[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 141 (Wednesday, September 21, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H6289-H6292]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                     SHORT-TERM TANF EXTENSION ACT

  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 2943) to extend the program of block grants to 
States for temporary assistance for needy families and related programs 
through December 31, 2011.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2943

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Short-Term TANF Extension 
     Act''.

     SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF THE TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY 
                   FAMILIES PROGRAM AND RELATED PROGRAMS THROUGH 
                   DECEMBER 31, 2011.

       (a) In General.--Activities authorized by part A of title 
     IV and section 1108(b) of the Social Security Act (other than 
     under subsections (a)(3) and (b) of section 403 of such Act) 
     shall continue through December 31, 2011, in the manner 
     authorized for fiscal year 2011, and out of any money in the 
     Treasury of the United States not otherwise appropriated, 
     there are hereby appropriated such sums as may be necessary 
     for such purpose. Grants and payments may be made pursuant to 
     this authority on a quarterly basis through the first quarter 
     of fiscal year 2012 at the level provided for such activities 
     for the corresponding quarter of fiscal year 2011.
       (b) Maintenance of Effort.--Section 409(a)(7) of the Social 
     Security Act (42 U.S.C. 609(a)(7)) is amended--
       (1) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``or 2012'' and 
     inserting ``2012, or 2013''; and
       (2) in subparagraph (B)(ii), by striking ``2011'' and 
     inserting ``2012''.

     SEC. 3. BUDGETARY EFFECTS.

       The budgetary effects of this Act, for the purpose of 
     complying with the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, shall 
     be determined by reference to the latest statement titled 
     ``Budgetary Effects of PAYGO Legislation'' for this Act, 
     submitted for printing in the Congressional Record by the 
     Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, provided that such 
     statement has been submitted prior to the vote on passage.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Kentucky (Mr. Davis) and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Kentucky.


                             General Leave

  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their 
remarks and to include extraneous material on the subject of the bill 
under consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Kentucky?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may 
consume.
  I rise today in support of H.R. 2943, legislation to temporarily 
extend the authorization of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and 
related programs.
  Since it replaced the New Deal-era welfare program in 1996, TANF has 
been successful at cutting welfare dependents by 57 percent through the 
end of last year. Even more importantly, by promoting work among single 
parents, who are the most common welfare recipients, it helped 
significantly reduce child poverty in female-headed families over time.
  Even at today's elevated unemployment rates, TANF continues to 
promote more work and earnings and less poverty. But despite this 
general progress, TANF can and should be strengthened to do more, 
especially to help more low-income families work and support themselves 
in the years ahead. Unfortunately, too many parents are exempted from 
work requirements today for a variety of reasons we learned at a recent 
hearing held by the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources, 
which I am privileged to chair.
  But given the current administration's support for only a straight 1-
year extension of current law, which is a view shared by the other 
body, there are limited prospects for making needed changes to TANF 
before the program expires at the end of this month. That's the reason 
for the short-term extension before us today.
  This 3-month extension will provide an opportunity for Congress, 
including the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, to review 
TANF alongside other entitlement programs this fall. Important 
questions need to be asked, including what is the proper funding level 
for these programs and how can they best be focused on engaging low-
income parents in work and other productive activities so more can 
support themselves in the long run.
  Another thing this additional time will let us do is to take action 
to close what some call the ``strip club loophole.'' This refers to an 
outright abuse of taxpayer trust permitted under current law when 
adults on welfare spend taxpayer funds on liquor, gambling, tattoos, or 
even visits to strip clubs. As recent exposes have revealed, too many 
welfare recipients access taxpayer funds at cash machines in casinos, 
liquor stores, strip clubs, and even on cruise ships.
  Some States have already taken action to close this loophole by 
blocking access to welfare EBT cards at such establishments. There is 
bipartisan legislation to require all States to do that, and doing so 
is something of particular interest to our colleague, Senator Coburn. I 
share his commitment to getting this done this fall and urge all my 
colleagues to support action that we will take to close this loophole.
  The legislation before us is designed to provide time for a closer 
review of and action on these sorts of issues. Importantly, it does not 
add to our deficit since it simply continues current TANF funding for 3 
months. I note that TANF is a fixed block grant, which is not adjusted 
for inflation.

[[Page H6290]]

  I wish we were debating legislation today that extended and actually 
improved TANF programs so that they work better; but given the 
impediments before us, the bill before the House today offers the best 
chance that we will be able to do that in the near future, and I urge 
all of my colleagues to support it.
  I reserve the balance of my time.

