Title
Finding that the Bush Administration Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program reauthorization proposal as passed by the U.S. House of Representatives will both undo those successes that welfare reform has had, and fail to address the worsened problems of poverty and barriers to employment that those currently on TANF continue to face, and urging Congress, and in particular Pennsylvania's two United State Senators, Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum, to reject the Administration proposal, and to support alternatives that will realistically and fairly help families balance work and family to achieve self-sufficiency.
Body
WHEREAS, Congress has before it H.B. 4, the Administration's legislation to reauthorize for another five years the major welfare changes enacted in 1996 for the renamed Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program; and
WHEREAS, Although so-called welfare reform has resulted in over 50% of Pennsylvania TANF families leaving TANF, the program has not had a commensurate impact of moving families out of poverty and with sufficient incomes to provide self-sufficiency for parents and children; and
WHEREAS, TANF parents who do obtain jobs receive an average wage of about $7 when an hourly wage of about $18 an hour has been deemed necessary according to the Self-Sufficiency Standard researched by the Women's Association for Women's Alternatives, Inc. Working TANF parents see their TANF cash assistance end when their earnings are but 64% of the poverty level; and
WHEREAS, Although Pennsylvania has provided many new and expanded work supports, such as child care for its TANF families, due to a "Work First" policy thrust, it has ranked 37 among the States in "success in the workforce" according to the federal government; and
WHEREAS, Although the total welfare population in Pennsylvania has declined, the percentage of the state's remaining welfare population has climbed in the city of Philadelphia to over 50% of the s...
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