[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 72 (Wednesday, May 23, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5552-S5553]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. GRAHAM (for himself, Mrs. Hutchison, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. 
        Hutchinson, Mr. Breaux, Mr. Ensign, Mrs. Lincoln, and Mr. 
        Thompson):
  S. 942. A bill to authorize the supplemental grant for population 
increases in certain states under the temporary assistance to needy 
families program for fiscal year 2002; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, I rise today on behalf of Senators 
Hutchison, Bingaman, Hutchinson, Breaux, Ensign, Baucus, Lincoln, 
Thompson, and myself to introduce a piece of legislation which will 
extend the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families supplemental grants 
for one year. This grant program has been critical to the success of 
welfare reform in our States.
  The TANF block grant, as it is commonly known, was established in the 
1996 welfare law. These were modest supplemental grants for 17 
relatively poor or rapidly growing States. The grants were intended to 
reduce the very large disparity in welfare funding between poorer and 
wealthier States that resulted from the basic TANF funding formula. The 
TANF supplemental grants have afforded States, like ours a more 
adequate opportunity to achieve TANF goals. While TANF is scheduled to 
be reauthorized in 2002, the supplemental grants included in the 1996 
law were authorized only through October 2001.
  If the grants expire, 17 States will lose as much as 10 percent of 
their TANF funding beginning in October 1 of this year. Wealthy, low-
growth States will experience no reduction.
  These grants are not supplemental in the sense of being add-ons. They 
were designed as an integral part of the TANF allocation formula and 
are critical to the success of the TANF programs in the States that 
receive them. The decision to end the grants a year before 
reauthorizing the entire program was not a policy consideration, only a 
financial one. It was done in order to ensure a balanced budget by 
2002.
  The 2001 budget resolution, passed by both the House and the Senate, 
provides $319 million for a one-year extension of these important 
grants. This provision acknowledges the Senate's commitment to 
maintaining the tools that many of our States require to continue 
efforts to help people move from welfare to work, from jobs to careers.

[[Page S5553]]

  Since the passage of the welfare reform law in 1996, more is expected 
of state welfare systems that ever before. TANF agencies provide a 
broad range of social services that include job training and employment 
counseling, reducing out-of-wedlock births and promoting family 
formation, and addressing individual challenges such as domestic 
violence--just to name a few. Without the TANF supplemental grants, 
impacted states will find themselves unable to provide many of the 
programs that have enabled their citizens to successfully move from 
public assistance to independence.
  Given the significant costs of work supports, many of the 17 States 
that receive supplemental TANF grants are now spending more TANF funds 
each year than they receive from their basic TANF grant. In fiscal year 
2000, for example, TANF expenditures in nine of the 17 States that 
receive TANF supplemental grants exceeded 100 percent of their basic 
TANF allocation. These States are my own home State of Florida, Alaska, 
Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, New Mexico, North Carolina, Tennessee, and 
Texas.
  For these reasons, we are requesting that a one year extension of the 
TANF supplemental grants. This step will help to ensure that high-
growth States can continue their welfare reform efforts and will enable 
the supplemental grants to be considered as part of the overall TANF 
reauthorization next year.
  Support for the extension of this program should come from all 
Senators who want to see the goals of welfare reform fulfilled. Whether 
or not one comes from a State that receives TANF supplemental grant 
dollars, support for this bill will send a loud and clear message that 
the United States Senate adheres to the goal of ensuring that all 
States have the means to provide the services necessary to help all 
Americans, regardless of where they live, to move from dependence to 
independence.
  That is a goal worth fighting for and I encourage all of my Senate 
colleagues to cosponsor this important piece of legislation.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I am glad to cosponsor this bill from my 
colleagues Senators Graham and Hutchison. It's an important matter for 
those of us who represent less prosperous States. I have worked hard to 
promote economic development in Montana. It is crucial to providing a 
better future for the children of my great State. Until the economy 
improves in Montana, I will advocate for measures such as this one, 
which help alleviate the difficulties that stem from our circumstances.
  When we enacted welfare reform in 1996, a law I am glad to have 
supported, there was much discussion here about the appropriate way to 
allocate welfare funds among States. The old funding formula had 
produced wide disparities, especially between high per capita income 
States and low per capita income States. In the end it was resolved to 
provide additional funding in the form of ``TANF supplemental grants'' 
to certain states which were poorer or had high growth rates or both. 
However, the funding was only provided through fiscal year 2001, while 
the rest of the welfare funds were provided through fiscal year 2002, 
as part of an effort to balance the budget.
  Well, the budget is in surplus now. And we need to continue the TANF 
supplemental grants for one more year, as this legislation would do, so 
that we can assess it as a part of the policy on overall welfare 
funding during next year's reauthorization of the 1996 welfare reform 
law. The TANF supplemental grants represent a substantial source of 
welfare funds in several states. Failing to continue this funding would 
mean, in effect, a 10 percent reduction in the allocations for states 
such as Georgia, North Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. My own state 
of Montana received $1 million last year. I assure you we can use those 
funds to help poor children in Montana, especially the many who have 
low-income working parents, the kind who hold down two or three part-
time minimum wage jobs, which is all too common in my State.
  I thank my colleagues for their leadership and look forward to 
working with them on this bill.

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