[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 132 (Tuesday, September 28, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S7621-S7623]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. KERRY (for himself, Mr. Durbin, Mr. Casey, Mr. Brown of 
        Ohio, Mr. Bingaman, Mr. Burris, Mr. Harkin, Mr. Leahy, Mr. 
        Menendez, Mr. Reed, Mr. Dodd, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Schumer, and Mr. 
        Lautenberg):
  S. 3849. A bill to extend the Emergency Contingency Fund for State 
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program, and for other 
purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
  Mr. KERRY. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to support 
extending a critically needed program that provides hope to 250,000 of 
our poorest families.
  I am joined by Senators Durbin, Casey, Sherrod Brown, Bingaman, 
Burris, Harkin, Leahy, Boxer, Menendez, Reed and Dodd in offering the 
Job

[[Page S7622]]

Preservation for Parents in Poverty Act, which simply provides a 3-
month extension of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, TANF, 
Emergency Contingency Fund. The $500 million in funding needed to pay 
for this extension is offset with corresponding reductions to the 
regular TANF Contingency Fund in fiscal year 2012.
  We have suffered through the worst recession since the great 
depression. Just this month, the Census Bureau reported that nearly 44 
million Americans--1 in 7--lived in poverty last year. This represents 
the largest number of Americans living in poverty since the Census 
Bureau began keeping these statistics 51 years ago.
  The TANF Emergency Fund was created as part of the Recovery Act 
enacted last year to provide temporary, targeted, emergency spending 
that combats the recession by helping to create jobs for our poorest 
families. It gave States funds to subsidize jobs for low-income parents 
and older youth and to provide basic cash assistance and short-term 
benefits to the increasing numbers of poor families with children. It 
addresses the emergency needs of low-income families that are 
struggling in the recession.
  At least 36 States have used TANF Emergency Contingency Funds to 
create or expand subsidized employment programs. States have used this 
fund to create subsidized jobs in the private and public sectors during 
the depth of the recession. By the time it expires at the end of 
September, the fund will have created approximately 250,000 jobs for 
low-income Americans who would otherwise be unemployed. Nearly all of 
these jobs will be eliminated if the program is not extended with 
additional funds.
  If this worthy program is allowed to end on Thursday, these States 
will no longer be able to use the TANF Emergency Fund to subsidize 
employment and provide basic cash assistance to struggling families to 
help with housing and heating bills, domestic violence services, and 
transportation costs. This will hurt our economy because families on 
TANF have to spend nearly all of the money they receive to meet their 
basic needs. This will reduce demand for the goods and services, 
particularly in low-income communities.
  Massachusetts relies on the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund to 
maintain the key existing safety net programs for cash assistance, 
emergency housing, rental vouchers, employment and training services, 
child care, and other initiatives to support low-income families 
getting back to work.
  In Massachusetts, the Emergency Fund is used to provide TANF cash 
assistance to more than 50,000 low-income families in the Bay State 
each month. To qualify for this assistance, a family of three must have 
income less than $1,069 a month. Let me repeat that. To qualify for 
this assistance a family of three must have income of less than $1,069 
a month. The maximum cash grant they can receive from the state is just 
$578 a month. Massachusetts also uses the fund to provide emergency 
shelter and related services to 3,000 homeless families.
  An extension of the TANF Emergency Fund would provide Massachusetts 
with federal assistance to accommodate the 10 percent TANF caseload 
increase we have experienced since the start of the recession. It would 
enable the State to preserve and maintain critical services for our 
poorest citizens during these difficult economic times.
  If Congress does not immediately act, tens of thousands of jobs will 
be lost. Businesses will lose access to critical employment support 
programs, and the lives of our poorest families will be made even more 
difficult.
  Extending the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund is a common-sense 
policy that enjoys broad support from public officials, private 
experts, and bipartisan organizations, including: Mark Zandi, Chief 
Economist at Moody's Analytics; the National Governors Association; the 
National Conference of State Legislators; the American Public Human 
Services Association; and the National Association of State TANF 
Administrators. I ask all my colleagues to support this legislation.
  Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise to speak about a piece of 
legislation just introduced, S. 3849, the Job Preservation for Parents 
in Poverty Act, which is simply an extension of a program that has 
placed tens of thousands of people into jobs in this recession and is 
working. We want to make sure it is extended because of how effective 
it has been to help people find and keep jobs. This legislation is 
fully offset. I wish to spend a couple minutes talking about the 
provisions that make it so effective.
  First, I thank a number of Senators who have led the fight--Senator 
Kerry, as well as our assistant majority leader, Senator Durbin, for 
the work they have done, as well as others--and for the testimony we 
received from people across the country. I know in my case one person 
who spent a good deal of time making it clear to me and to others 
across southern Pennsylvania and even across the State about the 
effectiveness of this program was Mayor Nutter of Philadelphia who, 
like any mayor in the country in the middle of a recession, doesn't 
have the luxury of dealing with programs that don't work. He can only 
support and endorse programs that are working to create jobs. In a city 
such as Philadelphia, which still has a high unemployment rate, Mayor 
Nutter has relied upon this program, which is a rapid attachment effort 
to create jobs and keep people in those jobs.
  We know the unemployment rates are intolerably too high. In our State 
we have 585,000 people out of work, just about 9.5 percent 
unemployment. Our poverty figures are going through the roof at the 
same time. We are seeing, in short, the real impact of this horrific 
recession.
  One of the best ways to deal with that crisis is to have an extension 
of an important program that we refer to in Pennsylvania as the 
Pennsylvania Way to Work Program. It is helping keep people out of 
poverty and providing people with jobs; in this case, 12,000 people in 
Pennsylvania. I could go down the list of other States as well, but I 
won't. In our State, 12,864 adults have been helped by this program as 
well as summer youth, more than 7,800, for a total of 20,718.
  It is fully offset. If we don't extend it, in many, if not most, 
States, these programs will be shut down. It is working. It is not only 
creating jobs, it is keeping people out of poverty because they are 
working. I would think everyone would want to support programs that are 
working and keeping people out of poverty.
  It is critically important that we extend the program. I am grateful 
for the help our assistant majority leader, Senator Durbin, has 
provided.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from the Commonwealth 
of Pennsylvania for speaking out for this important program. I know 
there are many jobs in his State which are at stake with this decision 
by the Senate. There are some 26,000 jobs in Illinois that hinge on a 
decision made by the Senate as to whether we extend this program. What 
we are discussing this afternoon gets down to the heart of the 
question: Will we do everything in our power to help Americans find 
work, particularly those who have struggled so hard in the past? Will 
we give them a chance to continue working in many instances or to find 
work? It is an important choice.
  Here we have a stark example of this choice in the fate of a program 
called the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund. In my State, we call this 
program Put Illinois to Work. It helps States subsidize the cost of 
hiring workers in mostly private sector jobs.
  This small program has had a huge impact in Illinois. Nearly 250,000 
jobs have been created in 37 States. It is a program that everyone of 
both political parties should support. Rather than paying people to do 
nothing, this program helps private companies hire the employees they 
need but can't quite afford. Yet Republicans, at least to this point, 
are saying we should not extend this program past this Thursday. The 
end of this program in my State means the loss of thousands of jobs. I 
think the only reason there is opposition to this is the fact that it 
was originally conceived and offered to the Senate in the President's 
Recovery Act.
  Though many on the other side of the aisle have taken a party-line 
position

