Testifying on Welfare Reform, Catholic Charities USA Calls On Congress to Improve Work Supports to Help Families

Catholic Charities USA
Wednesday, 10 April 2002

Testifying before the Senate Finance Committee today, Catholic Charities USA urged Congress to improve the support systems that allow mothers to make the successful transition from welfare to work—rather than imposing costly and impractical work requirements on the states.

"Single moms are now working in record numbers. Unfortunately, all too often the supports that were promised to these mothers—supports like child care, food stamps, Medicaid, and transportation assistance—are not being provided," said Arlene McNamee, executive director of Catholic Social Services in Fall River, MA, testifying on behalf of Catholic Charities USA. "I urge you not to make the jobs of the states, and, more importantly, of the mothers who are trying so hard to provide for their families, more difficult."

As Congress begins work on reauthorizing the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF), there have been calls to substantially increase the work requirements and to drastically shorten the time for recipients to find jobs, day care, and transportation so they can work. McNamee called these proposals misguided.

"As someone who works on a daily basis with families who are struggling to make the transition from welfare to self-sufficiency—and who would like nothing more than to be able to survive without government assistance—I believe proposals to increase current work requirements, however well-intended, are inflexible, impractical, and unfair," testified McNamee.

Work Support Recommendations

To help TANF families make the successful transition to work, Catholic Charities USA recommends that Congress focus on providing the work supports that are necessary to support low-income women as they move to employment.

Child Care. Increase the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) budget by at least $1 billion in fiscal 2003 as part of an annual commitment to narrowing the gap between the children who receive CCDBG aid and the number who need it, and provide incentives to states to improve the quality of child care.

Health Care. Ensure that families who leave TANF for work receive a full year of Transitional Medicaid Assistance, which can make a critical difference in whether or not a family can succeed in the workplace.

Food Stamps. Require states to automatically enroll families leaving welfare for work in the Food Stamp Program for one full year.

Child Support. Ensure that child support paid by non-custodial parents, primarily fathers, reaches the children who need it, and can give low-income families the help they need to succeed without welfare.

Benefits to Legal Immigrants. Restore access for legal immigrants to important work supports like food stamps and Medicaid and to temporary benefits that can help them weather temporary downturns in their economic situations.

Child and Family Well-Being Recommendations

In her testimony, McNamee also urged Congress to take three specific steps to promote child and family well-being as it works to reauthorize the TANF program.

First, Catholic Charities USA recommends that Congress remove all vestiges of the 65 years of government welfare rules denying aid to married couples and two-parent families.

Second, Catholic Charities USA supports optional programs for marriage counseling, marriage preparation, relationship training, and family budget counseling for poor parents.

Third, Catholic Charities USA calls for the elimination of the family cap that allows states to restrict or deny cash assistance when a TANF family's size increases due to the birth of an additional child.

"Denying benefits to families based on the birth of an additional child sends the wrong signal about the value that the government places on human life, and punishes all the children in the family," she said.

Catholic Charities USA's members--1,640 local agencies and institutions nationwide--provide help and create hope for more than nine million people a year regardless of religious, social, or economic backgrounds. For more than 275 years, local Catholic Charities agencies have been providing a myriad of vital services in their communities, ranging from day care and counseling to food and housing.

For more information, or to contact Catholic Charities USA, see their website at: www.catholiccharitiesusa.org