On November 19, the Senate approved a one-year extension of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, a federally funded block grant program to provide families in need with a combination of financial assistance and work opportunities. Coined “Welfare to Work,” TANF limits the amount of a time an individual can receive assistance with a goal to move families in poverty to work. To help these families move off welfare and into employment, they receive assistance for job training and job skills, and to reduce barriers to employment they receive assistance with transportation and childcare.
The bill now moves to the House, which is expected to pass the extension when they return from the Thanksgiving recess. The TANF program is currently operating under a two-month extension of the program to prevent its scheduled expiration in September.
The bill does not include an extension the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF)―passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009―which expired September 30, 2010. Almost forty states, including South Carolina, used the ECF to support subsidized employment programs, offering vital job opportunities for low-income parents and youth and decreasing the TANF caseload. In partnership with the state workforce agency, the South Carolina Department of Social Services’ (DSS) developed a subsidized jobs program that helps businesses get back on their feet while helping parents go back to work. DSS has referred more than 1,000 people to this program, putting them in jobs and keeping them off welfare. The agency also assists parents with transportation, child care, work uniforms and required on-the-job tools, providing what is needed to move families off welfare and back to work. However, with the lack of funding, DSS will be forced to shut down these efforts.
As passed by the Senate, the legislation would limit funding for the regular TANF Contingency Fund and cancel out a provision under the continuing resolution Congress passed this fall that provided $506 million for the Contingency Fund through the end of Fiscal Year (FY) 2011. The measure would extend authorization of TANF supplemental grants to eligible states through June 2011, but would limit funding to an amount equal to $490 million less the amount used to cover Contingency Fund obligations. Thus, marking the first time Congress has not fully funded the supplemental grant program.
What’s more, the bill imposes a 4% penalty for failure to submit two new required reports. Currently states are not required to track some of the data included in the new reports. Therefore, states will be expected to undertake significant additional administrative burdens at a time of limited resources and staff time.
As you may know the Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina has been advocating for TANF reauthorization. Prior to TANF, funds were allocated based on a formula which required states to provide matching dollars to draw down federal funds. Thus, states with a higher tax base could draw down more federal funding. TANF is to help families TANF is to help families move from welfare to work; therefore, TANF funding should be based on need. Next year, our hope is that Congress re-examines the TANF program and alters funding to a distribution formula based on poverty. It would target federal dollars where they are most needed – to states with high poverty. A formula that equalizes the payments to states based on the percentage of each state’s population living in poverty would benefit 33 of the 50 states, including South Carolina. A formula based on poverty best matches the original intent of the TANF legislation, and is the most unbiased way to allocate new federal funds.
The Sisters of Charity Foundation of South Carolina will continue to watch this legislation and work with our Congressional delegation to be a voice for the underserved and those that serve the underserved. It is one way the Foundation can achieve its vision that South Carolina families have the resources to live out of poverty.
