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To Review Outcomes of 1996 Welfare Reforms Hearing TO REVIEW OUTCOMES OF 1996 WELFARE REFORMS HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JULY 19, 2006 Serial No. 109–74 Printed for the use of the Committee on Ways and Means ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 30–623 WASHINGTON : 2006 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Aug 31 2005 00:38 Dec 23, 2006 Jkt 030623 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 E:\HR\OC\30623.XXX 30623 hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMRPT COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS BILL THOMAS, California, Chairman E. CLAY SHAW, JR., Florida CHARLES B. RANGEL, New York NANCY L. JOHNSON, Connecticut FORTNEY PETE STARK, California WALLY HERGER, California SANDER M. LEVIN, Michigan JIM MCCRERY, Louisiana BENJAMIN L. CARDIN, Maryland DAVE CAMP, Michigan JIM MCDERMOTT, Washington JIM RAMSTAD, Minnesota JOHN LEWIS, Georgia JIM NUSSLE, Iowa RICHARD E. NEAL, Massachusetts SAM JOHNSON, Texas MICHAEL R. MCNULTY, New York PHIL ENGLISH, Pennsylvania JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee J.D. HAYWORTH, Arizona XAVIER BECERRA, California JERRY WELLER, Illinois LLOYD DOGGETT, Texas KENNY C. HULSHOF, Missouri EARL POMEROY, North Dakota RON LEWIS, Kentucky STEPHANIE TUBBS JONES, Ohio MARK FOLEY, Florida MIKE THOMPSON, California KEVIN BRADY, Texas JOHN B. LARSON, Connecticut THOMAS M. REYNOLDS, New York RAHM EMANUEL, Illinois PAUL RYAN, Wisconsin ERIC CANTOR, Virginia JOHN LINDER, Georgia BOB BEAUPREZ, Colorado MELISSA A. HART, Pennsylvania CHRIS CHOCOLA, Indiana DEVIN NUNES, California ALLISON H. GILES, Chief of Staff JANICE MAYS, Minority Chief Counsel Pursuant to clause 2(e)(4) of Rule XI of the Rules of the House, public hearing records of the Committee on Ways and Means are also published in electronic form. The printed hearing record remains the official version. Because electronic submissions are used to prepare both printed and electronic versions of the hearing record, the process of converting between various electronic formats may introduce unintentional errors or omissions. Such occur- rences are inherent in the current publication process and should diminish as the process is further refined. ii VerDate Aug 31 2005 00:38 Dec 23, 2006 Jkt 030623 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 E:\HR\OC\30623.XXX 30623 hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMRPT C O N T E N T S Page Advisory announcing the hearing ........................................................................... 2 WITNESSES Gingrich, Hon. Newt, Gingrich Group ................................................................... 17 Santorum, Hon. Rick, a U.S. Senator from the State of Pennsylvania ............... 10 Thompson, Hon. Tommy G., Partner, Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld ...... 25 Haskins, Ronald, Brookings Institution ................................................................. 43 O’Neill, June, Zicklin School of Business, Baruch College, New York, NY ........ 61 Parrott, Sharon, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ..................................... 71 Rector, Robert, Heritage Foundation ..................................................................... 82 Riley, Bishop Roy, Conference of Bishops for the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America, Trenton, NJ ......................................................................... 58 SUBMISSIONS FOR THE RECORD Sykes, Russell, Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, Albany, NY, statement .............................................................................................................. 119 United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, DiMarzio, Nicholas, letter ........ 124 iii VerDate Aug 31 2005 01:41 Dec 23, 2006 Jkt 030623 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 E:\HR\OC\30623.XXX 30623 hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMRPT VerDate Aug 31 2005 01:41 Dec 23, 2006 Jkt 030623 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 0486 Sfmt 0486 E:\HR\OC\30623.XXX 30623 hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMRPT TO REVIEW OUTCOMES OF 1996 WELFARE REFORMS WEDNESDAY, JULY 19, 2006 U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS, Washington, DC. The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:35 a.m., in room 1100, Longworth House Office Building, Hon. William M. Thomas (Chairman of the Committee) presiding. [The advisory announcing the hearing follows:] (1) VerDate Aug 31 2005 00:38 Dec 23, 2006 Jkt 030623 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 E:\HR\OC\30623.XXX 30623 hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMRPT 2 ADVISORY FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAYS AND MEANS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: (202) 225–1721 June 15, 2006 