TANF Emergency Response and Recovery Act of 2005
TANF EMERGENCY RESPONSE AND RECOVERY ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - September 08, 2005)
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Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut. Mr. Speaker, I thank the chairman for yielding me time. I want to congratulate the gentleman from California (Mr. Thomas) of the Committee on Ways and Means and also the subcommittee chairman, the gentleman from California (Mr. Herger) for bringing a very important bill to the floor very promptly.
In spite of the comments of my friend, the gentleman from Washington (Mr. McDermott), the ranking member of this subcommittee, TANF has reduced poverty among minority children in America more than any program ever adopted by Congress. It has been an enormous success in helping families get into the workforce, raise their incomes, and reduce the poverty level among children in our country.
So now to open TANF for those families devastated, devastated, by this natural disaster, is extremely important, because these are families now, like so many of our own children, living paycheck to paycheck, who have no paycheck and no assets. And that is today's problem. By bringing them immediately into TANF, they can get a paycheck. They can get cash assistance.
But, better than that, though nothing is better than that when you have no cash and you have a bunch of kids, but equally important is that it brings them into a system that is set up, that is structured, that is skilled, that is dedicated, that has people in it that know and understand it, who can help them with employment, who can help them with day care vouchers, who can give them transportation vouchers, who know what it takes to help a family get on its feet economically. And that is the challenge they face.
So this is a very important component of responding to the immediate needs of the families wiped out by this unprecedented, devastating hurricane.
Mr. Speaker, I am delighted that we are doing this right now. We are going to hold the States who open their TANF system to refugees harmless to the costs. We will be able to fund that from the contingency fund we have already put in place. We will be able to do this, meet immediate needs, and help those families to respond to opportunities like the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Shaw) just mentioned.
This is exactly what we need right now. We cannot see the whole problem yet; and it would be irresponsible to do anything but use the resources already at our disposal, resources that are experienced, savvy, and directly meet the needs for both cash assistance and opportunity for these families to rebuild their lives and receive the services they need.
Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for this good piece of legislation, and I urge my colleagues to support it.
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