Contact: HHS Press Office (202) 690-6343
On August 22, President Clinton signed into law "The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-193)," a comprehensive bipartisan welfare reform plan that will dramatically change the nation's welfare system into one that requires work in exchange for time-limited assistance. The law contains strong work requirements, a performance bonus to reward states for moving welfare recipients into jobs, state maintenance of effort requirements, comprehensive child support enforcement, and supports for families moving from welfare to work -- including increased funding for child care and guaranteed medical coverage.
Highlights of "The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996" follow.
"Making Welfare a Transistion to Work
o Work requirements.
Under the new law, recipients must work after two years on assistance, with few exceptions. Twenty-five percent of all families in each state must be engaged in work activities or have left the rolls in fiscal year (FY) 1997, rising to 50 percent in FY 2002. Single parents must participate for at least 20 hours per week the first year, increasing to at least 30 hours per week by FY 2000. Two-parent families must work 35 hours per week by July 1, 1997.
o Supports for families transitioning into jobs.
The new welfare law provides $14 billion in child care funding over six years -- an increase of $3.5 billion over current law -- to help more mothers move into jobs. The new law also guarantees that women on welfare continue to receive health coverage for their families, including at least one year of transitional Medicaid when they leave welfare for work.
o Work Activities.
To count toward state work requirements, recipients will be required to participate in unsubsidized or subsidized employment, on-the-job training, work experience, community service, 12 months of vocational training, or provide child care services to individuals who are participating in community service. Up to 6 weeks of job search (no more than 4 consecutive weeks) would count toward the work requirement. However, no more than 20 percent of each state's caseload may count toward the work requirement solely by participating in vocational training or by being a teen parent in secondary school. Single parents with a child under 6 who cannot find child care cannot be penalized for failure to meet the work requirements. States can exempt from the work requirement single parents with children under age one and disregard these individuals in the calculation of participation rates for up to 12 months.
o A five-year time limit.
Families who have received assistance for five cumulative years (or less at state option) will be ineligible for cash aid under the new welfare law. States will be permitted to exempt up to 20 percent of their caseload from the time limit, and states will have the option to provide non-cash assistance and vouchers to families that reach the time limit using Social Services Block Grant or state funds.
o Personal employability plans.
Under the new plan, states are required to make an initial assessment of recipients' skills. States can also develop personal responsibility plans for recipients identifying the education, training, and job placement services needed to move into the workforce.
o State maintenance of effort requirements.
The new welfare law requires states to maintain their own spending on welfare at at least 80 percent of FY 1994 levels. States must also maintain spending at 100 percent of FY 1994 levels to access a $2 billion contingency fund designed to assist states affected by high population growth or economic downturn. In addition, states must maintain 100 percent of FY 1994 or FY 1995 spending on child care (whichever is greater) to access additional child care funds beyond their initial allotment.
o Job subsidies.
The law also allows states to create jobs by taking money now used for welfare checks and using it to create community service jobs or to provide income subsidies or hiring incentives for potential employers.
o Performance bonus to reward work.
$1 billion will be available between FYs 1999-2003 for performance bonuses to reward states for moving welfare recipients into jobs. The Secretary of HHS, in consultation with the National Governors' Association (NGA) and American Public Welfare Association (APWA), will develop criteria for measuring state performance.
o State flexibility.
Under the new law, states which receive approval for welfare reform waivers before July 1, 1997 have the option to operate their cash assistance program under some or all of these waivers. For states electing this option, some provisions of the new law which are inconsistent with the waivers would not take effect until the expiration of the applicable waivers in the geographical areas covered by the waivers.
Promoting Responsibility
Comprehensive child support enforcement.
The new law includes the child support enforcement measures President Clinton proposed in 1994 -- the most sweeping crackdown on non-paying parents in history. These measures could increase child support collections by $24 billion and reduce federal welfare costs by $4 billion over 10 years. Under the new law, each state must operate a child support enforcement program meeting federal requirements in order to be eligible for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grants. Provisions include:
o National new hire reporting system.
The law establishes a Federal Case Registry and National Directory of New Hires to track delinquent parents across state lines. It also requires that employers report all new hires to state agencies for transmittal of new hire information to the National Directory of New Hires. This builds on President Clinton's June 1996 executive action to track delinquent parents across state lines. The law also expands and streamlines procedures for direct withholding of child support from wages.
o Streamlined paternity establishment.
The new law streamlines the legal process for paternity establishment, making it easier and faster to establish paternities. It also expands the voluntary in-hospital paternity establishment program, started by the Clinton Administration in 1993, and requires a state form for voluntary paternity acknowledgment. In addition, the law mandates that states publicize the availability and encourage the use of voluntary paternity establishment processes. Individuals who fail to cooperate with paternity establishment will have their monthly cash assistance reduced by at least 25 percent.
o Uniform interstate child support laws.
The new law provides for uniform rules, procedures, and forms for interstate cases.
o Computerized state-wide collections.
The new law requires states to establish central registries of child support orders and centralized collection and disbursement units. It also requires expedited state procedures for child support enforcement.
o Tough new penalties.