FC–22 Thomas Announces Hearing To Review Outcomes of 1996 Welfare Reforms Congressman Bill Thomas (R–CA), Chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, today announced that the Committee will hold a hearing to review the out- comes of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (the ‘‘1996 welfare reform law,’’ P.L. 104–193). The hearing will take place on Wednesday, July 19, in the main Committee hearing room, 1100 Long- worth House Office Building, beginning at 10:30 a.m. In view of the limited time available to hear witnesses, oral testimony at this hearing will be from invited witnesses only. Witnesses will include Administration officials, among others. However, any individual or organization not scheduled for an oral appearance may submit a written statement for consideration by the Com- mittee and for inclusion in the printed record of the hearing. BACKGROUND: The 1996 welfare reform law made dramatic changes in the Federal-State welfare system designed to aid low-income American families. The law repealed the former Aid to Families with Dependent Children program, and with it the individual enti- tlement to cash welfare benefits. In its place, the 1996 legislation created a new Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant that provides fixed funding to States to operate programs designed to achieve four purposes: (1) provide assistance to needy families; (2) end the dependence of needy parents on govern- ment benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage; (3) prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and (4) encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families. The law also included individual time lim- its and work requirements intended to reinforce the new focus on work and inde- pendence for families needing assistance as part of broad reform efforts. Since passage of the 1996 welfare reform law, welfare caseloads have dropped by more than 60 percent as nearly 8 million parents and children have left the welfare rolls. The share of adults on welfare who work has more than doubled and this in- creased work has meant higher wages and earnings for welfare recipients. Key pov- erty rates—White, African-American, and Hispanic—all declined in the wake of the 1996 reforms, resulting in 1.4 million fewer children living in poverty. The 1996 wel- fare reform law and associated reforms also included numerous provisions designed to end waste, fraud and abuse in welfare programs—such as ending ‘‘disability’’ checks for drug addicts and alcoholics—resulting in billions of dollars in savings to taxpayers. The TANF program and related reforms originally were authorized through fiscal year 2002, requiring Congress to review and reauthorize the 1996 welfare reforms. Following years of debate, House passage of three comprehensive welfare reauthor- ization bills, and enactment of 12 short-term extensions of current law, comprehen- sive welfare reauthorization provisions were included in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (P.L. 109–171), which the President signed on February 8, 2006. This legis- lation reauthorized the TANF program through 2010, increased the effective share of welfare recipients expected to engage in work or other activities, provided for a $1 billion increase in mandatory child care funding, and created new healthy mar- riage and responsible fatherhood promotion programs, among other changes. VerDate Aug 31 2005 00:38 Dec 23, 2006 Jkt 030623 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6621 E:\HR\OC\30623.XXX 30623 hmoore on PROD1PC68 with HMRPT 3 In announcing the hearing, Chairman Thomas said, ‘‘Welfare reform has been a success in helping low-income parents work and better support their families. This hearing will allow us to take stock of what went right and what else needs to be done to promote more work, stronger families, and better outcomes for more families with children.’’ FOCUS OF THE HEARING: The hearing will focus on the outcomes of the 1996 welfare reforms. DETAILS FOR SUBMISSION OF WRITTEN COMMENTS: Please Note: Any person(s) and/or organization(s) wishing to submit for the hear- ing record must follow the appropriate link on the hearing page of the Committee website and complete the informational forms. From the Committee homepage, http://waysandmeans.house.gov, select ‘‘109th Congress’’ from the menu entitled, ‘‘Hearing Archives’’ (http://waysandmeans.house.gov/Hearings.asp?congress=17). Se- lect the hearing for which you would like to submit, and click on the link entitled, ‘‘Click here to provide a submission for the record.’’ Once you have followed the on- line instructions, completing all informational forms and clicking ‘‘submit’’ on the final page, an email will be sent to the address which you supply confirming your interest in providing a submission for the record. You MUST REPLY to the email and ATTACH your submission
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