Statement of the Reverend Nathan Wilson, Director of Public Policy, and Manager, Campaign to Overcome Poverty, 
Call to Renewal

Testimony Before the Subcommittee on Human Resources
of the House Committee on Ways and Means

Hearing on Welfare Reform Reauthorization Proposals

April 11, 2002

Mr. Chairman and Members of the Subcommittee.

Thank you for inviting me to testify this afternoon.  I am Director of Public Policy for Call to Renewal, a national network of churches and faith-based organizations who have come together on the biblical imperative to overcome poverty.  Our “Campaign to Overcome Poverty” is one of the broadest ecumenical tables in the country for churches involved in anti-poverty efforts. We work to network churches and faith-based organizations into a movement, and provide a national public policy voice.

We acknowledge that the causes of poverty are complex.  They include economic inequality, lack of opportunity, and institutional racism; as well as irresponsible personal choices and the breakdown of families and communities.  The solutions to overcome poverty are equally complex.  They include employment at a living family income, quality education, safe neighborhoods, affordable health care and housing, strengthening families, and renewing an ethic of personal and community responsibility.     

After five years, the 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act has had an important impact in reducing the number of people on welfare through requiring employment. A significant number of former welfare recipients are now working.  Yet far too many, especially children, remain in poverty.  As the reauthorization of TANF approaches, there are several areas where we urge Congress to focus. 

Most importantly, we urge a conceptual shift to view TANF and related programs through the eyes of poverty reduction rather than simply welfare reduction.  Too many of those who have moved to work remain below the poverty line.  We believe that people who are responsibly trying to work should be able to support themselves and their families.  The objective for the next period should focus not only on caseload reduction, but also on reducing the number of families living in poverty and increasing the number of self-sufficient families.

We strongly urge that an explicit goal of reducing poverty be made part of the legislative purposes of TANF reauthorization.  While there is serious debate and difference about how best to reduce poverty, a genuine bi-partisan commitment to that goal would significantly help to reduce the partisanship and offer the hope of finding common ground that puts the interests of those who are poor foremost in the legislation.  The reauthorization priorities should be framed with this in mind.

Our specific recommendations toward that objective include:

1. Fund TANF at adequate levels with increases for inflation.  The 1996 Act funded annual block grants to the states at a fixed $16.5 billion per year.  It should be obvious that $16.5 billion in 2002 is not what it was in 1996, and certainly not what it will be by 2007. Continuing flat funding is actually a significant cut in funding.  Reauthorization should at a minimum adjust the grants for inflation, and ideally increase the amount.  TANF should allow states to continue to provide assistance to those remaining on welfare along with continuing and expanding the support programs for people who have found employment.

2. Increased work supports and outreach efforts. Many of those who have moved from welfare to work have ended in the lowest paying jobs, often at or near the minimum wage.  Their ability to remain employed and move out of poverty requires several important work supports.

1. Child care. Access to safe and affordable child care is one of the major problems facing low-income workers.  To increase the work requirements and hours at work per week without increasing the availability and affordability of childcare simply will not work.  An array of services and resources should be funded, ranging from improved facilities to better training for child care workers to an increased capacity for specialized needs.  The ability for states to spend TANF funds directly on child care should be maintained along with adequately funding the Child Care and Development Block Grant.  Minimum national standards for facilities and staff should also be established to ensure the health and safety of children.  This is in the best interests of those women who are moving from welfare to work, but perhaps even more importantly, in the best interests of their children.

2. Food stamps.  Low-income working families frequently report having to choose between buying food and meeting other expenses.  Yet the food stamp program is intended to assist these families.  The evidence is that families still eligible for food stamps are not receiving them – either because they are unaware they are eligible or because application forms and requirements are too onerous.  An outreach program designed to find eligible families along with simplified application procedures should be developed.

3. Health insurance.  While improvements have been made in the past five years, efforts to increase the number of low-income families with access to health insurance should be strengthened.  Increased outreach to enroll children in the Children’s Health Insurance Program is essential.  Eligibility standards for Medicaid coverage should be eased, and states should be encouraged to simplify enrollment procedures. 

4. Transportation.  Access to adequate transportation between home, childcare, and work is often a major barrier to employment.  States should be encouraged to use flexibility in developing such programs as discounted bus fares, loans for car ownership, automobile restoration programs, and providing special bus service to places of employment.

3. Time limits.  While the five-year lifetime assistance limit may have aided in moving people from welfare to work, the reauthorization process should re-examine it and allow for greater flexibility by the states.

1. Low-income workers.  People who are working in compliance with program rules while continuing to receive some amount of assistance to supplement low earnings should not be subject to the time limit. 

