[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 7 (Monday, January 14, 2019)]
[House]
[Pages H531-H534]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
TANF EXTENSION ACT OF 2019
Ms. JUDY CHU of California. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules
and pass the bill (H.R. 430) to extend the program of block grants to
States for temporary assistance for needy families and related programs
through June 30, 2019.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 430
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 ``TANF Extension Act of
2019''.
SEC. 2. EXTENSION OF THE TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY
FAMILIES PROGRAM AND RELATED PROGRAMS THROUGH
JUNE 30, 2019.
Activities authorized by part A of title IV and section
1108(b) of the Social Security Act shall continue through
June 30, 2019, in the manner authorized for fiscal year 2018,
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.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
California (Ms. Judy Chu) and the gentleman from Missouri (Mr. Smith)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from California.
General Leave
Ms. JUDY CHU of California. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that
all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend
their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from California?
There was no objection.
Ms. JUDY CHU of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as
I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 430, the TANF Extension Act of
2019. This bipartisan legislation would extend the Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families program, known as TANF, and the Child Care
Entitlement to States, or CCES, through June 30, 2019.
Due to the stalemate in budget negotiations, TANF and CCES funding
lapsed at the end of 2018. Enacting this legislation will allow the
Department of Health and Human Services to send States, Tribes, and
territories TANF and CCES grants for the second quarter of the fiscal
year, which are now late, and to make on-time payments to States for
the third quarter.
States depend on Federal TANF and childcare funding to help level the
playing field for struggling parents trying to work and support their
families. These grants help pay for important programs such as
childcare, transportation, and job training. Funds are also used to
help cover basic necessities like food, housing, and diapers.
Right now, our failure to pay for what was promised is hurting State
budgets, and pretty soon it will begin to affect family budgets as
well.
CalWORKs, as my home State of California calls its TANF program,
provides help to over 50 percent of poor children in California, which
is over 1 million children, but California has a very small reserve of
unspent Federal TANF funds to cover the Federal lapse in payment.
Our reserve is about the level of Federal funding the State will use
in just over 2 weeks of operating CalWORKs.
California's counties are currently implementing the changes to
CalWORKs that we hope will make it even more effective in stabilizing
families and lifting them out of poverty. Disrupted Federal funding
would make achieving that goal much harder.
We need to do far more to help children and families, and States need
more stability and certainty to operate their programs. This is why the
first bill that was passed in this new Congress to reopen the
government included provisions to extend TANF and childcare for 2
years.
This bill would also have provided Congress with new data on
beneficiary sanctions, employment, and poverty outcomes. Unfortunately,
the Senate has refused to take up that bill, leaving our government in
a partial shutdown and causing Federal funds for TANF and CCES to
lapse, as well as payments to the States.
In the meantime, as the two Chambers continue discussions, this
legislation will allow us to quickly restore payments and ensure that
families who rely on TANF and childcare assistance are not collateral
damage in the Trump shutdown.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support the bill, and I reserve
the balance of my time.
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 430, the TANF Extension Act of
2019, which will end the lapse in the TANF program.
For my home State of Missouri, and specifically my district,
temporary assistance is a vital lifeline of resources for families. I
represent one of the most economically distressed regions in the
country and the poorest congressional district in Missouri. In my
State, more than 20,000 people and nearly 10,000 families currently
rely on TANF.
Mr. Speaker, we need to reauthorize this program. Since TANF was
created in 1996, funding for the program had never lapsed like this,
until now. Federal funding of TANF has now lapsed for 2 full weeks.
TANF has never been tied to a border security debate before, and it
shouldn't be now. Mr. Speaker, 20,000 people in Missouri need TANF for
a hand up to get out of poverty and back to work.
Tax reform created a roaring economy, but our job is not done.
Americans are no longer asking ``Where are the jobs?'' Instead,
employers are asking ``Where are the workers?''
When I meet with farmers and small business owners in southern
Missouri, they tell me they desperately need more workers.
We have an economy that is built for growth, but millions of
Americans are on the sidelines. That is why we need the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families program to refocus on the outcome of
work.
I hope that, during the 6-month extension provided by this bill, my
friends on the other side of the aisle will work with us to improve the
focus of TANF on outcomes so we can stop only measuring the process.
Let's work together to build on the efforts from last Congress so we
can help families become self-sufficient through work.
There is pride in work, and a job is the best way out of poverty.
When individuals and parents work full-time, the poverty rate drops to
just 3 percent.
American taxpayers contribute billions of dollars every year to
support those who are in need. It is our responsibility to ensure
taxpayer dollars are being used in the most effective way possible.
That is why we must reauthorize this program immediately and why I have
pushed for reforms.
House Republicans want every person on TANF who is work eligible to
have an individual plan for how to get back into the workforce. The new
goal isn't to get someone into a job for 2 weeks. The new goal is to
get them into a job and keep them there so they can start their career
and build a better life.
