In just two years, the country has lost 2 million jobs—a stunning contrast to the 14,201,000 jobs added to the economy between 1996 and the end of 2000. When Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) became law in 1996, jobs were plentiful—but today more workers are competing for fewer jobs. The dramatic shift away from job creation to job destruction has meant near financial crisis for thousands of families who rely on the limited social services that TANF provides.
Yet Republican demands that 70 percent of TANF recipients work 40 hours per week instead of 30 come with inadequate funding for child care to help parents spending more time away from their children and inadequate funding to help the states make mandated changes. The Republican proposal also cuts back on work options for welfare recipients by restricting the list of activities that satisfy the new work requirements. Meeting the new requirements would be difficult even when jobs are plentiful; doing so in the current economic situation is virtually impossible.
The upshot of the Republican scheme will be the institution of massive workfare programs, requiring TANF recipients to “work off” their benefits. In the one place where workfare was implemented on a large scale, New York City, workfare failed to move workers into family-supporting jobs and resulted in massive job loss for low-wage workers. Only 62 of the nearly 18,000 workfare participants in 2001 transitioned to regular city jobs while, the record high number of workfare recipients displaced 16,000 low-skilled public workers.
In a final insult, the Republican TANF proposal continues the discriminatory 1996 rule that bans legal immigrants from receiving benefits. It is profoundly un-American to discriminate against would-be workers in providing needed income supports and the basic tools—such as transportation, job training and child care—for finding a job.
Contact: Kathy Roeder (202) 637-5018