2. Allow post-secondary education and training and caregiving.  Efforts to improve an individual’s employment skills through obtaining education or vocational training should be permitted to count toward meeting the work requirement.  The “work first” requirement often meant that persons had to choose between receiving assistance or improving their skills and employability.  Such initiative toward employment should be rewarded rather than penalized.  For people trying to escape poverty, serious efforts to prepare for work or enhance training and knowledge that can lead to greater self-sufficiency should be recognized and supported rather than penalized.

3. Waivers in areas of high unemployment. With the economy still recovering from September 11 and a recession that led to large numbers of layoffs and growing unemployment, states should be required to suspend the limit when unemployment reaches a certain threshold.  People who have been successfully employed and are laid off due to economic conditions should not be denied assistance because of an artificial time limit.

4. Limit sanctions.  Sanctions for non-compliance with program rules should be more carefully monitored by the Department to ensure their fairness.  Sanctioning an entire family, for example, due to the failure of one member to meet a requirement should not occur.

4.  Restore TANF and other benefits to legal immigrants.  Immigrants legally in the United States following the 1996 law are ineligible for most forms of assistance.  New legislation should reinstate eligibility for legal immigrants to major assistance programs, particularly TANF benefits, food stamps and Medicaid.  Many legal immigrants in the country today work hard and pay taxes, and should be entitled to assistance when in need.

5. Address barriers to unemployment for those remaining on welfare.  Many of those still on welfare rolls face barriers to employment, including domestic violence, substance abuse, or mental illness and disability.  States should be required to develop and fund programs that assist people in overcoming these barriers.

6. Programs to strengthen marriage.  Our personal experience and multiple studies indicate that children raised in single parent households are more likely to be in poverty.  The evidence increasingly shows that one of the most effective ways out of poverty is a stable marriage.  We therefore encourage initiatives to develop programs designed to reduce single parenthood, promote responsible fatherhood, and strengthen marriage.  The pilot programs being initiated in various states should be carefully examined to assess their success and the ability to replicate them.  We also support  the elimination of provisions that discriminate against married parents through stricter work requirements, exclusion from some programs, or other means.  It is true that healthy marriages are good for economic stability, and it is also true that economic stability is good for healthy marriages.  We urge the Committee to find ways to do both.

7. Continue and strengthen the charitable choice provision.  Call to Renewal has supported partnerships between faith-based organizations and government in overcoming poverty. We believe that government at all levels - local, state, and federal - has an important role in developing, promoting and implementing public policies to reduce poverty.  As part of that role, government and faith-based organizations should develop partnerships that empower or fund the successful programs of both religious and secular nonprofit organizations in ways that do not violate the First Amendment. We believe the “charitable choice” provision in the 1996 law should be maintained, with several changes. 

1. Religious organizations seeking government funding should be required to establish a separate tax-exempt non-profit organization.  In the five years since the passage of the original charitable choice legislation, Call to Renewal has advised religious organizations considering applying for government funding that it would be prudent for them to form a separate organization. We urge this provision be added in the final version of the reauthorization legislation.

2. Protect the integrity of religious organizations and the religious freedom of individuals receiving assistance.  Debate in Congress on the President’s faith-based initiative led to suggested changes in the 1996 provision that should be adopted here.  Individuals seeking assistance must have clear access to alternative religious or non-religious programs.  Programs freely chosen by individuals using vouchers can include religious activities, while any religious activities in directly funded programs must be separately funded and voluntary.  Social services and religious activities must be kept separate, so that public funding is for public purposes.

In closing, in addition to TANF, we also urge Congress to support working families by:

1. Expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit.  The EITC has been one of the most effective poverty-reduction programs in history by reducing taxes for low-income workers.  Expanding the EITC to provide tax relief for additional low-income families and increasing the maximum credit a family can receive would assist additional families to continue moving from poverty to self-sufficiency. 

2. Strengthening unemployment insurance.  The combined effects of September 11 and a recession have led to the highest unemployment rate in five years.  Unemployment assistance should be strengthened to provide benefits to unemployed workers who are looking for part-time work but who meet all other current eligibility standards, and basing eligibility on the most recent work experience of the unemployed person. 

Reducing poverty and promoting individual responsibility for all our people are biblically rooted and morally compelling goals.  We urge the Committee to approach the issue of TANF reauthorization with that clarity of purpose.  We look forward to a continuing dialogue with you, and stand ready to assist in whatever ways we can.  I can be reached at 328-8745, ext. 218 or at nwilson@calltorenewal.com