[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 23, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S6556]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. ROCKEFELLER:
  S. 1461. A bill to prohibit the Secretary of Health and Human 
Services from imposing penalties against a State under the Temporary 
Assistance for Needy Families program for failure to satisfy minimum 
work participation rates or comply with work participation verification 
procedures with respect to months beginning after September 2006 and 
before the end of the 12-month period that begins on the date the 
Secretary approves the State's work verification plan; to the Committee 
on Finance.
  Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, today I am introducing a simple bill 
to try and provide some fairness to States as they struggle to try and 
implement the new, stringent standards of the welfare reform 
reauthorization imposed as part of the Deficit Reduction Act on 2007. 
As a former member of the West Virginia State Legislature and as a 
Governor, I know that implementation of such mandates can take time.
  Let me share the timeline that States face in coping with the new 
rules on welfare reform, or Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, 
TANF. Most of the pending legislation on TANF, including President 
Bush's plan had a multiyear phase in proposals for tougher work 
requirements.
  But the legislation that passed was a stark change with no time for 
States to develop new policy and no time for State legislature to react 
to new policy. Additionally States could be penalized for their policy 
even before they get guidance from officials at the Department of 
Health and Human Services, HHS, that their work verification plan is 
approved. This is just not fair.
  Here is the history. In October of 2005, the House Workforce 
Committee passed legislation to phase-in higher work standards.
  In November of 2005, the Senate approved a budget reconciliation bill 
without new work requirements. Later that month, the House approved a 
reconciliation bill that phased-in higher work requirements.
  On December 19, 2005, the conference agreement on the Deficit 
Reduction Act imposed tougher work standard that will take effect on 
October 1, 2007. States will also face penalties if they do not meet 
new, unpublished work verification requirements.
  The President signed the bill into law in February 2006.
  The Department of Health and Human Services did not issue regulations 
to define work activities and outlining the requirements for work 
verification plans until June 29, 2006.
  States had just 3 months to develop their work verification plans 
based on the new regulations, and the plans are due on September 30, 
2006.
  On October 1, 2006, the tougher work standards as measured by work 
verification took effect.
  Today, May 22, 2006, no State has received approval of their work 
verification plans submitted over 7 months ago. But States could be 
penalized for failing participation standards today before they have 
gotten guidance from HHS that their work verification plans are 
approved, and they know what is expected of them.
  This is just not fair. States need to know what the rules are for 
work, and what they can count for work before any penalties should be 
assessed, even if they are not due until a future date. Some of the 
potential penalties are harsh, including a 5 percent cut in the State's 
block grant in the first year, and a requirement to increase State 
matching funds. Such cuts could be imposed when the value of TANF block 
grant has shrunk by more than 20 percent since 1996.
  My bill is simple fairness. It states that no financial penalties can 
be imposed on a State until 12 months after a State gets official 
approval by HHS of its work verification plans. This allows each State 
a year to come into compliance. States are trying, but they do not yet 
know what officially counts as work so they should not face any 
penalties until after the rules are clear.
  Welfare reform is not supposed to be about penalties and pushing 
families off the caseload. Welfare reform is supposed to be about 
promoting responsibility and self-sufficiency. States, and the 
families, on the program deserve to know with certainty what it takes 
to ``play by the rules.''
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