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March 30, 2004, Update: Senate Has Begun Debate, Vote on TANF 1. CALLS TO SENATORS REGARDING TANF URGENTLY NEEDED The toll-free number for calls to the Senate is available throughout the week of March 29. Please call 1-800-247-2971 to register your concerns with your Senators – the sooner the better, since the Senate has already begun voting. The faith community is urging Senators to: - give states increased flexibility with regard to education and training for recipients, especially increasing the amount of time spent in vocational training that can count toward the work requirement from the current 12 months to 24 months; - give states more flexibility on extending time limits and allowing more months of services for people with severe disabilities and other barriers to employment; - reject any increase in the number of hours TANF recipients are required to work, especially for parents of pre-school children; and - reject any attempt to expand the “superwaiver” provisions, which would allow states to waive crucial provisions of low-income programs in the interest of coordination. 2. UPDATE ON SENATE TANF ACTIVITY On March 29, the Senate began debate on H.R. 4, legislation to reauthorize Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) for five years. The first vote was taken on March 30, with the overwhelming approval of Sen. Snowe’s (R-ME) amendment adding $6 billion to the program for child care subsidies for low-income working families. The faith community strongly supported this amendment, while recognizing that far more money is needed for child care. Child Care: The vote was 78-20, with all Democrats except Sen. Zell Miller (GA) voting in support, along with 31 Republicans. This was a bold act of defiance, in view of the fact that the White House had sent over a position paper the night before saying that the Administration opposes adding any funds for child care. The Administration contends that, because the welfare rolls have gone down dramatically over the life of the TANF program, there is money going unused that could meet any extreme child care needs. In fact, the rolls are going up again in over half of the states, so that any excess money will be needed for cash benefits for new applicants; and there never was enough money for child care even when the rolls were at their lowest. Minimum Wage: Much of the day Tuesday and Wednesday (March 30-31) was spent on an amendment by Sen. Kennedy (D-MA) to raise the minimum wage from the current (since 1997) rate of $5.15 an hour to $7 per hour for full-time workers. Senate Republican leaders argue that the amendment is not germane to welfare reform, but Kennedy contends that it is because people leaving TANF for work so often can get only minimum wage jobs and therefore remain poor. The Majority Leader has filed a motion to invoke cloture against the Kennedy amendment, but on Thursday morning (April 1), the Senate rejected the motion. Although debate on TANF could have resumed immediately, the usual thing is for the Senate to move on to other business while negotiations go on in the background to try to work out a compromise. If the Senate fails to approve some version of the bill, a longer extension of the current program will be required. The House leadership has indicated that it will not continue to approve unamended extensions, and already has introduced two extension bills that would begin to enact into law an increase in work hours (even for parents of preschoolers), among other changes. The Administration has indicated that it wants the bill passed as proposed by the Senate Finance Committee (although it clearly prefers the House-passed version, which is more restrictive and mirrors the President’s proposal), without additional child care funding but with two amendments. One would insert the President’s faith-based initiatives proposal and the other would provide additional funds for marriage promotion, taken from other parts of the bill. Click here for more information on TANF Contact: Mary Cooper, NCC |