                              {time}  1310

  Mr. DOGGETT. I yield myself 5 minutes.
  Mr. Speaker, this is a bipartisan bill, which I fully support, but it 
is important to understand what this bill does and what it does not do. 
It is important to understand which provisions we agree upon and which 
ones we accept as only being better than the alternative of allowing 
this important law and all those who count on it to expire next week.
  Last week, the Census Bureau reported that more Americans were poor 
in 2010 than at any time on record. Regrettably, my home State of Texas 
was leading the way with one of the highest poverty rates anywhere in 
America.
  The Texas Center for Public Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan group, 
recently reported that ``The heart of the American Dream is at risk in 
Texas.'' For the first time in generations, there are more people 
falling out of the middle class than joining its ranks. And what a 
struggle it is for those families trying to hold on.
  In a neighborhood near downtown San Antonio, Andrew Ramos and his 
wife, Nina, are struggling just to keep food on the table for 
themselves and their 2-year-old daughter. Andrew lost his job, and Nina 
works at a local pizza parlor where she makes about $200 a week. There 
are so many families just like the Ramos family--almost one in five in 
poverty in Bexar County.
  As John Turner at the Capital Area Food Bank concludes: Hunger is a 
result of lack of income and of a livable wage. It affects too many of 
our neighbors, he says, under the current Texas economic model.
  The demands on our food banks, which serve as effective public-
private partnerships, are immense. The Capital Area Food Bank, this 
year, is delivering 50 percent more food to poor people than it did 3 
years ago.
  But I don't really hear anyone facing up to this harsh reality--not 
our Governor in Texas, not the President of the United States, and 
certainly not the leadership here in the House. In fact, the 
Administration has shown little interest and almost no guidance in 
reforming this legislation.
  Rather than respond to rising deprivation and declining opportunity, 
this legislation continues for another 3 months, the Temporary 
Assistance for Needy Families Act. This is a program that today 
provides direct assistance to only one in every five children living in 
Poverty in America. That's the lowest level of poor children receiving 
direct assistance since 1965. And of course in Texas it's much worse, 
where only one in every 20 poor children receive direct assistance from 
TANF.
  The bill before us also does not address a program agreed to 
originally when the Welfare Reform Act was enacted--a bill that I voted 
for to address the particular needs of high poverty States like Texas 
and many in the South--called TANF Supplemental Grants. Their name is 
really a misnomer because they're not a supplement; they're essential 
to the work of States that have higher poverty rates.
  Ever since that time of the Welfare Reform Act, Texas and those 
States have depended on supplemental TANF. It is not included in 
today's legislation, and that means that Texas will lose about $50 
million every year that it relies on to work with child care, with 
preventing pregnancy, with other issues like school dropouts, programs 
that rely on these funds today.
  Allowing these grants to expire is in sharp contrast to what happened 
in 2001 when Governor Rick Perry wrote to then-Whip Tom DeLay urging 
the extension of TANF supplemental grants, saying: ``These grants have 
played an important role in helping hardworking men and women in Texas 
achieve independence from public assistance. Congress designed the 
supplemental grants to address the critical program needs of States.'' 
Those were words of Governor Rick Perry, who is silent on this matter 
today about how we enable more Texans to move from welfare to work.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot allow the funding for TANF to expire next 
week, and so I join wholeheartedly with this renewal legislation. But 
we also need to move past doing the very least that we can do and start 
responding to the mounting challenges that families not just in Texas 
but across our country face. TANF has not been adequately responsive to 
the increased level of needs during these bad economic times.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 additional minute.
  I think also of the words of Claudia Herrington, who works at El Buen 
Samaritano, dealing largely with Latino families. She writes: ``This is 
not the American Dream I believe in. This is not the American Dream my 
father believed in when he emigrated from Cuba here in the 1960s. I 
know our country is better than that, regardless of political 
affiliation. And I know that investment in our people and their ability 
to earn a decent living is a worthwhile policy.''
  We need a policy that is more safety net than hole, and I hope 
eventually we can work together to achieve that.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the gentleman's suggestion that this 
legislation should be amended to revive the TANF Supplemental Grants 
program.
  TANF supplemental grants expired in June 2011 in accordance with 
legislation Democrats crafted last year that President Obama signed 
into law. These payments have now expired and are not payable under 
current law. Extending them would mean spending more money to revive 
the program, which is beyond the scope of what we're doing today in 
maintaining only current TANF programs.
  Since TANF supplemental grants were first paid, about $4 billion in 
extra TANF programs have been paid out only to a minority of States. At 
some point, we have to ask when such supplemental spending should come 
to an end. The last Congress, which, again, was led by Democratic 
majorities, said the end should come this past June. I respect that 
judgment.
  The committee is obviously aware of Mr. Doggett's bill to extend 
these payments yet again, but we don't know how he would pay for that 
since the bill he introduced includes no pay-for. That would mean 
increasing our current historic deficits even more.
  All States received a share of $5 billion in special welfare funds in 
the 2009 stimulus bill. That was on top of almost $17 billion in TANF 
block grant payments all States receive each year, including those that 
previously collected supplemental grants. The States that collected 
supplemental grants received about $913 million of that $5 billion in 
one-time funds, or the equivalent of almost three years of supplemental 
grant payments.
  I appreciate the gentleman's argument for extending these payments by 
reviving the now-ended Supplemental Grants program. The legislation 
before us does not do that, since it simply extends current law 
programs. But I know he and I will continue to have fruitful 
discussions and work together about this and other TANF funding and 
related issues, and I appreciate his continued input and effort.
  With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I would yield myself 15 seconds to say that 
under Democratic leadership we extended the supplemental TANF program 
that Governor Rick Perry was so proud about in 2001. We extended it 
four times. The only reason that it existed in the spring of this year 
was because of our extensions. It should be extended once again, and I 
hope in the process we can do that.
  I would now yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from New York (Mr. 
Rangel).
  (Mr. RANGEL asked and was given permission to revise and extend his 
remarks.)
  Mr. RANGEL. I come to the floor on this noncontroversial bill and as 
a proud member of the Ways and Means Committee to show the Congress and 
the country that we are concerned about more than just taxes.
  I want to thank Mr. Davis for his leadership in this area and 
especially

