Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), the federal cash assistance program for low-income families, expired on September 30. Instead of completing a comprehensive TANF reauthorization, Congress extended the law for three months, until December 31, 2002.

Previously, in May, the House had passed legislation to reauthorize the program for five years, and the Senate had yet to vote on the bill approved by its Finance Committee in June.

If Congress does not complete action on the legislation by the end of the session, there are a number of possible scenarios, including the following:

1. Final action could be postponed until a lame duck session of Congress following the November elections;
2. TANF could be reauthorized in its current form for one year (or longer); or
3. The current program could be reauthorized with limited changes (perhaps allowing each political party to offer one or two amendments, as agreed in advance by the bill's managers).

Advocates for low-income people feel that postponing reauthorization until next year would be detrimental. The rapidly increasing federal deficit and other budget pressures make it more difficult in the future to obtain expanded funding for any social program. Also, failure to act now will postpone the making of needed improvements in the program.

Action

Call/contact your Senators and ask them to urge the Senate leadership to bring the Senate Finance Committee TANF reauthorization bill to a vote and complete action on the legislation in this session of Congress.

Please ask your Senators to support additional funding to child care and provisions in the bill that would:

• Maintain the current work requirement of 30 hours per week;
• Expand the list of acceptable education and training programs;
• Give states the option to count participation in vocational and post-secondary education as compliance with the work requirement. This provision builds on Maine's successful Parents as Scholars program whose graduates leave TANF for employment, earn 50% more than other TANF leavers, and have stable jobs with benefits;
• Replace the current caseload reduction credit with an employment credit based on the number of families employed after leaving TANF, a provision that gives states an incentive to help TANF recipients become employable and retain jobs;
• Continue Transitional Medicaid for five years;
• Give states the option to provide TANF and Medicaid benefits for legal immigrants;
• Allow states to give supplemental housing benefits to low-income working families without triggering time-limit requirements and authorize a demonstration housing grant housing with services for families with multiple barriers to work; and
• Permit states to exempt a small part of their caseload from work requirements where caring for a disabled child makes work impossible.

Background

In 1996 Congress passed the legislation which created TANF, to replace the 60-year old entitlement program called Aid to Families with Dependent Children. TANF set a five year lifetime limit on eligibility for cash assistance for needy families. All adults on TANF were required to be working and to leave the program at the end of no more than 24 months, with the possibility of returning if necessary. States got broad latitude to set stricter time limits and establish work requirements. Legal immigrants were deprived of most forms of assistance.

Because of the strict time limits and the robust economy of the late 1990s, the TANF rolls dropped by over 50% nationwide. They have recently begun to rise again in most states. Many studies have shown that, while some TANF leavers have been successful in moving from welfare to work, many more have jobs that leave them without the income and benefits they need to support their families.

In February President Bush unveiled his TANF reauthorization proposal, calling for increased work hours (from the current 30 to 40 per week for parents of children of all ages, including infants). The Bush proposal would also reduce the number and variety of education and training options that count toward meeting the work requirement, reducing vocational education from the current twelve months to three. The House endorsed the President's plan in a party-line vote in May.

The bill approved by the Senate Finance Committee with the support of both Democrats and Republicans would make many of the improvements that the advocacy community supports. For example, while holding the work requirement at the current 30 hours per week, it would increase the time spent in vocational education that could count as work from 12 to 24 months; it would give states the option of counting full-time attendance at a two- or four-year college as meeting the work requirement for a small portion (10%) of the caseload; it would add $5.5 billion (over five years) for child care subsidies to working families, allow families who receive housing assistance but no TANF cash aid to do so without having this aid count against the five year lifetime limit for eligibility, and let states exempt from the work requirement a small part of the caseload (up to 10%) who need to care for a disabled child.

On September 4 a letter was delivered to all Senators from the religious community, signed by 23 national denominations and organizations (including the Presbyterian Church (USA) Washington Office). The letter urged the Senate to vote and the Congress to complete action on the legislation this year, and listed the primary issues of concern to the religious community.

General Assembly

The 209th General Assembly (1997) of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) calls upon the General Assembly Council, synods, presbyteries, congregations, and individual Presbyterians to urge the federal government to adopt the following policies:

1. Investment in job creation programs that go beyond the commitments of the recent welfare reform legislation. The investment should lead to a job at a living wage.
2. Restoration of the $27 billion cut from the food stamp program in the 1997 budget.
3. Commitment to maintain funding of the TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) block grant to the states at the same or higher levels in the years beyond 2002, and the excess funds to be used for the creation of jobs at a living wage. (Minutes, 1997, Part I, p. 555)