Advocacy and Education: Welfare Reauthorization
In 1996, the welfare system as we knew it - Aid to Families with Dependent Children, or AFDC - was repealed by Congress under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act, and replaced with a new program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF. This new system seeks to end dependency on federal or state assistance by promoting the value of working, assisting families with children through child care provisions, reducing out-of-wedlock births and encouraging the formation of two-parent families.
Since its implementation in 1997; TANF has had mixed results. In Arizona alone - whose TANF-funded program is entitled "Employing and Moving People Off Welfare and Encouraging Responsibility," or EMPOWER - the number of welfare recipients dropped by 46 percent between August 1996 and September 2001.1 According to a 2001 study prepared for the Arizona Department of Economic Security, however, analysts concluded that "although former cash assistance recipients felt a sense of accomplishment in having left welfare and generally preceived themselves now as better off, they also tended to regard their financial situation as very insecure."2 In fact, those who left he welfare rolls for employment only manage to make ends meet "through a combination of additional work by themselves or other househod members, increases in unearned income (e.g., from food stamps or child support payments), help from community organizations, or economizing on living expenses (sometimes moving in with relatives and sharing child care arrangements)."3
From 2001 to 2002, Arizona's welfare rolls increased each month, from 88,780 recipients in August 2001 to 103,533 in September 2002, while spending moe than 200 million federal dollars and more than 80 million state dollars on a variety of EMPOWER programs.4 These programs provide direct cash assistance, and support for child care, job training, shelter, transportation, education, family planning, domestic violence, homelessness, substance abuse, marriage skills, teen pregnancy, and medical needs.
In creating TANF, Congress authorized $16.5 billion to fund states' TANF-related programs annually through September 30, 2002. At that time, an agreement could not be reached on reauthorizing the original TANF legislation; therefore, Congress has extended the provisions of the original law until September 30, 2003.
Once the extension has expired, Congress will vote either to extend again the original legislation, or reauthorize it under new terms. When Congress makes its considerations, some of the issues discussed will be funding, performance measures aimed at reducing states' caseloads, lifetime limits placed on recipients, the flexibility with which states can individualize their TANF-related programs, and increased promotion of abstinence and marriage to welfare recipients.
For more information on the issues surrounding TANF reauthorization, please visit the following sites:
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
1Department of Health and Human Services/Administration for Children and Families (February 27, 2002)
2Abt Associates, Inc., Executive Summary, "Evaluation of the Arizona EMPOWER Welfare Reform Demonstration - Final Report" (September 2001) p.8.
3Ibid, p.8.
4DHHS/ACF