“But, Wait, There’s More!” Republicans Vote to Waive Work Requirements Numerous Times

Today, Education and the Workforce Committee Republicans pushed through a partisan resolution attempting to overturn an Obama administration proposal providing states flexibility to move more Americans from welfare to work. They have falsely claimed that the proposal weakens or eliminates the welfare reform law’s focus on work. Independent fact checkers and experts have discredited Republicans’ claims and pretty much all agree that they are false.

Earlier, we pointed out that despite the GOP’s inflammatory rhetoric, legislation that Republicans recently pushed through the Education and the Workforce Committee this year suggests they themselves may have opened the door to gutting work requirements.

To quote a late-night infomercial host: “But, wait! There’s more!”

Republicans have repeatedly voted for a broader waiver authority of work participation standards in the past. According to a September 6, 2012 Congressional Research report, between 2002 and 2005, the Republican House passed legislation three times that allowed for a much broader waiver of federal TANF work participation standards:

1. H.R. 4737 (107th Congress), Section 701 “Waivers”, which passed the House on May 16, 2002 with 214 Republican votes. (Roll Call Vote #170)
2. H.R. 4 (108th Congress), Section 601 “Program Coordination Demonstration Projects”, passed the House on February 13, 2003 with 219 Republican votes. (Roll Call Vote #30)
3. H.R. 4241 (109th Congress), Section 8601 “Program Coordination Demonstration Projects”, passed the House on November 18, 2005 with 217 Republican votes.  (Roll Call Vote #601)

The fact remains that the current HHS waiver is narrower than these Republican waiver proposals, and has greater accountability for demonstrating improved employment outcomes.

“This is the memorandum from the Secretary of Health and Human Services that invites states to apply for waivers from the way the welfare law has been administered,” said Rep. Rob Andrews (D-N.J.). “We're still waiting for anyone on the other side to read us the section of the memo that says that they are eliminating the work requirement.”