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Committee on Ways & Means FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Welfare Caseloads Continue to Decline Due to Reform, Says Herger WASHINGTON – Today there are 2.3 million fewer families including 6.8 million fewer individuals on welfare than in August 1996 when the national welfare reform law was enacted -- a 57 percent decline – according to data released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Wally Herger, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee, welcomed the news today stating, "Low-income parents are now supporting their children with paychecks instead of welfare checks. Welfare reform has made this tremendously positive change possible. Today’s news reinforces this fact -- parents are leaving welfare and going to work in record numbers." Herger also noted that the continued national caseload decline occurred even as unemployment rates have risen in recent months. According to the Department of Labor, unemployment rose from 3.9 percent in September 2000 to 4.3 percent in March 2001, the period covered by the most recent caseload statistics. These two facts – (1) continued caseload declines as families leave welfare primarily due to increased earnings from work, and (2) unemployment rate increases -- support the argument that welfare reform is largely responsible for the recent dramatic caseload declines. As former Congressional Budget Office Director June O'Neill found in a recent report, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) "is the most important single factor accounting for the decline in welfare and rise in work…. TANF accounts for half of the decline in welfare participation and more than 60 percent of the rise in employment." ("Gaining Ground? Measuring the Impact of Welfare Reform on Welfare and Work", Manhattan Institute, July 2001). |