CHICAGO (ELCA) -- A June 11 letter to finance committee members of the U.S. Senate listed 14 points the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) supports in legislation Congress is considering now that would reauthorize Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grants. The letter also raised a few related issues the Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs (LOGA) said "should be addressed."
LOGA is the ELCA's federal public policy advocacy office in Washington, D.C. The Rev. Russell O. Siler, LOGA's director, and Kay A. Bengston, assistant director for (domestic) public policy advocacy, signed the letter.
The letter cited results of a survey of ELCA state advocacy directors, Lutheran service agency directors, pastors and congregational leaders located in the District of Columbia and 35 states. The comments in the letter were based on information gathered in the survey, as well as on ELCA policies and the church's "work with poor and vulnerable populations," it said.
"When asked to identify the 'most immediate' or 'most pressing' needs among current or recent welfare recipients, 89 percent said good quality, affordable child care. Other immediate and pressing needs identified included accessible, flexible transportation, education and job skills training, affordable and transitional housing, and transitional health care and networks of support," said the letter.
The Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 provided states with TANF block grants to end the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work and marriage, and to encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.
The survey asked what changes in the act would make TANF programs more effective. Seventy-four percent of the responses answered: "support for education and job training programs."
Items LOGA favored in TANF reauthorization legislation included "increasing access to education and training for welfare parents by allowing vocational education to count as a work activity for 24 months," maintaining the current 30-hour work requirement and deeming "mothers with children under 6 who are engaged in 20 hours of approved work activity as meeting the full work requirement," and strengthening families by "eliminating the separate two-parent family participation rates."
LOGA commended the legislation for "rewarding states for getting people into higher-paying jobs and providing work support services" and for "allowing states to pass-through child support directly to families currently or formerly on TANF without repaying the Federal government its share of the collections it allows to be passed through." The letter applauded the legislation for supporting teen pregnancy prevention programs and transitional medical assistance.
While praising the legislation for restoring the Social Services Block Grant to its full funding level of $2.8 billion and for increasing funding for child care, LOGA called for an increase in the TANF block grant to account for inflation. The letter said, if funding is kept at its current level, "the TANF block grant will have lost approximately 22 percent of its original value by 2007." It supported a funding increase of $11.25 billion over five years.
LOGA asked Congress to eliminate penalties on people with low-wage jobs. "When a TANF recipient is working but earns so little in wages that she/he qualifies for additional cash subsidies, those subsidies should not count against the lifetime limit," said the letter.
The letter named "positive" Tennessee policies that keep TANF recipients informed of sanctions, exemptions and requirements. It asked Congress to make states describe ways they intend to implement similar safeguards.
S.2052 is the U.S. Senate version of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act Amendments of 2002. The U.S. House of Representatives passed similar legislation (H.R. 4737) in May. -- -- --
The Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs maintains information at http://www.loga.org/ on the Web.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
http://listserv.elca.org/archives/elcanews.html
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About the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America:
The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with 2.8 million members in more than 8,500 worshiping communities across the 50 states and in the Caribbean region. Known as the church of "God's work. Our hands.," the ELCA emphasizes the saving grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ, unity among Christians and service in the world. The ELCA's roots are in the writings of the German church reformer Martin Luther.
For information contact:
Candice Hill Buchbinder
Public Relations Manager
Candice.HillBuchbinder@ELCA.org
