Legislative Advocacy for TANF Reform Creative Writing

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Legislative Advocacy

Introduction and Coalition Building

H.R. 890 is bill to prohibit the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from granting a waiver relating to compliance with the work requirements of the provision of Welfare. The most recent bill title is: Preserving the Welfare Work Requirement and TANF Extension Act of 2013. I stand in opposition to this bill and provide a detailed basis for my position in the following discussion. In brief, my support for the action taken by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is derived from endorsements that more effective ways to meet TANF goals are and can be developed and effectively implemented, and that much of the current legislation derives from a deeply ingrained suspicion of the poor and of needy families that this nation must outgrow in order to be truly innovative and effectively achieve the honorable objective of TANF.

Background of HB 890. The catalyst for this bill was an Information Memorandum issued on July 12, 2012 by HHS to the state-level welfare plan administrators about the waiver considerations and expenditure authority under Section 1115 that address the mandatory work requirements of Section 407.[footnoteRef:1] In consideration of the present labor and economic situation in the United States, HHS rightly put forth the idea that new methods and approaches for addressing the long-term unemployment issues of Welfare recipients need to be explored. Specifically, the memorandum language that has been most politically inflammatory are as follows: "is encouraging states to consider new, more effective ways to meet the goals of TANF, particularly helping parents successfully to prepare for, find, and retain employment." The underlying purpose of the waivers from TANF requirements is to improve the employment outcomes of needy families, through testing innovative alternative strategies, policies, and procedures directed at accomplishing this goal. Through the Section 1115 waiver authority, compliance waivers of Section 407 would provide opportunity for states to define work activities and work engagement differently, specify different limitation and verification procedures, and calculate participation rates accordingly.

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Conservatives object to these waivers from the standpoint that any dilution of the mandatory employment requirements of the provisions will directly result in dilution of personal responsibility. [1: Memorandum from Earl Johnson, Director, Office of Family Assistance, to States administering the TANF Program and other interested parties (July 12, 2012), at 1, available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/ofa/policy/im-ofa/2012/im201203/im201203.html.]

HHS is employing Section 1115 of the Social Security Act as a provision granting authority to the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to "consider and approve experimental, pilot, or demonstration projects which, in the Secretary's judgment, are likely to assist in promoting the objectives of Title IV-A," under section 402 of the Social Security Act sufficient to enable implementation of project that has been approved. The purposes of Part A are clearly important to the overarching strategies of improving outcomes to needy families, specifically call for flexibility of the states in operating programs, and are sufficiently on target to warrant listing here:

"(1) Provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives; (2) end the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage; (3) prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies and establish annual numerical goals for preventing and reducing the incidence of these pregnancies; and (4) encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families" (Social Security Act, Title VI-A).

Agency affiliations and coalition building. The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is a logical agency to affiliate with those opposing this legislation as efforts to promote entry, advancement, and retention of employment are a key concern of this organization. Moreover, ACF is focused on increasing access to jobs that with sufficient advancement opportunity, and earnings potential to enable needy families to establish independence from government benefits. As a federal agency, ACF may be hidebound, which means that professional affiliations would need to engage participants with sufficient vision, innovative where-with-all, and political clout.....

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