003. The testimony focused on the association’s top
three priorities: improving services to families with disabilities
and other barriers to employment; reducing disparate treatment
of racial and ethnic minorities; and making improvements
in the welfare workforce.
In addition, NASW continues to
provide leadership in several national welfare coalitions–Consortium
for Citizens with Disabilities (CCD) TANF Task Force, Coalition
on Human Needs (CHN) Poverty Reduction Working Group, and
the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights (LCCR) Welfare
Task Force.
More information on welfare reauthorization,
including NASW’s testimony, is posted on the welfare reauthorization
advocacy page on NASW’s Web site: https://www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/welfare/legislation/default.asp
A draft letter, titled “Welfare
and Disabilities,” urging Senators to become cosponsors of
the Pathways to Independence Act is available on NASW’s Congress
Web: http://63.66.87.48/cweb4/index.cfm?orgcode=NASW
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