Child Welfare League of America: Advocacy: TANF: Summary of H.R. 4090

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Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

Summary of H.R. 4090, Reauthorization of the TANF Program

On April 18, 2002, the House Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee approved legislation (H.R. 4090) to reauthorize the federal welfare program Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The full Ways and Means Committee is expected to vote on this bill the first week in May.

Key Features of H.R. 4090

TANF funding will be held at the same level for the next five years with no adjustment for inflation.
Funding for the Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) will be also remain constant through FY 2007.
Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) funding is not increased and left at $1.7 billion.
Work requirements will be made tougher. States will be required to have 70% of their caseload working instead of the current 50% requirement.
TANF recipients will have to be engaged in activities and work for 40 hours per week rather than the current requirement of 30 hours of work. At least 24 hours of this total must be in job activities defined by the federal government, such as an actual job or supervised community service. The remaining 16 hours must be in state-defined activities such as job training, education, or other activities.
The work requirement for two-parent families will be made the same as the requirements for single parents.
Child well-being is added to the law as an overarching goal to the existing four purposes that determine how states can spend federal and state TANF funds.
States will be required to set out in their state plan how they intend to address the four purposes and must indicate how they will measure their own performance in these areas.
Creation of a $100 million a year program to promote marriage. Eligible states will match federal dollars with federal and/or state TANF funds. A national $20 million fatherhood program is also established to fund projects that promote fatherhood and increase father's involvement with their children.

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