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 Washington Office signs on to welfare letter
Posted: Friday July 16, 2004 11:04 PM EST
Coalition wants program that can lift families out of poverty
 LOUISVILLE — The Presbyterian Washington Office has joined a number of other religious groups in urging completion of a welfare-reauthorization plan being considered by the Senate Finance Committee. The Washington Office, which advocates for the policies of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Congress, joined the other faith groups in sending a letter to U.S. senators about the federal government’s principal cash-assistance program for low-income families, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF). The other groups that signed on include the Union for Reform Judaism, Bread for the World, American Baptist Churches USA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Methodist Church. The coalition, the Interreligious Working Group on Domestic Human Needs, says in the letter, “We are extremely disappointed that Congress has not yet passed a long-term reauthorization to strengthen the program so families can move out of poverty.” TANF, enacted by Congress in 1996, replaced a 60-year-old entitlement program that provided cash assistance to the nation’s poorest people. Its original authorization expired on Sept. 30, but it has been extended for a year by continuing resolutions. The TANF rolls have decreased by about 60 percent since the program got under way in 1997, but researchers say most of those who no longer receive welfare are still impoverished. The robust economy of the late 1990s created millions of jobs, but many paid poorly and did not include health insurance and other benefits. It was those least attractive jobs, for the most part, that were taken by people leaving TANF. As the economy has slowed, those jobs have been disappearing, and the welfare rolls are growing again in most states. The House passed its TANF bill (HR 4) last year, essentially endorsing a proposal from the Bush administration. The Senate has repeatedly postponed debate on the issue while dealing with other priorities. The full text of the letter, dated July 13: July 13, 2004 Dear Senator: As organizations in the faith community, we call on Members of Congress to complete action on a reauthorization of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). This important legislation was designed to lift families out of poverty, enable individuals to gain skills needed to work and earn enough to meet basic human needs, and improve child well-being. While we are thankful that Congress has again passed a three-month extension of current law to fund TANF through September 30, 2004, we are extremely disappointed that Congress has not yet passed a long-term reauthorization to strengthen the program so families can move out of poverty. One of the purposes for enacting TANF legislation in 1996 was to allow states to design their own programs in ways most suited to their residents. By repeatedly failing to reauthorize TANF since its authorization expired nearly two years ago, Congress is denying the states the certainty of funding and clarity of program direction that they need to operate their programs most effectively. These necessary securities would accompany a full five-year reauthorization. We have long advocated for reauthorization to strengthen TANF by including: • adequate funding for child care; • the restoration of benefits for immigrants; • expansion of education and training opportunities; • maintenance of the current work requirement, particularly as it applies to parents of pre-school children; • flexibility for states to extend time limits for families facing severe barriers to employment; and • enabling families to receive more of the funds collected through child support enforcement. Although the Senate Finance Committee’s PRIDE bill, including the Senate-passed amendment on childcare funding, is an improvement over the House-passed TANF reauthorization bill (H.R. 4), each falls far short of providing the conditions that will help TANF recipients overcome poverty through family-supporting employment. We urge you to examine the many evaluations of TANF’s first six years that are now available, to listen to the voices and experiences of low-income families and the service providers who work with them, and to produce a five-year reauthorization of TANF that will truly lift these families out of poverty. Sincerely yours,
American Baptist Churches USA
Source: http://www.pcusa.org/
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