[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 121 (Thursday, July 26, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1627]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       INTRODUCTION OF H.R. 3188

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                           HON. JERRY WELLER

                              of illinois

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 26, 2007

  Mr. WELLER of Illinois. Madam Speaker, I rise today to introduce 
legislation that will correct an inequity in our welfare system. Under 
the current system, married couples enrolled in the Temporary 
Assistance for Needy Families program face a penalty simply because 
they are married. My legislation, the TANF Marriage Penalty Elimination 
Act, would require that all families are treated equally.
  Madam Speaker, while the welfare reforms enacted in 1996 were by and 
large a tremendous success, they included an unintended consequence 
that my legislation seeks to correct.
  Under current law, States receive block grant funding to help low-
income parents train for and find jobs. The States are required to 
engage 50 percent of single-parent families, but 90 percent of two-
parent families.
  This law unintentionally discourages our society's most basic 
institution of marriage. My legislation would require that States 
engage 50 percent of all families on welfare in work preparation 
programs, eliminating the two-parent work rate that today constitutes a 
marriage penalty.
  My legislation follows previous bi-partisan efforts to eliminate the 
separate and higher two-parent work rate for welfare. In each welfare 
reform reauthorization bill passed by this House in recent years, 
language eliminating this marriage penalty was included. Democratic 
versions of this legislation included the same provision. But for 
technical reasons, this provision was not included in the welfare 
reform reauthorization legislation that the President signed into law 
in 2006 as part of the Deficit Reduction Act. The National Governors' 
Association and the Administration have expressed support for ending 
the higher two-parent work rate, as this bill would do.
  I urge my colleagues to support this legislation which would allow 
all States to provide more consistent and effective services to all 
families on welfare without the unintended penalties imposed on married 
couples.

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