July 14, 2004, Update: Advocates Ask Congress to Complete Action on TANF

The following letter was sent to the entire Congress, both House and Senate, yesterday by a large group of organizations in the religious community.

INTERRELIGIOUS WORKING GROUP ON DOMESTIC HUMAN NEEDS

July 13, 2004

Dear Senator/Representative:

As organizations in the faith community, we call on Members of Congress to complete action on a reauthorization of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). This important legislation was designed to lift families out of poverty, enable individuals to gain skills needed to work and earn enough to meet basic human needs, and improve child well-being. While we are thankful that Congress has again passed a three-month extension of current law to fund TANF through September 30, 2004, we are extremely disappointed that Congress has not yet passed a long-term reauthorization to strengthen the program so families can move out of poverty.

One of the purposes for enacting TANF legislation in 1996 was to allow states to design their own programs in ways most suited to their residents. By repeatedly failing to reauthorize TANF since its authorization expired nearly two years ago, Congress is denying the states the certainty of funding and clarity of program direction that they need to operate their programs most effectively. These necessary securities would accompany a full five-year reauthorization.

We have long advocated for reauthorization to strengthen TANF by including:

* adequate funding for child care;

* the restoration of benefits for immigrants;

* expansion of education and training opportunities;

* maintenance of the current work requirement, particularly as it applies to parents of pre-school children;

* flexibility for states to extend time limits for families facing severe barriers to employment; and

* enabling families to receive more of the funds collected through child support enforcement.

Although the Senate Finance Committee’s PRIDE bill, including the Senate-passed amendment on child care funding, is an improvement over the House-passed TANF reauthorization bill (H.R. 4), each falls far short of providing the conditions that will help TANF recipients overcome poverty through family-supporting employment. We urge you to examine the many evaluations of TANF’s first six years that are now available, to listen to the voices and experiences of low-income families and the service providers who work with them, and to produce a five-year reauthorization of TANF that will truly lift these families out of poverty.

Sincerely yours,

American Baptist Churches USA

American Friends Service Committee

Bread for the World

Call to Renewal

Central Conference of American Rabbis

Church of the Brethren Witness/Washington Office

Church Women United

Equal Partners in Faith

Evangelical Lutheran Church in America

Friends Committee on National Legislation

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs

Mennonite Central Committee U.S., Washington Office

National Advocacy Center of the Sisters of the Good Shepherd

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA

NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Washington Office

Union for Reform Judaism

Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries

United Methodist Church – General Board of Church and Society

Women of Reform Judaism

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FOR INFORMATION, contact Carolynn Race, Presbyterian Church (USA), 202-543-1126.

Click here for more information on TANF