[[Page H6291]]

my friend Mr. Doggett, who have stuck with the committee in trying to 
make certain that we improve the life of those people who are so 
vulnerable in our society.
  To think that one out of five children in America, the United States 
of America, is living in poverty, to recognize that 46 million people, 
a family of four makes less than $22,000 is certainly not what has 
inspired so many people to get out of poverty and move into the middle 
class, which is the heart of America and the heart of our economy.
  This bill does just that. It comes to us to look to give authority to 
the States to see what works, to make certain that people don't have to 
stay on welfare, that they can have a goal in being fully employed. And 
it takes a way the image that we have, as a country, that we applaud 
people who are being executed, that we applaud those people that don't 
have health insurance.
  No, America is more than that. And during these hard times, we have 
to make certain that we do as the members of this committee, a classic 
example is Mr. Doggett, is Mr. Davis, both on a hardworking committee, 
but care enough about the people in our country to show that this is 
bipartisan. And the people that are poor, the people that are in need, 
the people that are without homes and without hope are not Democrats; 
they're not Republicans. They are people in our country. And we have an 
obligation to show that there is a need for government. There is a need 
for caring.
  And I am proud to be a member of this committee and a Member of this 
Congress to show that's what our country is all about.

                              {time}  1320

  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from 
Washington State, the former chair of this subcommittee, Mr. McDermott.
  Mr. McDERMOTT. I want to say just a few words about this. Obviously, 
I support the extension of the TANF. But I think that there is a real 
need--and we've been extending it 1 year at a time, 1 year at a time, 1 
year at a time for some time--there really is a need to re-look at the 
whole concept of what this safety net really needs to be.
  We wiped out welfare as we know it, as was the phrase in 1996, at a 
time when the economy in this country was going straight up. Anybody 
could find a job if they looked for one. And it was very clear that 
there were efforts in that bill to push people off the rolls and out 
into the work market. Now, it was possible to do that.
  Today, however, you have a situation where there are four people that 
are looking for every job that's out there. You have many middle class 
families who have exhausted 99 weeks of unemployment and have nothing 
in this country except food stamps.
  Now, it sort of depends on whether or not we're going to have a 
middle class in this country when we have a downturn like this and we 
decide whether we're going to help the middle class make it. We've got 
foreclosures that won't quit. And we've had no proposals out of the 
House to do anything about foreclosure prevention.
  So you have middle class people who've lost their job, their 
unemployment is gone, they are now having their house foreclosed, and 
they look to their government for a safety net and find nothing but 
food stamps.
  In my belief, there is a time when we should help the middle class in 
this country be able to go through what may be another year or two, 
we're not quite sure how long it will be, but it should not be that 
there is no program available to help middle class people who have 
fallen on very difficult times.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. I continue to reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. DOGGETT. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, the House should approve this important bipartisan 
legislation today. To fail to approve this modest extension would cause 
even more people to suffer with the expiration of these programs next 
week.
  Mr. Speaker, it may not be in vogue to discuss the problems of poor 
people in America today, but we need to hear more about it in this 
House. We need to hear more about it in Washington, DC.
  Certainly we want to support and encourage the middle class in 
America--very, very important--but we need to create more opportunity 
to broaden that middle class. For the many people who struggle and hope 
that lives will be better for their children and that they will face 
less obstacles than their parents have faced, we need to provide that 
temporary assistance to needy families. The current program leaves out 
too many and forgets too many of those families in their struggle.
  The omission of TANF supplemental grants, which we renewed four times 
in the last two Congresses, is not being renewed here, which means that 
in Texas and in so many high-poverty States, we will not have the 
support that Governor Rick Perry once called for. We will have a 
broadened gap and a lack of services.
  Many of the dollars that we've received in that program in Texas have 
gone into child protective services to protect abused and neglected 
children. They will no longer have that assistance. I hope in the 
course of the legislative process of the renewal of this legislation, 
we might eventually get TANF supplemental grants into the bill.
