Congressman Fred Upton (R-St. Joseph) voted today to prevent the Obama administration from waiving longstanding work requirements for recipients of federal welfare benefits. Enacted in 1996 as part of welfare reform under the Clinton administration, federal law has since required states to impose a work requirement for welfare recipients. Specifically, 50 percent of all families and 90 percent of two-parent families that receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits must work or be engaged in a work-related activity, such as job training.
On July 12, 2012, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued “guidance” suggesting that it would allow states to opt out of the TANF program’s work requirement for the first time since 1996. Today’s legislation, the Preserving Work Requirements for Welfare Programs Act of 2013 (H.R. 890), would directly prohibit HHS from implementing its waiver plan and prevent the administration from waiving federal work requirements. The legislation also reauthorizes the TANF program through year’s end. H.R. 890 passed the House by a bipartisan vote of 246 to 181 and will head to the Senate for further consideration.
“We should be doing everything in our ability to help our nation’s most vulnerable find gainful employment and get back on their feet. Folks in Michigan would rather be supporting their families and paying taxes than depending on Washington,” said Upton, who supported the enactment of welfare reform under the Clinton administration. “Waiving the bipartisan work requirements as we are trying to get our nation back to work would seriously undermine the progress we have made to lift struggling families out of poverty. We also owe it to the American people to ensure their hard-earned tax dollars are wisely spent.”
In September 2012, the non-partisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) confirmed that the Obama administration circumvented Congress to waive the welfare work requirements. Later that month, Upton joined fellow House members in passing a bipartisan measure (H.J.Res.118) disapproving of the administration’s waiver rule. The Senate did not act on this or related legislation before the end of the 112th Congress.
The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that enacting H.R. 890 would reduce direct federal spending by $61 million over the next decade.