That means we want to surround Americans with more support to allow
them to build their lives, like childcare and transportation. That is
what we will continue to push for as we work on a longer extension.
What has become clear is that we can do a lot better to address the
needs of those struggling to get ahead. With this bill, we renew the
program and set the stage to make additional reforms we know are needed
to expand the opportunity so that everyone can benefit from strong
economic growth.
Reforming TANF to improve the lives of more American families must be
our priority, and I look forward to working with my colleagues to
complete this reauthorization.
Mr. Speaker, I urge support of H.R. 430, and I reserve the balance of
my time.
Ms. JUDY CHU of California. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the
gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore), an incredible advocate for
those in need.
Ms. MOORE. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from
California for yielding.
[[Page H532]]
Mr. Speaker, I rise to join my colleague from Missouri in asking my
colleagues to support H.R. 430 and to vote ``yes'' on this legislation.
Now, this is just a short-term, 6-month extension of the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families program because we could not sign off on
the negotiated 2-year extension from the omnibus. Therefore, the
program has lapsed, and it is imperative that we move this legislation
quickly, get it cleared through the House, sent over to the Senate, and
signed into law.
Needy Americans are relying on us to do this. There are several
States that have absolutely no TANF dollars, zero carryover funds to
insulate against the prospect that this reckless shutdown will persist
and impact our most vulnerable citizens.
While my State is not one of the 23 States that have less than one
quarter of Federal TANF funding in reserve, our reserve is not
gigantic. At the current spend-down rate of funds in Wisconsin, we are
projecting that these funds will only last until early May, so this is
of some urgency.
Just let me remind you, Mr. Speaker, about the importance of
extending this program. This bill will allow HHS to send States,
Tribes, and territories overdue funds that they depend upon to help
level the playing field for struggling parents trying to work and to
support their families, tools like childcare assistance,
transportation, job training, money for basic needs, and services like
food and diapers.
I want to remind you, Mr. Speaker, that three-fourths of current TANF
recipients are children, usually living in poverty with their parents
or grandparents.
Mr. Speaker, as a former welfare recipient who rose out of poverty
with the help of cash assistance, SNAP, and higher education, I
understand how critically necessary it is for Americans to have access
to our Nation's safety net known as TANF.
Mr. Speaker, I will never forget the spring of 1996, when Wisconsin
Governor Tommy G. Thompson decided to end welfare as we knew it.
{time} 1700
I was a State senator at the time. I stood on the floor and
filibustered until the wee hours of the morning with 100 amendments.
Then in the fall of 1996--it was a gigantic error of judgment, in my
estimation--Congress, on a bipartisan basis, followed Governor
Thompson's lead and replaced Aid to Families with Dependent Children
with TANF, a program that turned into a block grant, having absolutely
no connection with people's ability to get work.
It imposed work requirements, whether there was any viable work there
or not. It limited educational opportunity for women, thus creating a
permanent underclass of workers. It does not provide promised childcare
and training, the very things that are most helpful for helping people
get employed.
While this proposal has been adopted by Congress and signed into law,
I have known, since 1996, that I would spend the rest of my career
trying to right-size this program and make sure that the program not
only met people's basic survival-level needs but actually worked toward
helping people lift out of poverty.
I am looking forward to this 116th Congress, when we can reenvision
welfare reform, because this imperfect program needs to continue to
assist struggling families to meet those basic needs. Forty-three
million Americans currently live in poverty and some in extreme
poverty.
I remind the Speaker that our Nation is only as strong as its most
vulnerable population. Instead of criminalizing welfare recipients and
creating more barriers for the poor, we must help lift them up so that
they, too, can escape poverty, join the economy, and add to our tax
base.
Let's pass this bill, and let's use the next 6 months provided by
this legislation to work together to enact long-overdue changes to TANF
that will restore childcare, incentivize education, and move away from
punitive time limits.
I ask my colleagues to vote for H.R. 430, and then I urge them to
join me in reenvisioning the program.
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the
gentleman from Nebraska (Mr. Smith).
Mr. SMITH of Nebraska. Mr. Speaker, it is unfortunate we are here
today, actually, but I do intend to support this short-term TANF
extension.
I think it is useful to understand how we got here, because it
certainly informs where we should be going. While the economy is
expanding at greater than 3 percent, and the unemployment rate is now
below 4 percent, we know not everyone is benefiting.
There are an estimated 67 million working-age American men missing
from the labor force and 5\1/2\ million youth not in school or not
working. This, combined with a generation of retiring workers, has left
employers desperate to fill open jobs.
Our committee held a series of hearings last spring to learn how
Congress can help close the jobs gap, the difference between what
employers need to keep the economy growing and the number of workers in
the labor force.