  Today we see so many who are losing the opportunity to share in the 
American Dream. We have an opportunity to continue at least a minimal 
level of support to them. We should do that, but we should commit 
ourselves to doing even more.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. DAVIS of Kentucky. Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2943 simply is a short-term 
continuation of Welfare to Work programs that have successfully cut 
welfare dependence and promoted work. I urge my colleagues to support 
this legislation and to work with us to design a long-term 
reauthorization bill that fixes flaws in the system, fixes broken 
processes and allows agencies to communicate in a more holistic way as 
we address this to eliminate waste of taxpayer dollars and ultimately 
to design a long-term reauthorization bill that further promotes work 
and independence from welfare.
  With that, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Ms. JACKSON LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of 
H.R. 2943, ``The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Extension 
Act,'' which extends the authorization of the Temporary Assistance for 
Needy Families (TANF) state block grant program for three months, 
through December 31, 2011. Under current law, the program's 
authorization is set to expire on October 1, 2011, at the end of FY 
2011. H.R. 2943 authorizes ``such sums as may be necessary'' to carry 
out the program at the same level as FY 2011 or $16.48 billion 
according to CRS and extends funding for the basic block grant, healthy 
marriage and responsible fatherhood competitive grants, mandatory child 
care grants, and certain other funds.
  As Chair of the Congressional Children's Caucus, I am keenly aware 
that the youngest among us often suffers the most when programs, like 
TANF, are underfunded. We must take a proactive role in protecting 
children from lives of abject poverty.
  I represent the 18th Congressional district in Houston, Texas. In my 
district, more than 190,000 people live below the poverty line. 
Programs like TANF are vital to these families. At a time when the 
Census Bureau places the number of Americans living in poverty at the 
highest rate in over 50 years.
  Across our nation the poverty rate has climbed to 14.3 percent in 
2009, the highest level since 1994 and is likely to continue to climb. 
At this time children are again bearing the brunt, more than one in 
five children lived in families with incomes under the official poverty 
level which was $22,050 for a family of four in 2009. Similarly more 
than one in five children lived in households that did not always have 
the resources to purchase food.
  In 2008, there were 15.45 million impoverished children in the 
nation, 20.7% of America's youth. Further, The Kaiser Family Foundation 
estimates that there are currently 5.6 million Texans living in 
poverty, 2.2 million of them children, and that 17.4% of households in 
the state struggle with food insecurity.
  Many people assume that Texas was not hit as hard by the recession as 
other states because our unemployment rate is still below the national 
average. While our unemployment rate is low compared to the U.S. (8.2 
versus 9.8 percent, respectively, in November 2010), it is still nearly 
double where it stood in November 2007 (4.4 percent). In fact, Texas' 
unemployment rate has been around 8 percent for the last 16 months, 
which is extremely high given Texas' recent history. This has resulted 
in nearly one in three Texas children living with a parent who does not 
have a full-time,

[[Page H6292]]

year-round job, making them particularly vulnerable.
  When a household falls into poverty, children are exposed to 
increased parental distress, inadequate childcare arrangements, and 
poor nutrition. In past recessions, it took many years for employment 
and incomes to rebound, and low-income families rebound more slowly 
than others.
  Public benefits such as TANF help families bridge the gaps in 
difficult economic times and are critical in reducing the effects of a 
recession. Cutting these supports will hurt child and family wellbeing 
and damage the Texas economy by taking money out of the private economy 
for critical local businesses such as grocery stores and medical 
providers.
  Although TANF is not perfect, I believe that is an essential part of 
the safety net for very low-income families with children. These 
benefits do not provide families with the ability to live a lavish life 
style, they do provide a life line to families at a critical time in 
their lives, such as periods of unemployment or disability, or when a 
newborn joins a family. The goal of TANF is to be a temporary safety 
net and to help families in need to regain their balance, when a hard 
time causes them to lose their balance.
  TANF provides access to paths out of poverty through services such as 
job training or counseling for mental health issues. State also uses 
the block grants for a wide range of work supports, including child 
care and transportation. For these reasons I support H.R. 2943.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Kentucky (Mr. Davis) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 2943.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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