I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2126 

To strengthen welfare research and evaluation, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 25, 2017 

Mr. BUCHANAN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To strengthen welfare research and evaluation, and for other 

purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘What Works to Move 

5 Welfare Recipients into Jobs Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. STRENGTHENING WELFARE RESEARCH AND EVAL2 UATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF A WHAT 

3 WORKS CLEARINGHOUSE. 

4 Section 413 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

5 613) is amended to read as follows: 

6 ‘‘SEC. 413. EVALUATION OF TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR 

7 NEEDY FAMILIES AND RELATED PROGRAMS. 

8 ‘‘(a) EVALUATION OF THE IMPACTS OF TANF.—The 

9 Secretary shall conduct research on the effect of State pro10 grams funded under this part and any other State pro11 gram funded with qualified State expenditures (as defined 

12 in section 409(a)(7)(B)(i)) on employment, self-suffi13 ciency, child well-being, unmarried births, marriage, pov14 erty, economic mobility, and other factors as determined 

15 by the Secretary. 

16 ‘‘(b) EVALUATION OF GRANTS TO IMPROVE CHILD

17 WELL-BEING BY PROMOTING HEALTHY MARRIAGE AND

18 RESPONSIBLE FATHERHOOD.—The Secretary shall con19 duct research to determine the effects of the grants made 

20 under section 403(a)(2) on child well-being, marriage, 

21 family stability, economic mobility, poverty, and other fac22 tors as determined by the Secretary. 

23 ‘‘(c) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—The Sec24 retary shall, in consultation with States receiving funds 

25 provided under this part, develop methods of dissemi26 nating information on any research, evaluation, or study 


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1 conducted under this section, including facilitating the 

2 sharing of information and best practices among States 

3 and localities. 

4 ‘‘(d) STATE-INITIATED EVALUATIONS.—A State 

5 shall be eligible to receive funding to evaluate the State 

6 program funded under this part or any other State pro7 gram funded with qualified State expenditures (as defined 

8 in section 409(a)(7)(B)(i)) if— 

9 ‘‘(1) the State submits to the Secretary a de10 scription of the proposed evaluation; 

11 ‘‘(2) the Secretary determines that the design 

12 and approach of the proposed evaluation is rigorous 

13 and is likely to yield information that is credible and 

14 will be useful to other States; and 

15 ‘‘(3) unless waived by the Secretary, the State 

16 contributes to the cost of the evaluation, from non17 Federal sources, an amount equal to at least 25 per18 cent of the cost of the proposed evaluation. 

19 ‘‘(e) CENSUS BUREAU RESEARCH.— 

20 ‘‘(1) The Bureau of the Census shall implement 

21 or enhance household surveys of program participa22 tion, in consultation with the Secretary and the Bu23 reau of Labor Statistics and make available to inter24 ested parties, to allow for the assessment of the out25 comes of continued welfare reform on the economic 


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1 and child well-being of low-income families with chil2 dren, including those who received assistance or 

3 services from a State program funded under this 

4 part or any other State program funded with quali5 fied State expenditures (as defined in section 

6 409(a)(7)(B)(i)). The content of the surveys should 

7 include such information as may be necessary to ex8 amine the issues of unmarried childbearing, mar9 riage, welfare dependency and compliance with work 

10 requirements, the beginning and ending of spells of 

11 assistance, work, earnings and employment stability, 

12 and the well-being of children. 

13 ‘‘(2) To carry out the activities specified in 

14 paragraph (1), the Bureau of the Census, the Sec15 retary, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics shall con16 sider ways to improve the surveys and data derived 

17 from the surveys to— 

18 ‘‘(A) address underreporting of the receipt 

19 of means-tested benefits and tax benefits for 

20 low-income individuals and families; 

21 ‘‘(B) increase understanding of poverty 

22 spells and long-term poverty, including by facili23 tating the matching of information to better un24 derstand intergenerational poverty; 


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1 ‘‘(C) generate a better geographical under2 standing of poverty such as through State3 based estimates and measures of neighborhood 

4 poverty; 

5 ‘‘(D) increase understanding of the effects 

6 of means-tested benefits and tax benefits on the 

7 earnings of low-income families; and 

8 ‘‘(E) improve how poverty and economic 

9 well-being are measured, including through the 

10 use of consumption measures. 