Under the new law, states can implement tough child support enforcement techniques. The new law will expand wage garnishment, allow states to seize assets, allows states to require community service in some cases, and enable states to revoke drivers and professional licenses for parents who owe delinquent child support.
o "Families First."
Under a new "Family First" policy, families no longer receiving assistance will have priority in the distribution of child support arrears. This new policy will bring families who have left welfare for work about $1 billion in support over the first six years.
o Access and visitation programs.
In an effort to increase noncustodial parents' involvement in their children's lives, the new law includes grants to help states establish programs that support and facilitate noncustodial parents' visitation with and access to their children.
Teen Parent Provisions
o Live at home and stay in school requirements.
Under the new law, unmarried minor parents will be required to live with a responsible adult or in an adult-supervised setting and participate in educational and training activities in order to receive assistance. States will be responsible for locating or assisting in locating adult-supervised settings for teens.
o Teen Pregnancy Prevention.
Starting in FY 1998, $50 million a year in mandatory funds would be added to the appropriations of the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Block Grant for abstinence education. In addition, the Secretary of HHS will establish and implement a strategy to (1) prevent non-marital teen births, and (2) assure that at least 25 percent of communities have teen pregnancy prevention programs. No later than January 1, 1997, the Attorney General will establish a program that studies the linkage between statutory rape and teen pregnancy, and that educates law enforcement officials on the prevention and prosecution of statutory rape.
Improvements Over the Vetoed Bill
President Clinton vetoed the previous welfare reform bill (H.R. 4) submitted by Congress because it did too little to move people into jobs and failed to provide the supports -- like child care and health care -- that families need to move from welfare to work. "The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996" includes several improvements over the vetoed bill, including:
o Guaranteed medical coverage.
The new law preserves the national guarantee of health care for poor children, the disabled, pregnant women, the elderly, and people on welfare. H.R. 4 would have ended the guarantee of Medicaid coverage for cash assistance recipients.
o Increased child care funding and mandatory child care maintenance of effort.
The new law provides $14 billion in child care funding -- an increase of $3.5 billion over 6 years -- allowing more mothers to leave welfare for work. States will receive an initial allotment each year from a fund of approximately $1.2 billion. To access additional funds, states must maintain their own spending at 100 percent of their FY 1994 or 1995 spending on child care (whichever is higher). By contrast, H.R. 4 increased child care funding by just $300 million over current law, and did not require states to meet child care maintenance of effort requirements to access additional federal child care funding, allowing states to lower their own spending.
o Incentives for states to move people into jobs.
The new law includes a $1 billion performance bonus to reward states that meet performance targets. H.R. 4 did not contain a cash performance bonus.
o Preservation of nutrition programs.
H.R. 4 would have given states the option of block granting food stamp benefits. The bill would have also capped federal food stamp program expenditures, limiting maximum benefit increases to 2 percent per year, regardless of growth in need for assistance. The new law maintains the national nutritional safety net by eliminating the block grant option as well as the food stamp cap.
o Current law child protection and adoption.
Unlike H.R. 4, the new plan maintains current law on child protection and adoption, and does not reduce funds for child welfare, child abuse, foster care and adoption services.
o Improved contingency fund.
The new law includes a $2 billion contingency fund to protect states in times of population growth or economic downturn. H.R. 4 included a $1 billion contingency fund.
o Current law child care health and safety standards.
The new law protects children by maintaining health and safety standards for day care. H.R. 4 would have eliminated health and safety protections.
o Protection of disabled children. H.R. 4 would have cut SSI by 25 percent for many disabled children. The new law eliminates this proposed two-tier system.
o Optional family cap.
Under the new law, states have the option to implement a family cap. H.R. 4 required states to deny cash benefits to children born to welfare recipients unless the state legislature explicitly voted to provide benefits.
Necessary Improvements
President Clinton has stated that the new law requires several improvements. Specifically, he has pledged to fix two provisions of the welfare bill which he believes have nothing to do with welfare reform.
o Food Stamps.
According to President Clinton, the new law cuts deeper than it should in Food Stamps, mostly for working families who have high shelter costs.
o Legal Immigrants.
The law includes provisions that would deny most forms of public assistance to most legal immigrants for five years or until they attain citizenship. The President has said that legal immigrants who fall on hard times through no fault of their own and need help should get it, although their sponsors should take additional responsibility for them.
Building on the President's Work To End Welfare as We Know It
Even before Congress passed welfare reform legislation acceptable to President Clinton, states were acting to try new approaches. With encouragement, support, and cooperation from the Clinton Administration, 43 states have moved forward with 78 welfare reform experiments. The Clinton Administration has also required teen mothers to stay in school, required federal employees to pay their child support, and cracked down on people who owe child support and cross state lines. As a result of these efforts and President Clinton's efforts to strengthen the economy, child support collections have increased by nearly 50% to $11.8 billion in FY 1996, and there are 1.9 million fewer people on welfare today than when President Clinton took office. "The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996" will build on these efforts by allowing states flexibility to reform their welfare systems and to build on demonstrations initiated under the Clinton Administration.