Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions S. 770
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
SENATE
PAGE S4708
April 2, 2003
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS
S. 770. A bill to amend part A of title IV of the Social Security Act to ensure fair treatment and due process protections under the temporary assistance to needy families program, to facilitate enhanced data collection and reporting requirements under that program, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Finance.
TITLE IVEFFECTIVE DATE SEC. 401. EFFECTIVE DATE.
The amendments made by this Act take effect on October 1, 2003.
Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, it is a privilege to join Senator FEINGOLD and Senator LANDRIEU in introducing the Fair Treatment and Due Process Protection Act of 2003, which will benefit low-income families across the Nation by providing inportant civil rights protections to welfare recipients.
Many families who apply for welfare benefits do not speak English or have limited English proficiency. Yet when they arrive at the welfare office, there is no interpreter or translator to assist them. Too often, eligible families leave the welfare office not enrolled in the program and without access to needed benefits and services. Even those who succeed in enrolling often leave the welfare office without understanding the rules for participation, and are later penalized and lose benefits.
In virtually all of these cases, families want to play by the rules, but barriers such as limited English language skills prevent them from doing so. By helping to eliminate the language barriers, we can help them to play by the rules.
Under the Food Stamp program, States are already required to evaluate applicants' English language skills and provide translation and interpreter services when necessary. Our bill will extend this same requirement to the welfare program to ensure that families who need benefits actually get them and can understand how to comply with the program.
States would also be required to advise adults on the programs available in their community to help them learn English. For individuals who elect to participate in an English language program, states would be able to count these activities toward the federal work requirements.
Clearly, families must be able to play by the rules, but the rules must be fair, especially when children are at risk. Today, however, when States impose penalties, they often penalize the entire family. Even money to support the childern in these families is suspended. Our bill provides important protections against unnecessary penalties.
States would be required to inform families of the specific reasons for imposing a penalty and what the families can do to avoid it. States would also be prohibited from continuing a penalty after the family has come into compliance. It is unfair to penalize families for noncompliance because they did not understand the rules. The children in these families deserve to be cared for.
An additional provision in this bill encourages States to collect data on welfare outcomes, including why families leave welfare and how they fare over the long term. It also encourages States to collect data by race, ethnic background, and primary language, so that disparities in access, use, or well-being become known and can be addressed by changes in policy and programs. The knowledge obtained from these data will help to ensure that welfare policies help more people in better ways.
Protecting families from discrimination because of their native language, safeguarding them from unnecessary and harmful penalties, and understanding how policies affect families are important parts of genuine and fair welfare reform. The Fair Treatment and Due Process Protection Act of 2003 will help many more families to obtain the support they so desperately need, and I urge my colleagues to approve these important protections.