We heard from employers across the country and across industries--
technology in Colorado, manufacturing in Indiana and Ohio, auto plants
in Michigan, homebuilders in Arizona, and the aerospace industry in
Kansas. They all expressed the same message: We are hiring, and if you
are not already proficient, we will pay you while you learn to do the
work.
In my own district, the need for workers is a common theme among
employers. One employer I spoke with recently, whose facility is
largely automated, told me his biggest impediment to growth is a lack
of people to run and operate the machinery.
In addition to the needs of employers and our economy, we also heard
about the dignity of work from the individuals reconnected to the
workforce, whether recently out of poverty or even prison. We heard how
these men and women were better able to provide for their families and
engage with their communities because of the social and monetary
support their efforts to advance in the workforce provided. We want
everyone to have that opportunity.
TANF has an important role to play in addressing the labor shortage,
and changes are needed to fit the program to today's economy. More than
20 years after TANF was created, the program is not living up to
expectations, and many States have lost sight of what it was intended
to do: provide short-term support while people get back into the
workforce.
Mr. Speaker, I am proud of the work we did in the House last year. We
held seven hearings, including a legislative hearing, and we marked up
legislation aimed at improving the program. Many of the proposals in
our bill, the JOBS for Success Act, were supported by both parties'
witnesses as well: one-on-one casework; measuring outcomes; refocusing
the program on those most in need of assistance; and ensuring States
could use their resources to both help people get to work, and, just as
importantly, stay in the workforce and succeed.
Unfortunately, no one in the Senate took action on TANF until late
last year. When they finally did deliver a proposal, it merely doubled
down on, or attempted to paper over, the ongoing problems of TANF,
which discourage States from helping their beneficiaries, rather than
making a serious effort to help reconnect the population most in need.
Important progress has been made, both since 1996 and in the past
year, but we are not done. I encourage my colleagues to support this
extension and to continue working to refocus TANF to improve the lives
of millions of American families.
More importantly, once this bill is signed, I encourage everyone,
House and Senate, to come together and work with us to achieve
solutions that help to connect Americans on the sidelines of the
economy with the employers who desperately need them and to stay in the
workforce long term.
We all know a check from the government is not the way out of
poverty. Getting into and advancing in the workforce is.
Ms. JUDY CHU of California. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2 minutes to the
gentlewoman from Indiana (Mrs. Walorski).
Mrs. WALORSKI. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 430, the
TANF Extension Act of 2019, which extends the authorization of the
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, TANF,
[[Page H533]]
program through June 30, while we finish up our work on a long-term
extension.
Our safety net is essential to helping people who fall on hard times
get back up on their feet, but, too often, it becomes a web that traps
people in the cycle of poverty. One of the keys to breaking that cycle
is human interaction, rather than treating people and recipients like
another number on a government spreadsheet.
It takes people on the front lines of the fight against poverty to
make sure we are looking at the root causes of the problem and actually
doing something to help people across the country build out and up on
the economic ladder out of poverty. Those in the trenches fighting
poverty need the flexibility to develop innovative solutions tailored
to local needs that will empower individuals to move to work and to
achieve the American Dream.
Over these next couple of months, we have a great opportunity to work
together on a long-term extension of TANF that makes commonsense
reforms to the program to ensure no one gets left behind on the
sidelines.
Right now, the status quo is not working. But by focusing on
workforce development, measuring work outcomes, and requiring States to
engage with recipients at an individual level, we can and we will move
people out of poverty, off TANF, and onto the road to success.
I thank Chairman Neal and Ranking Member Brady for their work on this
issue. I look forward to working with them and my other colleagues on
the Ways and Means Committee on a multiyear TANF extension.
Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill.
Ms. JUDY CHU of California. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my
time.
Mr. SMITH of Missouri. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may
consume.
Mr. Speaker, as you have heard today, there is more that can be and
should be done to address the needs of those struggling to get ahead.
With this bill, we secure the additional time to reform and make the
changes we know are needed to expand opportunity and help more families
move ahead.
We have made considerable progress identifying the challenges and the
solutions, but now we need to finish our work. Let's pass this
extension and work together to complete this reauthorization for the
people we serve.
Again, I urge support of H.R. 430, and I yield back the balance of my
time.
Ms. JUDY CHU of California. Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues
to support this simple bipartisan legislation to allow us to meet our
commitments to State governments and to families in need across this
country.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. JACKSON LEE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to voice my support for
H.R. 430, the``TANF Extension Act of 2019,'' which extends the
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and related programs.
The bill authorizes activities outlined in part A of title IV and
section 1108(b) of the Social Security Act to continue through June 30,
2019, in the manner authorized for fiscal year 2018.
This extension is necessary so society's most vulnerable do not fall
through the cracks.
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program provides
critical funding to states' anti-poverty efforts.
