| The religious community, in its
"Call to the Reduction of Poverty in the Context of TANF Reauthorization," calls
for a TANF program that will: |
The Bush Administration proposal: |
| 1. Insure that poverty reduction is a central
goal of TANF. |
1. Lists as TANF's goals (1) promoting work; (2)
reducing the welfare rolls; (3) strengthening families by encouraging marriage, and (4)
promoting child well-being. |
| 2. Provide sufficient federal and state funding
and index the cost of the program to the rate of inflation; and significantly increase
child care funding. |
2. Provides no increase in funding and diverts
$300 million from current efforts into a marriage-promotion program; holds child care
funding at the current level. |
| 3. Eliminate barriers to employment; provide
education and training; count post-secondary education as work. |
3. Provides no increase in funding for
supportive services such as child care, transportation, job training and placement; makes
no mention of post-secondary education; requires states to have 70 percent of recipients
at work (up from current 50 percent); requires TANF families to work or engage in
work-related activities for 40 hours a week (instead of the current 30-35). |
| 4. Encourage public/private partnerships to
train workers and find them jobs that will comply with workplace protection laws and not
displace current workers. |
4. Allows such partnerships, but makes no
mention of workplace protections. Initially would have denied benefits and minimum
wage for people doing public jobs, but subsequently retracted this position. |
| 5. Allow TANF recipients to retain more earnings
before losing other benefits. |
5. Makes no such provision. |
| 6. Be available to all in need for as long as
the need exists, and treat immigrants in the same way that citizens are treated. |
6. Provides benefits for a lifetime maximum of
five years, and only two years in a single episode. Deny TANF and Food Stamps to
immigrants for their first five years in the U.S., a change from current law, which denies
Food Stamps for at least 10 years. |
| 7. Not impose time limits on those complying
with program requirements. |
7. Retains current time limits, ending TANF
after two years, or five years in an adult lifetime. |
| 8. Eliminate discrimination against two-parent
families, impose no caps on benefits for children born after a family goes on TANF, have
no full-family sactions, give children more of the child support collected by states from
non-custodial parents. |
8. Eliminates discrimination against two-parent
families, allows states to pass through up to $100 a month of child support to families,
and requires that child support orders for TANF families be reviewed every three years. |
| 9. Address special needs of people with
disabilities, victims of violence, and some people who cannot or should not work,
including providing maximum opportunity to participate in therapy and rehabilitation. |
9. Maintains current provision allowing states
to exempt 20 percent of caseload from time limits, primarily those who cannot work; counts
substance abuse and mental health assistance as participation in work-related activities
for only three months in 24. |
| 10. Affirm every person's value; exempt from
time limits and work requirements those with serious disabilities or caregiving
responsibilities at home. |
10. Requires that every TANF recipient family
has "an individualized plan for pursuing their maximum degree of
self-sufficiency," said plan to be regularly monitored; allows states to exempt 20
percent of their caseload from work requirement. |
