Welfare Reform Bill Moves Through House Committee

On October 20, the House Education and the Workforce Committee approved, 23-20, a bill (H.R. 240) to reauthorize the 1996 welfare reform law (P.L. 104-193). The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources approved the measure on March 15 (see The Source, 3/18/05).

In a press release announcing committee passage of the bill, Chair John Boehner (R-OH) stated, “The effects of the 1996 welfare reform law have been nothing short of dramatic. Millions of Americans have moved from welfare to work, and caseloads are down by more than one-half…We have more work to accomplish to reach our goal of increased self-sufficiency for even more welfare recipients, and this bill provides states and welfare recipients the flexibility to help us achieve that goal.”

Expressing his opposition to H.R. 240, Ranking Member George Miller (D-CA) stated, “Though millions have left welfare, studies document that many former welfare recipients remain poor and lack a steady job. We cannot judge welfare reform by the number of people on or off of welfare assistance but by how many families still live in poverty. Welfare reform will be successful when families leave welfare for decent jobs and economic stability. Unfortunately, this bill does not get us any closer to achieving that success.”

During consideration of the bill, the committee approved, without objection, a substitute amendment offered by Rep. Boehner that would ease certain federal requirements under the Child Care Development Block Grant to allow families affected by Hurricane Katrina to obtain child care services.

The committee also approved the following amendments by voice vote:

• an amendment by Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) that would prohibit the outsourcing of welfare administration jobs outside the United States, by voice vote; and
• an amendment by Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) that would authorize $5 million annually through FY2010 for a demonstration grant program to encourage noncustodial parents to enter the workforce.

The committee rejected the following amendments:

• an amendment by Rep. John Tierney (D-MA) that would have allowed a welfare recipient to count up to two years of vocational or postsecondary education as a work activity, 21-26;
• an amendment by Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA) that would have prohibited faith-based organizations from considering religion in the hiring of individuals, 21-27;
• an amendment by Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) that would have allowed noncustodial parents to receive assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, 21-26;
• an amendment by Rep. Kind that would have created an incentive to place former TANF recipients in higher paying jobs by awarding additional credit to states in which families leave welfare for work, and to families with higher earnings, 22-26;
• an amendment by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) that would have expressed the sense of Congress that the TANF program would be more efficient if the minimum wage were raised in gradations, 22-26;
• an amendment by Rep. Miller that would have increased funding for child care programs by $10 billion, bringing the total amount in the bill to $11 billion over five years, 22-26;
• an amendment by Rep. Andrews that would have suspended work requirements and time limits in the bill if the national unemployment rate reached 6.5 percent, if state unemployment rates increased by 1.5 percent, or if caseloads for food stamps increased 15 percent during a three month period, 22-26;
• an amendment by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) that would have made literacy training an applicable work activity under the bill, 22-26;
• an amendment by Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) that would have prohibited a state from reducing or terminating TANF assistance based on the refusal of an individual to find child care for his or her child, 19-22; and
• an amendment by Rep. Woolsey that would have defined “nontraditional occupations” as occupations in which women comprise 25 percent or less of the total workers, 20-23.

In addition, Rep. Miller offered an amendment that would have raised the minimum wage from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour over two years. The chair ruled that the amendment was not germane, and a vote on a motion to table an appeal of the chair’s ruling was approved, 19-17.

The Senate Finance Committee approved its version of the welfare reauthorization bill (S. 667) on March 9 (see The Source, 3/11/05). Since its expiration in September 2002, Congress has approved eleven extensions of the 1996 law. The most recent extension will expire on December 31, 2005.