Forwarded on behalf of USCCB by the Joliet Diocese Legislative Advocacy Network

UPDATE: TANF Reauthorization

Program Extended Through Next Year

October 1, 2004

Background:

On September 30, 2004 the House and the Senate both passed another in a series of short-term extensions of the current Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. This time the extension will last six months, through March 31, 2005 , which will carry the program through the November 2004 election and into the 109^th Congress. While there will probably be a “lame duck” session after the election, Congress is unlikely to do anything more on TANF this year. The pieces of legislation they were working on during the past two years (the 108^th Congress) will expire at the end of this year. When the new 109^th Congress convenes, it will have to start again from the beginning in the TANF reauthorization process.

When work on new TANF bills begins next year, we will continue to advocate for our TANF priorities, including:

Ø Restoring benefits eligibility for legal immigrants

Ø Providing significant additional mandatory child care funding

Ø Giving states more flexibility to provide education and training, by allowing vocational education to count as work for two years

Ø Maintaining reasonable current hourly work requirements and continuing the lower hours per week requirement for mothers with children under six.

Ø Expanding the length of time states can allow welfare recipients to participate in substance abuse treatment and activities to address other employment barriers

Ø Supporting voluntary programs to support healthy marriages and strong families, focused on services for low-income families, with attention to the problem of domestic violence (paid for by funds in addition to, and not from, the basic block grant)

Ø Maintaining the current level of funding for the basic block grant

Go to www.usccb.org/sdwp/national/welfare2.htm for information on these and all of our TANF priorities.

Action Requested:

1. Give yourselves a cheer! It’s been a long three years that we’ve been working on TANF Reauthorization, and it’s daunting to think we have to start again. But we HAVE made progress – the last two Senate bills have been an improvement on the House versions, reflecting more of our priorities, and we had a very big victory on the Senate child care funding amendment this year. This was due to your hard and persistent work. THANK YOU for all your work!