TANF LEGISLATIVE UPDATE May
21, 2002
House
Last Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed the
Republican welfare bill, H.R. 4737, by a party line vote of 229-197. Only
14 Democrats voted in
favor of the bill, and 4 Republicans voted against it. Rep. Cardin (D-MD)
offered a Democratic substitute bill, which was defeated by a vote of
222-198.
Thanks in large part to grassroots activists who weighed
in heavily with their Representatives in recent weeks, this vote sends
a strong, unified
message to the Senate that the Republican plan for welfare reauthorization
is unacceptable. The bill:
a.. Reduces the amount of time parents can engage in
education and training from 12 months to 4 months;
b.. Increases work requirements to 70 percent of the caseload for states
and 40 hours a week for parents, while reducing the number of activities
that counts as work to 6, down from 12;
c.. Grants states sweeping new authority to waive nearly every federal
rule governing anti-poverty programs;
d.. Does nothing to restore benefits to immigrants or stop the clock
for working parents.
Senate
a.. Senators Carper (D-DE) and Bayh (D-IN) recently
introduced their bill, which, thanks to the hard work of grassroots activists
around the country,
differs significantly from their original proposal in February. The bill
increases funding for childcare and restores TANF and Medicaid benefits
to
immigrants, but still retains the 40-hour work week and is extremely weak
on education and training. Despite earlier promises that they would NOT
sign on
to this punitive bill, Senators Clinton (D-NY) and Lieberman (D-CT) have
agreed to co-sponsor.
a.. A group of one-third of the Finance Committee Senators, including
Senators Hatch (R-UT), Jeffords (I-VT), Snowe (R-ME), Lincoln (D-AR),
and
Rockefeller (D-WV), proposed a tri-partisan set of principles that will
form the basis of the Finance Committee's bill. These include:
a.. retaining the 30-hour work week;
b.. restoring TANF benefits to immigrants regardless of date of entry;
c.. allowing education and training to count as a work activity for
24 months;
d.. and providing incentives for states to place parents in good jobs.
However, there are a number of areas where these
principles can and should be improved as the Finance Committee prepares
to take the next step. The
Finance Committee markup is expected to take place shortly after Congress
returns from Memorial Day recess.
a.. A group of progressive Senators is working
on a letter outlining their priorities for welfare reauthorization, which
will be released this week.
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