Posted on 03/30/2004 7:57:17 AM PST by chance33_98
Welfare Rolls Drop Again, Says HHS
3/30/2004 10:35:00 AM
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To: National Desk
Contact: ACF Press Office, 202-401-9215
WASHINGTON, March 30 /U.S. Newswire/ -- HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson today announced the number of families and individuals receiving assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program continues to decline and urged the United States Senate to act quickly to reauthorize the landmark welfare reform program.
There were 2,006,597 families receiving TANF cash benefits in September 2003, the most recent month for which data are available. The total represents a 1.2 percent decline from June 2003 and a 54 percent decrease from August 1996, when TANF was enacted. A total of 4,880,037 individuals were receiving TANF benefits in September 2003, 1.4 percent fewer than in June and over 60 percent fewer than in August 1996.
"Welfare reform is a remarkable success story for millions of American families," Secretary Thompson said. "Welfare reform is working because former welfare recipients are working. Families who once were dependent upon a welfare check now look forward to the independence of a paycheck, even in more challenging economic times."
Secretary Thompson urged the Senate to vote to reauthorize the TANF program, which expired in the fall of 2002 and has been operating on short-term extensions since then. "Because the only way to escape poverty is through work, the president's plan -- and the bill before the Senate -- takes significant steps to give people the tools they need to succeed in the workplace," Secretary Thompson said.
The proposal before the Senate:
-- Moves more individuals on welfare into work and other activities and requires individuals to spend more time at work.
-- Gives states the flexibility to blend work and training to better prepare welfare recipients for a successful career.
-- Maintains the TANF block grant at $16.5 billion to ensure that families get the support they need to move from welfare dependency to work and self-sufficiency, even the though caseloads have declined more than half. In other words, the President proposes spending more than twice as much per recipient under this proposal.
-- Maintains historically high levels of child care funding under TANF. Additionally, the administration supports increases in child care funding added by the House and Senate.
"Welfare reform has weathered storms while still improving the lives of children and families," said Wade F. Horn, Ph.D., assistant secretary for children and families. "Through good economic times and bad, it has been the beacon of hope for families who were trapped on avenues of dependency. But there's plenty more work to be done, which is why we hope the Senate will soon strengthen and reauthorize this overwhelmingly successful law."
State caseload statistics are available at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/news/press/2004/TANF_TOTFAM_4t h2003.htm
Translation: Keep them dolars rollin' in 'cause otherwise us bureaucRATS are going to be on welfare ourselves. My worthless junk Phd wouldn't get me a job at MacDonalds. No one in their right minds in the private sector would hire any of us here.
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