Welfare reform

The Welfare System

Washington Office signs on to welfare letter

Coalition wants program that can lift families out of poverty

by Evan Silverstein, Presbyterian News Service

Click here for the same report on the PNS website.

LOUISVILLE -- July 15, 2004 -- The Presbyterian Washington Office has joined a number of other religious groups in urging completion of a welfare-reauthorization plan being considered by the Senate Finance Committee.

The Washington Office, which advocates for the policies of the Presbyterian Church (USA) in Congress, joined the other faith groups in sending a letter to U.S. senators about the federal government's principal cash-assistance program for low-income families, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF).

The other groups that signed on include the Union for Reform Judaism, Bread for the World, American Baptist Churches USA, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the United Methodist Church.

The coalition, the Interreligious Working Group on Domestic Human Needs, says in the letter, "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."

TANF, enacted by Congress in 1996, replaced a 60-year-old entitlement program that provided cash assistance to the nation's poorest people. Its original authorization expired on Sept. 30, but it has been extended for a year by continuing resolutions.

The TANF rolls have decreased by about 60 percent since the program got under way in 1997, but researchers say most of those who no longer receive welfare are still impoverished.

The robust economy of the late 1990s created millions of jobs, but many paid poorly and did not include health insurance and other benefits. It was those least attractive jobs, for the most part, that were taken by people leaving TANF. As the economy has slowed, those jobs have been disappearing, and the welfare rolls are growing again in most states.

The House passed its TANF bill (HR 4) last year, essentially endorsing a proposal from the Bush administration. The Senate has repeatedly postponed debate on the issue while dealing with other priorities.

The full text of the letter, dated July 13:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

July 13, 2004

Dear Senator:

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 childcare 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 (USA), 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

Presbyterians to push for welfare reform

NCC churches say anti-poverty programs ought to be just that

by Evan Silverstein, Presbyterian News Service

LOUISVILLE -- March 7, 2002 - At least a dozen Presbyterians will join more than 80 other representatives of churches and ecumenical groups next week in pressuring Congress to strengthen the nation's welfare system.

The lobbying effort in Washington, DC, is part of a March 13-15 conference sponsored by the National Council of Churches (NCC): "TANF Action Days." TANF, which stands for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, has been the nation's cash-assistance program for low-income families since 1996, when Congress eliminated the old federal welfare program.

TANF and other "safety-net" programs for the poor -- the Food Stamp Program and Development Block Grant and Child Care -- are up for reauthorization. The church lobbyists will urge legislators to adjust the TANF program to better help low-income families become self-sufficient.

"The church is being called on more and more to help meet the needs of those who are being left behind by welfare reform," said the Rev. Gary Cook, coordinator of the Presbyterian Hunger Program. "This is one opportunity for people of faith to help shape the rules for the future."

The purpose of the NCC conference is not to call for new programs, but to rally around existing projects, share information, and call for action on issues affecting the poor, including housing, health care and public education.

Cook said TANF has managed to move people off welfare rolls and into the workforce, but has been less successful in alleviating poverty. He said many church people think the goal of the U.S. welfare policy should be "an end to poverty as we know it."

"The most important first step is to make work pay," he said. "It's good to help people move from welfare to work, but we need to make sure that they are moving into jobs that will actually support their families. That may mean a (greater) commitment to …… job training, child care and medical coverage."

In addition to fanning across Capitol Hill to talk with legislators, participants in next week's event will gather at a local church to worship, develop action strategies and hear from anti-hunger groups such as Bread for the World.

So far, 10 to 12 members and representatives of the Presbyterian Church (USA), some of them "Hunger Action Enablers" from the Presbyterian Hunger Program, have registered for TANF Action Days, according to Mary Cooper, a former NCC staff member who is a conference planner.

More than 80 people representing mainline denominations and other groups intend to take part, including members of the United Methodist Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. Representatives of state and local councils of churches and interfaith organizations are also expected to attend.

The conference is part of this year's "Poverty March," which in turn is part of the NCC's decade-long "Mobilization to Overcome Poverty," launched in November 2000.

"The TANF work is the first major public-policy focus within the mobilization, but there will be others," Cooper said. "It depends a lot on what Congress decides they're going to take up. But housing is clearly a major issue. Health care is a major issue. These are all poverty-related things that Congress is likely to deal with during the decade of the mobilization."

Last November, the NCC General Assembly passed a resolution saying that the purpose of federal programs for low-income people "should be the reduction and elimination of poverty, not the reduction of caseloads." It added: "No family should be worse off as a result of moving from welfare to work."

For more information, visit the NCC Internet site at www.ncccusa.org.