[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 48 (Thursday, April 25, 2002)]
[House]
[Page H1622]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             TANF REAUTHORIZATION: REAL JOBS, NOT WORKFARE

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. What should we seek to change in TANF when it is 
reauthorized: to make TANF reduce poverty and help recipients get good 
jobs with adequate wages, or to punish people and increase poverty? The 
Herger and McKeon bills only punish people when they enact 
counterproductive workfare programs.
  Does workfare provide training? No. Does workfare provide educational 
opportunities? No. Does workfare provide the minimum wage? No. Does 
workfare provide coverage for health and safety, civil rights, and 
other employment laws? No. Does workfare provide a chance at being 
hired? No.
  Workfare will not help recipients find or keep a good job. TANF 
should allow a recipient to get a GED, learn English, and get a post-
secondary degree in order to obtain a good job. TANF should allow a 
recipient to get rehabilitation, to deal with a physical disability, 
deal with domestic violence, and access mental health counseling.
  TANF should provide adequate funding for child care, and allow 
mothers to care for their children if they are very young or disabled. 
They should end the punitive full family sanctions, which eliminate 
food stamps and other benefits from poor children when their parents 
are not in compliance. TANF should help people out of poverty, not 
punish families and children for being poor.

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