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Judy on Welfare ReformJudy applies her belief in the power of education and training to the successes of welform reform.It is because of my belief in the power of education and training that I strongly support the way the new work requirements are structured in H.R. 4, the “Personal Responsibility, Work, and Family Promotion Act of 2003," passed by the House of Representatives this session.
The best way to break the cycle of poverty and dependence is through work and education. Without an education or job skills, many welfare recipients cannot hope to escape from poverty-level conditions or minimum wage-level jobs.
What I like most about the new federal welfare-to-work rules is that they place a greater emphasis on training and education -- states will now have more flexibility to ensure that more participants have wider opportunities to train and prepare for better paying jobs.
"Mandating a longer workweek" is a bit of a misnomer. Under H.R. 4, states must require a rising share of families with adult recipients to engage in direct work or "alternative self sufficiency activities" for 40 hours per week, on average.
But states also are given wider latitude in meeting this standard. Of the 40 required weekly hours, only 24 must be in what is called a "direct work activity," which includes subsidized or unsubsidized private or public jobs, on-the-job training, supervised work experience and community service.
So for instance, after meeting the 24-hour-per-week "direct work" requirement, individuals can devote 16 hours a week to education, training, rehabilitation and other constructive activities to meet the full, 40-hour work requirement. As a member of the House Education and Workforce Committee, which has jurisdiction over welfare reform issues, I visited service providers, workforce investment boards and former and current welfare recipients throughout the area. What former welfare recipients everywhere expressed to me was their gratitude for the hard-working service providers who helped them to find a way off of welfare and into constructive employment, training and education.
Because many of the single parents with whom I met mentioned child care as a major concern, we worked hard to include in H.R. 4 an additional $2 billion for state child care block grants. These extra funds will go a long way in helping families move toward self-sufficiency.
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