[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3459 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3459

     To reform the program of block grants to States for temporary 
                     assistance for needy families.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           December 11, 2001

    Ms. Velazquez (for herself, Ms. Lee, Mr. Filner, Mr. Owens, Mr. 
   Hinchey, Mr. Kucinich, Ms. McKinney, Mrs. Mink of Hawaii, and Mr. 
   Serrano) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To reform the program of block grants to States for temporary 
                     assistance for needy families.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``TANF Recipients' Lifeline Act''.

SEC. 2. REPEAL OF 5-YEAR LIMIT ON BENEFITS.

    (a) In General.--Section 408(a) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 608(a)) is amended by striking paragraph (7).
    (b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 409(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
609(a)) is amended by striking paragraph (9).

SEC. 3. EXCEPTION FOR TANF TO 5-YEAR BAN ON BENEFITS FOR QUALIFIED 
              ALIENS.

    (a) In General.--Section 403(c)(2) of the Personal Responsibility 
and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1613(c)(2)) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(L) Benefits under the Temporary Assistance for 
                Needy Families program described in section 
                402(b)(3)(A).''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--Section 402(b)(2) of the Personal 
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (8 
U.S.C. 1612(b)(2)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (A)(ii) by striking ``subparagraph 
        (C))'' and inserting ``subparagraphs (A) and (C))''; and
            (2) by striking subparagraph (B).

SEC. 4. REQUIREMENT TO PROVIDE TRANSLATION SERVICES FOR NON-ENGLISH 
              SPEAKERS.

    (a) Requirement.--Section 408(a) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 608(a)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(12) Use of bilingual personnel and printed material.--A 
        State to which a grant is made under section 403 shall use 
        appropriate bilingual personnel and printed material in the 
        administration of the State program funded under this part in 
        those portions of the political subdivisions in the State in 
        which a substantial number of recipients of assistance under 
        the State program speak a language other than English.''.
    (b) Penalty.--Section 409(a) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 609(a)) is 
amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(15) Failure to use bilingual personnel and printed 
        material.--If the Secretary determines that a State to which a 
        grant is made under section 403 for a fiscal year has violated 
        section 408(a)(12) during the fiscal year, the Secretary shall 
        reduce the grant payable to the State under section 403(a)(1) 
        for the immediately succeeding fiscal year by an amount equal 
        to 2 percent of the State family assistance grant.''.

SEC. 5. INFLATION ADJUSTMENT OF BLOCK GRANT.

    (a) Extension of Block Grant.--Section 403(a)(1)(A) of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 603(a)(1)(A)) is amended by striking ``1996'' 
and all that follows through ``2002'' and inserting ``2002 through 
2005''.
    (b) Inflation Adjustment.--Section 403(a)(1) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
603(a)(1)) is amended--
            (1) in subparagraph (B)--
                    (A) by striking ``means the greatest of--'' and 
                inserting ``means, with respect to a fiscal year 
                specified in subparagraph (A)--
                            ``(i) the greatest of--'';
                    (B) by redesignating each of clauses (i), (ii)(I), 
                (ii)(II), and (iii) as subclauses (I), (II)(aa), 
                (II)(bb), and (III), respectively;
                    (C) by indenting each of the provisions specified 
                in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph 2 additional ems 
                to the right;
                    (D) by striking the period and inserting ``; 
                mulitplied by''; and
                    (E) by adding at the end the following:
                            ``(ii) if the fiscal year specified in 
                        subparagraph (A) is--
                                    ``(I) fiscal year 2002 or 2003, 
                                1.00; or
                                    ``(II) fiscal year 2004 or 2005, 
                                1.00 plus the inflation percentage (as 
                                defined in subparagraph (F) of this 
                                paragraph) in effect for the fiscal 
                                year specified in subparagraph (A).''; 
                                and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(F) Inflation percentage.--For purposes of 
                subparagraph (B) of this paragraph, the inflation 
                percentage applicable to a fiscal year is the 
                percentage (if any) by which--
                            ``(i) the average of the Consumer Price 
                        Index (as defined in section 1(f)(5) of the 
                        Internal Revenue Code of 1986) for the 12-month 
                        period ending on September 30 of the 
                        immediately preceding fiscal year; exceeds
                            ``(ii) the average of the Consumer Price 
                        Index (as so defined) for the 12-month period 
                        ending on September 30, 2002.''.

SEC. 6. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall take effect on October 1, 
2002.
                                 <all>