In a speech on the Senate floor this morning, United States Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D - Hawaii) voiced opposition to a funding offset in the fiscal year 1999 emergency supplemental appropriations that could cost Hawaii at least $800,000 in Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) funds. The Senate subsequently adopted an amendment which removes the TANF deferral provision. The FY99 emergency supplemental appropriations bill provides disaster relief for Central America and the Caribbean, emergency relief for America's farmers in crisis, and aid to Jordan to implement the Wye River agreement.
"Emergency relief for America's farmers and disaster relief for our neighbors in Latin America and the Caribbean are important priorities that should be funded," Akaka said. "However, we should not pit these important domestic and foreign needs against the needs of the country's poorest families -- something that Hawaii's poorest families can ill afford. Full funding must continue to go to the states to assist welfare families and their children. No part of it should be deferred to offset supplemental spending. I commend the Senate's speedy action to restore these funds."
The supplemental bill originally proposed deferring $350 million in funding from "unobligated balances" under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program until FY 2001. The provision would have required deferral of portions of states' unobligated TANF funds. The deferral is based on the states' share of total unobligated funds. Preliminary estimates indicate that Hawaii would have been unable to spend about $800,000 of its TANF funds until FY 2001.
The 1996 welfare reform law replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) entitlement with Temporary Aid to Needy Families block grant program. The nation's Governors strongly oppose deferring the use of TANF funds. Many states have designated specific uses for these funds. However, the implementation of funding decisions by state and local governments takes time. States often commit funding to counties and local governments that is not transferred immediately, so the amount is not taken off the states' books. States have committed these unobligated funds for an array of uses, such as distribution to counties and local agencies, "rainy day" funds for contingencies such as economic downturns that swell the rolls and leave states without enough money until the next federal payment, transfers into child care and social services activities, or other basic expenses to help low-income families become self-sufficient.
In a letter to Senator Akaka, Hawaii Governor Benjamin Cayetano voiced concern with any cut in welfare funding for Hawaii. The Governor reiterated that every dollar Hawaii receives is necessary to assist welfare recipients become employed and self-sufficient. The state intends to use the $800,000 in TANF funds for child care services for the working poor.
The number of families in Hawaii receiving assistance under this program has increased since the new law was passed. According to the Hawaii Department of Human Services, as of January, 1999, 16,575 single-parent families and 7,119 two-parent families were on the rolls, for a total of 23,694 families receiving assistance. This represents an increase of more than 2,000 families since 1995 when the number of families receiving assistance was 21,480.
"Hawaii needs every bit of our TANF funding to make sure that our poor families continue to be self-sufficient," Akaka noted. "We have not put our unobligated balances aside for a rainy day fund because we do not have enough of it -- we need to use every dollar we have for caseloads now."
