United States Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D - Hawaii) has introduced legislation to continue the Welfare-to-Work program which provides welfare recipients with the skills necessary to enter the workforce. Authorization for the program expires this year. The legislation calls for $1 billion in fiscal year 2000 for job placement and retention. The Clinton Administration and the Department of Labor support Senator Akaka's efforts to reauthorize the program.
Record numbers of welfare recipients have left the rolls as a result of the 1996 welfare reform law. Those who are left behind and continue to receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) for long periods are those who face the greatest barriers to finding and securing employment and moving toward self-sufficiency. These individuals have been helped by the Welfare-to-Work program, which was also designed to assist certain non-custodial parents.
"Welfare reform neglected to help the hardest to employ welfare recipients," Senator Akaka said. "Welfare-to-Work fills the gap and assists these men and women in finding jobs and achieving independence so they no longer need public support. The Welfare-to-Work program is an essential component of the Administration's welfare reform effort and provides recipients with a good alternative to welfare."
Established in 1997, Welfare-to-Work has created links between local welfare populations and workforce investment systems through private industry councils that strive to put welfare recipients into steady, unsubsidized employment. The program provides formula grants to the states and funds a competitive grant program, largely for local entities and organizations. Of the state formula grants, 85 percent goes directly to local workforce investment boards which fund activities representing the real work of the Welfare-to-Work program, targeting welfare recipients with educational, employment-related or other obstacles to work.
"Extending Welfare-to-Work is crucial because thousands of welfare recipients will lose their benefits at the end of the year," Akaka noted. In 19 states, including California, Ohio, Florida, and Massachusetts, state time limits have affected or will affect TANF benefits for some welfare recipients before the end of 1999. For example, in Hawaii, 6,000 families could lose their benefits as early as August 1. "Welfare-to-Work can serve these families through what could be a painful transition by helping them find jobs and remain employed."
Under the law, long-term welfare recipients must meet two of three specific barriers to employment to qualify. The limited eligibility criteria have restricted the states' ability to use Welfare-to-Work state formula grants. Senator Akaka's bill would broaden the criteria and require welfare recipients to have at least one of seven characteristics: no high school diploma or GED; English reading, writing, or computer skills at or below the 8th grade level; a poor work history; the need for substance abuse treatment for employment; homelessness; disability; or a victim of domestic violence.
"I am making a number of improvements to the program that will allow states to spend monies already allocated to them," Senator Akaka noted. "These funds have gone unexpended largely because eligibility criteria in the program are prohibitive to participation. My bill also increases the Native American set-aside from one to three percent, includes stand-alone activities as allowable activities, and eases eligibility criteria for non-custodial parents to emphasize the needs of parents who desire to pay child support but cannot find jobs paying a living wage.
"The current criteria have left more than 90 percent of Welfare-to-Work state formula grants unspent. In Hawaii, only 37 percent of our TANF recipients have been eligible to participate in the program, and this figure would double under my bill. Officials of the Hawaii Department of Human Services predict that unless Federal law is changed, it is unlikely that they will be able to refer clients in sufficient numbers to meet expectations or need. Similar situations exist in all states. Welfare-to-Work was created to help the hardest luck welfare recipients, and we must ensure that the program can do that successfully."
The legislation would allow the transfer of unallocated state formula grant funds into the popular competitive grant program. In addition to making it easier for non-custodial parents to participate in the program, the bill would require states to spend a minimum amount of funds on non-custodial parents so that they in turn are better able provide for their children and become more involved in their children's lives. The Native American set aside would also double under the Akaka bill. Finally, welfare recipients would be given tools that enable them to remain employed longer with stand-alone activities: job skills training, vocational education, and basic education.