It helps ensure that families in poverty with children can meet their
children's basic needs.
The TANF program, which is time limited, assists families with
children when the parents or other responsible relatives cannot provide
for the family's basic needs.
The Federal government provides grants to States to run the TANF
program.
These State TANF programs are designed to accomplish four goals:
To provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared
for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives;
To end the dependency of needy parents on government benefits by
promoting job preparation, work, and marriage;
To prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and
establish annual numerical goals for preventing and reducing the
incidence of these pregnancies; and
To encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.
States have broad flexibility to carry out their programs.
The States, not the Federal government, decide on the design of the
program, the type and amount of assistance payments, the range of other
services to be provided, and the rules for determining who is eligible
for benefits.
These social safety net programs provide necessary government
assistance to help Americans families maintain a basic standard of
living, and are a safety net for the poorest of the poor.
Millions of Americans, despite working two jobs, depend on these
programs just to keep food on the table and a roof over their heads for
their families.
In addition, the vast majority of full-time workers live paycheck to
paycheck.
In fact, 70 percent of Americans rely on at least one means tested
federal program throughout their lives.
America, one of the richest countries in the world, should be able to
help families caught in, to use the celebrated LBJ biographer Robert
Caro's famous phrase, the ``tentacles of circumstance.''
However, we have an Administration that is sensitive to the plight of
every day Americans.
This Administration seeks to implement an agenda that reveals a
patently racist and inaccurate portrayal of poor people as lazy
``Welfare Queens'' who would rather depend on the government than pull
themselves up by their bootstraps, but nothing could be further from
the reality that millions of Americans face.
Mr. Speaker, the President should know that it is unreasonable and it
is cruel to expect the poorest people to pull themselves up by their
bootstraps when they do not have boots.
Our nation's social safety net programs already fail to help all of
the families in need:
Only 1 in 4 poor families with children receive TANF;
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) only provides
$1.40/per meal; and
Housing assistance reaches just 1 in 5 eligible families.
That is because the federal government has failed to raise the
minimum wage in almost a decade, so even if you work a full-time
minimum wage job, you are still living in poverty.
Members of the Congressional Black Caucus are here to tell the
American people, do not be fooled.
Donald Trump says this is about a ``poverty trap,'' but the real trap
is not raising the minimum wage.
Employers should be highly motivated to pay their employees a fair
amount so that every American can enjoy the opportunity to live with
dignity, with proper nutrition and proper health care.
A salary that is not commensurate with the current cost of living
prevents people from enjoying life with dignity, and that is NOT what
the American dream is about.
The President opposes increasing the minimum wage and eliminating
labor protections for middle and lower income workers in the African
American community.
Mr. Speaker, raising the minimum wage to just $12 per hour would save
$53 billion in SNAP benefits alone.
Wage gaps are larger today than they were in 1979.
For example, African American men's average hourly wages were 22.2
percent lower than those of white men in 1979 and declined to 31
percent lower by 2015.
Young African American women have been hardest hit since 2000.
Average wealth for white families is seven times higher than average
wealth for African American families.
Worse still, median white wealth (wealth for the family in the exact
middle of the overall distribution) is twelve times higher than median
African American wealth.
Wage gaps are growing primarily because of discrimination and racial
differences in skills and worker characteristics.
Declining unionization has also had a role in the growing black-white
wage gap, particularly for men newly joining the workforce.
African Americans have been disproportionately affected by the
growing gap between pay and productivity.
Not only are the President's policies divisive along racial and
cultural lines, they also serve to further increase economic inequality
due to their clear design in favor of the wealthiest among us at the
expense of everyone else.
Trump's billionaire tax heist robs the U.S. Treasury of $1.5 trillion
in resources that could be invested in economic growth in underserved
communities.
The President has proposed doubling down on the war on drugs, which
drains the African American labor pool.
The President has taken every opportunity to harm health care for
African-Americans from sabotaging the American Care Act to ending
Medicaid as we know it.
Trump also wants you to believe that he wants a bipartisan
infrastructure plan.
Do not be fooled.
Trump's review of ``welfare programs'' is an immoral attempt to gut
the programs that provide a basic standard of living for Americans
struggling to make ends meet, all to pay for
[[Page H534]]
massive tax cuts to himself and the richest 1 percent.
Instead, he should raise wages and invest in job training programs to
prepare Americans for the work of the future.
Mr. Speaker, our nation still has a long way to go before we achieve
economic equality for all its citizens.
The President and Congressional Republicans should work with
Democrats to put more money in the pockets of hardworking Americans.
At the end of the day, our constituents should be able to support
their children with one full-time job.
Ultimately, we need to give families the tools they need to rise out
of poverty, not undercut programs that keep them afloat.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from California (Ms. Judy Chu) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 430.
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.
____________________