[[Page S7623]]

that they will oppose that act no matter what it did is unfortunate, 
particularly for people who are just trying to find a way to survive in 
a very tough economy. Many of them earn $10 an hour. These are not jobs 
on which one could get rich. They can survive on these jobs. We are 
trying to make sure these people have an opportunity to survive. This 
is a stimulus that works. Who would argue with the concept or premise 
that putting people to work is a lot better than paying them to do 
nothing?
  Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts has a simple bill that would 
extend the jobs program by 3 months, but it is fully paid for by 
reducing the TANF program's future budget. The argument that it adds to 
the deficit does not work. It doesn't add to the deficit. It is paid 
for by future budgetary commitments. I am afraid that still we will 
find an objection from the other side of the aisle. They have objected 
to continuing this program on the continuing resolution which more or 
less keeps government in business while we are in recess.
  Mr. President, 26,000 jobs are at stake in Illinois, and losing that 
many jobs would hurt my State. We already have an unemployment rate of 
over 10 percent. Governor Pat Quinn is trying to figure out how to save 
some of these jobs, but it is difficult with the budgetary problems we 
face in the State capital. It is not just Illinois that would suffer; 
110,000 jobs would be lost in States represented by Republican 
Senators: 40,000 in Texas, which is represented by two Republican 
Senators; 20,000 in Georgia, represented by two Republican Senators; 
10,000 in Kentucky, 10,000 people who will lose work this week in 
Kentucky represented by the minority leader. It is unfortunate that we 
have allowed some of these ideological positions to get in the way. It 
makes no difference that over 110,000 constituents represented by those 
on the other side of the aisle will be impacted by this objection.
  I am afraid at this point some of our partisan differences are going 
to cost a lot of innocent people a chance to bring home a paycheck. I 
don't think that is what the American people want in Washington. I 
think what they are looking for us to do is to extend this program and 
save a quarter million Americans from losing their jobs.
  I don't know if Senator Kerry is coming to the Senate floor, but I 
see some Members on the Republican side of the aisle. I will make the 
unanimous consent request at this point.
  I ask unanimous consent that the Finance Committee be discharged from 
further consideration of S. 3849, the Job Preservation for Parents in 
Poverty Act; that the Senate then proceed to its consideration; that 
the bill be read three times, passed, and the motion to reconsider be 
laid upon the table; and that any statements relating to the measure be 
printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, and I will 
object, the majority has known this program was going to expire at the 
end of this month all year and has taken no steps to reauthorize this 
important social safety net program. We are also in the position of 
having to pass an extension of TANF. I am not sure the Senator from 
Illinois is aware that the chairman and ranking member of the Finance 
Committee have put together a bipartisan 1-year extension of TANF. I 
object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
                                 ______