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Date: August 4, 1998 WHITE HOUSE FACT SHEET Contact: HHS Press Office (202) 690-6343
Today President Clinton will take new action to promote work and responsibility as he sends to Congress a report showing the welfare reform he signed into law nearly two years ago has helped millions of families make the successful transition from welfare to work. The President will announce he's eliminating an old vestige of the welfare system so that all state have the option to provide Medicaid health coverage to working, two parent families. He will announce $60 million in new Welfare-to-Work grants for six states and Guam to help the most disadvantaged welfare recipients get and keep jobs. He will announce the latest numbers showing that the federal government is doing its fair share in the welfare to work effort, hiring 5,714 former welfare recipients since April 1997. He will send to Congress the first annual report on welfare reform showing that 1.7 million adults who were on welfare in 1996 were working in 1997 and he will urge Congress to fully fund his Welfare to Work housing vouchers proposal so that welfare recipients who need to move in order to work can do so.
Eliminating Anti-Work and Anti-Family Rules that Denied Families Health Coverage Today, the President will eliminate a vestige of the old welfare system by announcing that the Department of Health and Human Services will revise its regulations to allow all states to provide Medicaid coverage to working, two-parent families who meet State income eligibility. Under the old welfare regulations, adults in two-parent families who worked more than 100 hours per month couldn't receive Medicaid, while there were no such restrictions on single parent families. Because these regulations provided disincentives against marriage and against working more than part-time, the Administration allowed a number of states to waive this rule. This new regulation now eliminates this rule for all States, providing health coverage for more than 130,000 working families, helping them stay employed and off of welfare. The President will be joined today by a young couple from Anne Arundel County, Maryland who through Medicaid has been able to obtain health coverage for themselves and their nine month old twins -- coverage that was not available at the husband's full time job.
$60 Million More in Welfare-to-Work Grants Today, nearly one year after obtaining $3 billion in new Welfare-to-Work funds in the Balanced Budget Act, the President will release funds for Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Mexico, Virginia, West Virginia, and Guam. These funds help long-term recipients who have significant barriers to employment obtain and retain jobs and can be used to help fathers as well as mothers go to work. With the $60 million released today, the Department of Labor has now approved $759 million for 38 states plus Guam.
The Federal Government is Doing Its Share The President will announce that the federal government has now hired 5,714 new workers off the welfare rolls, which is over half-way to its goal of 10,000 by 2000. Nearly 80 percent of these new workers are outside the Washington Metropolitan area. The Vice President is leading this effort to ensure that the federal government does its fair share to employ welfare recipients. The White House pledged to hire six welfare recipients and has already exceeded this goal.
Two Years Later, Millions of Welfare Recipients are Working The President will release the First Annual Report to Congress on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program showing a dramatic increase in the number of welfare recipients who have gone to work. Data from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey show that the rate of employment of individuals on welfare in one year who were working in the following year increased by nearly 30 percent between 1996 and 1997. As a result 1.7 million adults on welfare in 1996 were working in March 1997.
Reporting on recent findings from a number of studies, the Report to Congress finds that not only has the proportion of welfare recipients working increased, but that families moving from welfare to work also enjoy increases in income. The report also finds that on average states are spending more per person on welfare to work efforts than they did before the passage of the 1996 law. The report highlights the dramatic decline in welfare caseloads, showing that welfare rolls have declined 27 percent since the welfare reform law was signed and the percentage of the population on welfare is at its lowest since 1969. The President signed the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act into law on August 22, 1996.
Several other reports also confirm that welfare reform is on the right track. The Urban Institute recently found that, on average, a family's income goes up 51 percent when they move from welfare to a part-time entry level job, and it increases even more as they move to full-time, higher paying work. The Earned Income Tax Credit, which this Administration fought hard to expand in the 1993 budget, is a major factor in making work pay, especially if families take the option to get part of this tax credit in their regular paycheck. And, the National Governors' Association recently reported that state spending on child care has increased by more than half, while spending on helping welfare recipients succeed at work has increased by one-third.
The President Will Call for Full Funding for Welfare-to-Work Housing Vouchers. The President will call on Congress to fully fund his proposal for 50,000 Welfare-to-Work housing vouchers to help welfare recipients get or keep a job by moving closer to job opportunities, reducing a long commute, or securing more stable housing. While both the House and Senate have appropriated funds for this purpose, they have to date funded less than half the President's request.