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Temporary Assistance for Needy Families - Welfare Waivers (Paperback)
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Temporary Assistance for Needy Families - Welfare Waivers (Paperback)
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Loot Price R405
Discovery Miles 4 050
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The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that it
is willing to waive certain federal work participation standards
under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block
grant to permit states to experiment with "alternative and
innovative strategies, policies, and procedures that are designed
to improve employment outcomes for needy families." The major
provision that HHS would waive is the numerical performance
standards that states must meet or risk being penalized through a
reduction in their TANF block grant. HHS announced this initiative
on July 12, 2012. The TANF statute provides that 50% of all
families and 90% of two-parent families included in a participation
rate are required to be engaged in work, though few states have
ever faced the full standard because this percentage is reduced for
certain credits. For all years from FY2002 through FY2006 and in
FY2008 and FY2009, the majority of states had an effective
(after-credit) TANF work participation standard of 25% or less. In
FY2009, 22 states had their 50% all family standard reduced to 0%
because of these credits. Additionally, many states have avoided
the two parent standard altogether by assisting that portion of
their caseload with state funds not subject to TANF work standards.
To be considered engaged in work under the TANF standard, a family
must either be working or in specified welfare-to-work activities
for a minimum number of hours per week. Preemployment activities
such as job search, rehabilitative activities, and education count
for a limited period of time or under limited circumstances. Though
these counting rules do not apply directly to individual
recipients, they may influence how a state designs its
welfare-to-work program. States that allow participation in
activities that cannot be counted (e.g., job search or education in
excess of their limits) do not receive credit for that
participation and potentially risk failing the work standard. The
new waivers would permit states to have welfare-to-work initiatives
assessed using different measures than the TANF work participation
rate. Thus, states could test alternative welfare-to work
approaches by engaging recipients in activities currently not
countable without risk of losing block grant funds. States would
have to apply for waivers, which must be approved by HHS and the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB). States would also be
required to monitor performance measures and evaluate the
alternative welfare-to-work program. HHS also indicated it might
waive some requirements that apply to states for verifying work
activities. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has
determined that the waiver initiative constitutes a "rule," subject
to the Congressional Review Act (CRA). Under the CRA, if a
"resolution of disapproval" is passed by Congress and signed by the
President (or the President's veto is overridden), the waiver
initiative could not take effect. On September 20, 2012, the House
passed such a "resolution of disapproval" (H.J.Res. 118) of the
waiver initiative. The legislative authority cited by HHS to grant
waivers in public assistance programs dates back to 1962, although
the new initiative would allow the first new waivers to test
welfare-to-work strategies in more than 15 years. "Waivers" have
historically been important in welfare reform, and TANF let states
continue their pre-1996 waivers until their expiration. The last
such waiver expired in 2007.
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