August 21, 2006
Oppose the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Interim Final Rule This Week: Work Rules Would Limit Some Family Benefits!
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has published an “interim final rule” defining what activities states can count as work participation under TANF. The rules respond to a congressional directive enacted by the Deficit Reduction Act signed into law in February 2006 instructing HHS to create a uniform definition for permissible work activities (see NASW’s analysis of the DRA at http://www.socialworkers.org/advocacy/updates/2006/040606.asp).
Since the TANF program was first created in 1996, states have been allowed to define work activities for themselves. The new rule defines 12 types of work activities identified in the TANF statute, such as job search, on-the-job training, community services, and vocational educational training.
A 2005 Government Accountability Office study found that states defined work in varying ways. For example, some counted substance abuse treatment as work while others held that caring for a disabled relative would count toward work requirements. The interim final rule includes substance abuse in the work definitions but not caring for a disabled relative.
With an emphasis on measurement and record-keeping, the announcement of the interim final rule observes that “the flexibility we initially allowed states to define work activities results in inconsistent work measurement… We are defining each of the allowable work activities to promote consistency in the measurement of work participation rates.”
The rule includes in the definitions of “job search and job readiness” not only training for seeking or applying for work, including life skills training, but also substance abuse treatment, mental health treatment, or rehabilitation services “for those who are otherwise employable … to help such individuals make the transition from welfare to work.” HHS asks for comments on this approach to its definition of job readiness assistance which the rule explains is to ensure that “states can meet the needs of all individuals in their caseloads struggling to escape welfare dependency.”
NASW co-signed a letter with the National Child Abuse Coalition urging HHS Secretary Michael Leavitt to include rehabilitation services and caring for disabled family members in the “work activities definition.”
Action Needed:
Please write comments to (HHS) urging them to modify the interim final rule for the TANF law. These are the main problems we hope you will address:
- HHS has drafted rules that will make it harder for states to count education, English as a second language, rehabilitation, or other activities that help parents overcome barriers to stable jobs with decent pay.
- The rules fail to give states room to design programs appropriate to parents with disabilities, or to prevent loss of benefits when a parent provides care to a child with disabilities.
- The regulations impose overly rigid monitoring of activities that will almost certainly lead some states to burden families with onerous reporting requirements.
- Frequent demands for proof of participation subject families to loss of assistance.
To Send Comments: Comments may be sent to HHS on or before August 28, electronically at http://www.regulations.acf.hhs.gov, by mailing them to Mr. Robert Shelbourne, Office of Family Assistance (OFA), Administration for Children and Families, 5th Floor East, 370 L’Enfant Promenade, SW, Washington, DC 20447, or by hand delivery to OFA/ACF, 5th Floor East, 901 D Street, SW, Washington, DC.
Additional Resources
Please use the helpful resources provided below to put comments in your own words.
Thank you for your advocacy!
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