Congressman Labrador Votes to Preserve Welfare Work Requirements

Press Release

Idaho First District Congressman Raúl Labrador issued the following statement after voting in support of H.R. 890, the Preserving Work Requirements for Welfare Programs Act of 2013, legislation which would prevent the Obama administration from allowing states to waive work requirements for welfare recipients:

"Last summer, an essential part of welfare reform was undermined by President Obama's Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS announced that it would grant states the authority to waive the successful welfare work requirements in the bipartisan 1996 welfare reform act. This hurts the very people President Obama claims to help.

"In exchange for taxpayer-funded Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) payments, adults were required to work, take classes to prepare for work or look for work. In the years following the passage of the TANF requirements, the number of individuals receiving welfare dropped by more than 50 percent. Fair and reasonable work requirements give people the motivation to escape the cycle of poverty and government dependence.

"Our federal government runs at least seventy different welfare programs. These work requirements applied to just one of them. We must build upon the success of the 1996 welfare reform act by expanding and strengthening work requirements for welfare, not waiving them."

Policy Background:

In the 1996 welfare reform act, Congressional Republicans and President Bill Clinton enacted work requirements as a condition to receive welfare. This law, the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. It was designed to end the dependence of needy families on government benefits by promoting work and personal responsibility. After the 1996 reforms, the nation saw record declines in welfare dependence.

On July 12, 2012, the Obama administration announced that states could begin applying for waivers of the TANF work requirements. These waivers would diminish the success of the program.

According to the House Committee on Ways & Means, in the years following passage of the 1996 bipartisan welfare reform, the number of individuals receiving welfare dropped by 57 percent; poverty among all single mothers fell by 30 percent; and employment and earnings among single mothers increased significantly.

Source