Bush TANF Proposal Limits Education And Training

Last week President George W. Bush released Working Toward Independence, his proposal to reauthorize the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Act. President Bush hails his plan as building “on the success of the historic 1996 welfare reform law” by continuing the ‘work-first’ concept for welfare recipients. Working Toward Independence uses the 1996 welfare reform law as its foundation but there are major areas where the plan deviates from current law, especially with regards to education and training.

• Under current law, vocational education is an allowable activity that counts towards a welfare/TANF recipient’s work requirements.
• However, under the Bush proposal vocational education is not listed as an allowable activity, and cannot be counted toward the minimum work requirement of 24 hours per week for a recipient.
• The Bush plan allows individuals to be engaged in vocational education (described as job training) for three consecutive months in a two-year period, but again this does not count toward fulfilling the work requirements for a recipient.

The employment and training community is extremely concerned with these changes, as they reduce the number of opportunities for a welfare recipient to improve their situation. Existing law allows for 12 months of vocational education to assist welfare recipients in gaining education and skills. It is feared that under the Bush proposal the limits on education and training will trap those on welfare in low skill, low wage jobs and limit recipients options to achieve more meaningful and higher paying employment. President Bush’s Working Toward Independence proposal can be found on the White House website at www.whitehouse.gov/infocus/welfarereform.

Congressional TANF Proposals

Many members of Congress are concerned about the limits on education and training in Working Toward Independence. Representative Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), Ranking Member of the Human Resources Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee, who introduced a bill to reauthorize TANF (H.R. 3625, The Next Step in Reforming Welfare Act), said in a statement that “(I) fear the plan just proposed by the White House could actually reduce the state’s discretion to determine what mix of training, work and other activities will best lead to long-term employment for each welfare recipient.” In Representative Cardin’s bill, welfare recipients are allowed to engage in up to 24 months of vocational education and training at either the secondary or postsecondary levels and count it as fulfilling a recipient’s weekly work requirement.

H.R. 3730, the Education Counts Act of 2002, introduced by Representative Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), allows for up to 48 months of secondary or postsecondary education and training. Representative Woolsey is disappointed in President Bush’s proposal, saying “(i)ncreasing the work requirement…must allow for education to be considered a work activity…(w)e can do this by providing access to training and educational opportunities; so welfare recipients can improve their economic future and that of their children. Without the skills needed for a job that pays a livable wage, welfare recipients will have a hard time succeeding." More information regarding Representatives Cardin and Woolsey’s bills can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov or www.house.gov/cardin and www.house.gov/woolsey.

DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP COUNCIL’S TANF PROPOSAL

In the Senate, Senators Evan Bayh (D-IN) and Tom Carper (D-DE) have unveiled a proposal from the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC), a coalition of centrist Democrats, to reauthorize TANF. Their proposal also hopes to build on the success of the 1996 law and the work first concept, but differs from President Bush’s proposal in terms of funding levels and family/marriage issues. The DLC proposal has three broad themes:

1. Demanding Work:
   • Increase Work Participation Rates to 70% by 2007
   • Require Welfare Recipients to Work a Full, 40-Hour Work Week
   • Provide Additional Funding for Child Care
   • Allow Non-Custodial Parents to Count in the Work Participation Rate
   • Replace Caseload Reduction Credit
   • Allow A Portion of Caseload to Address Obstacles While Working
   • Create Competitive Grant for Public/Private Partnerships for Educational Opportunities
   • Set Equal Work Goals for Single and Two-Parent Families
   • Fund Transitional Jobs
2. Strengthening Families:
   • Promote Responsible Fatherhood and Stable Families
   • Require Non-Custodial Parents to Pay Child Support, Get a Job, or Go to Jail
   • Prevent Teen Pregnancy
   • Encourage Child Support Payments
   • Improve Child Support Enforcement Measures
   • Encourage Cooperation Between Child Support Enforcement and Related Agencies
   • Ban Discrimination Against Two-Parent Families
3. 3. Flexibility and Resources:
   • Restore Contingency Fund to Help Recession-Proof TANF
   • Maintain the TANF Block Grant
   • Restore Funding for Social Services Block Grant (SSBG)
   • Credit States for Spending On All Four Purposes of TANF
   • Replace Current Bonus Funds
   • Restore Supplemental Grants

The DLC’s welfare reform package does not mention vocational education or specific work requirements, as it is only in outline form at this time. This should become more clear when the draft of the legislation is completed. The DLC’s TANF proposal can be found at www.ndol.org.