11 ‘‘(f) RESEARCH AND EVALUATION CONDUCTED

12 UNDER THIS SECTION.—Research and evaluation con13 ducted under this section designed to determine the effects 

14 of a program or policy (other than research conducted 

15 under subsection (e)) shall use experimental designs using 

16 random assignment or other reliable, evidence-based re17 search methodologies that allow for the strongest possible 

18 causal inferences when random assignment is not feasible. 

19 ‘‘(g) DEVELOPMENT OF WHAT WORKS CLEARING20 HOUSE OF PROVEN AND PROMISING APPROACHES TO

21 MOVE WELFARE RECIPIENTS INTO WORK.— 

22 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta23 tion with the Secretary of Labor, shall develop a 

24 database (which shall be referred to as the ‘What 

25 Works Clearinghouse of Proven and Promising 


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1 Projects to Move Welfare Recipients into Work’) of 

2 the projects that used a proven approach or a prom3 ising approach in moving welfare recipients into 

4 work, based on independent, rigorous evaluations of 

5 the projects. The database shall include a separate 

6 listing of projects that used a developmental ap7 proach in delivering services and a further separate 

8 listing of the projects with no or negative effects. 

9 The Secretary shall add to the What Works Clear10 inghouse of Proven and Promising Projects to Move 

11 Welfare Recipients into Work data about the 

12 projects that, based on an independent, well-con13 ducted experimental evaluation of a program or 

14 project, using random assignment or other research 

15 methodologies that allow for the strongest possible 

16 causal inferences, have shown they are proven, 

17 promising, developmental, or ineffective approaches. 

18 ‘‘(2) CRITERIA FOR EVIDENCE OF EFFECTIVE19 NESS OF APPROACH.—The Secretary, in consultation 

20 with the Secretary of Labor and organizations with 

21 experience in evaluating research on the effective22 ness of various approaches in delivering services to 

23 move welfare recipients into work, shall— 

24 ‘‘(A) establish criteria for evidence of effec25 tiveness; and 


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1 ‘‘(B) ensure that the process for estab2 lishing the criteria— 

3 ‘‘(i) is transparent; 

4 ‘‘(ii) is consistent across agencies; 

5 ‘‘(iii) provides opportunity for public 

6 comment; and 

7 ‘‘(iv) takes into account efforts of 

8 Federal agencies to identify and publicize 

9 effective interventions, including efforts at 

10 the Department of Health and Human 

11 Services, the Department of Education, 

12 and the Department of Justice. 

13 ‘‘(3) DEFINITIONS.—In this subsection: 

14 ‘‘(A) APPROACH.—The term ‘approach’ 

15 means a process, product, strategy, or practice 

16 that is— 

17 ‘‘(i) research-based, based on the re18 sults of one or more empirical studies, and 

19 linked to program-determined outcomes; 

20 and 

21 ‘‘(ii) evaluated using rigorous research 

22 designs. 

23 ‘‘(B) PROVEN APPROACH.—The term 

24 ‘proven approach’ means an approach that— 


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1 ‘‘(i) meets the requirements of a 

2 promising approach; and 

3 ‘‘(ii) has demonstrated significant 

4 positive outcomes at more than 1 site in 

5 terms of increasing work and earnings of 

6 participants, reducing poverty and depend7 ence, or strengthening families. 

8 ‘‘(C) PROMISING APPROACH.—The term 

9 ‘promising approach’ means an approach— 

10 ‘‘(i) that meets the requirements of 

11 subparagraph (D)(i); 

12 ‘‘(ii) that has been evaluated using 

13 well-designed and rigorous randomized 

14 controlled or quasi-experimental research 

15 designs; 

16 ‘‘(iii) that has demonstrated signifi17 cant positive outcomes at only 1 site in 

18 terms of increasing work and earnings of 

19 participants, reducing poverty and depend20 ence, or strengthening families; and 

21 ‘‘(iv) under which the benefits of the 

22 positive outcomes have exceeded the costs 

23 of achieving the outcomes. 


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1 ‘‘(D) DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH.—The 

2 term ‘developmental approach’ means an ap3 proach that— 

4 ‘‘(i) is research-based, grounded in 

5 relevant empirically based knowledge, and 

6 linked to program-determined outcomes; 

7 ‘‘(ii) is evaluated using rigorous re8 search designs; and 

9 ‘‘(iii) has yet to demonstrate a signifi10 cant positive outcome in terms of increas11 ing work and earnings of participants in a 

12 cost-effective way.’’. 

13 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

14 The amendment made by this Act shall take effect 

15 on October 1, 2017. 

Æ 


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