IB 

Union Calendar No. 478 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5169 

[Report No. 114–615, Part I] 

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

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 6, 2016 

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 

JUNE 10, 2016 

Reported from the Committee on Ways and Means with an amendment 

[Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the part printed in italic] 

JUNE 10, 2016 

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform discharged; committed 

to the Committee of the Whole House on the State of the Union and ordered to be printed 

[For text of introduced bill, see copy of bill as introduced on May 6, 2016] 


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•HR 5169 RH

A BILL 

To strengthen welfare research and evaluation, and for other 

purposes. 


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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’’. 

6 SEC. 2. STRENGTHENING WELFARE RESEARCH AND EVAL7 UATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF A WHAT 

8 WORKS CLEARINGHOUSE. 

9 Section 413 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 613) 

10 is amended to read as follows: 

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

12 NEEDY FAMILIES AND RELATED PROGRAMS. 

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

14 Secretary shall conduct research on the effect of State pro15 grams funded under this part and any other State program 

16 funded with qualified State expenditures (as defined in sec17 tion 409(a)(7)(B)(i)) on employment, self-sufficiency, child 

18 well-being, unmarried births, marriage, poverty, economic 

19 mobility, and other factors as determined by the Secretary. 

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

21 WELL-BEING BY PROMOTING HEALTHY MARRIAGE AND RE22 SPONSIBLE FATHERHOOD.—The Secretary shall conduct re23 search to determine the effects of the grants made under sec24 tion 403(a)(2) on child well-being, marriage, family staVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:50 Jun 10, 2016 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6203 E:\BILLS\H5169.RH H5169

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1 bility, economic mobility, poverty, and other factors as de2 termined by the Secretary. 

3 ‘‘(c) DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION.—The Sec4 retary shall, in consultation with States receiving funds 

5 provided under this part, develop methods of disseminating 

6 information on any research, evaluation, or study con7 ducted under this section, including facilitating the sharing 

8 of information and best practices among States and local9 ities. 

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

11 be eligible to receive funding to evaluate the State program 

12 funded under this part or any other State program funded 

13 with qualified State expenditures (as defined in section 

14 409(a)(7)(B)(i)) if— 

15 ‘‘(1) the State submits to the Secretary a descrip16 tion of the proposed evaluation; 

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

18 and approach of the proposed evaluation is rigorous 

19 and is likely to yield information that is credible and 

20 will be useful to other States; and 

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

22 contributes to the cost of the evaluation, from non23 Federal sources, an amount equal to at least 25 per24 cent of the cost of the proposed evaluation. 

25 ‘‘(e) CENSUS BUREAU RESEARCH.— 


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

2 or enhance household surveys of program participa3 tion, in consultation with the Secretary and the 

4 Burueau of Labor Statistics and made available to 

5 interested parties, to allow for the assessment of the 

6 outcomes of continued welfare reform on the economic 

7 and child well-being of low-income families with chil8 dren, including those who received assistance or serv9 ices from a State program funded under this part or 

10 any other State program funded with qualified State 

11 expenditures (as defined in section 409(a)(7)(B)(i)). 

12 The content of the surveys should include such infor13 mation as may be necessary to examine the issues of 

14 unmarried childbearing, marriage, welfare depend15 ency and compliance with work requirements, the be16 ginning and ending of spells of assistance, work, 

17 earnings and employment stability, and the well18 being of children. 

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

20 paragraph (1), the Bureau of the Census, the Sec21 retary, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics shall con22 sider ways to improve the surveys and data derived 

23 from the surveys to— 


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1 ‘‘(A) address underreporting of the receipt 

2 of means-tested benefits and tax benefits for low3 income individuals and families; 

4 ‘‘(B) increase understanding of poverty 

5 spells and long-term poverty, including by facili6 tating the matching of information to better un7 derstand intergenerational poverty; 

8 ‘‘(C) generate a better geographical under9 standing of poverty such as through State-based 

10 estimates and measures of neighborhood poverty; 

11 ‘‘(D) increase understanding of the effects of 

12 means-tested benefits and tax benefits on the 

13 earnings of low-income families; and 

14 ‘‘(E) improve how poverty and economic 

15 well-being are measured, including through the 

16 use of consumption measures. 

17 ‘‘(f) RESEARCH AND EVALUATION CONDUCTED UNDER

18 THIS SECTION.—Research and evaluation conducted under 

19 this section designed to determine the effects of a program 

20 or policy (other than research conducted under subsection 

21 (e)) shall use experimental designs using random assign22 ment or other reliable, evidence-based research methodolo23 gies that allow for the strongest possible causal inferences 

24 when random assignment is not feasible. 


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1 ‘‘(g) DEVELOPMENT OF WHAT WORKS CLEARING2 HOUSE OF PROVEN AND PROMISING APPROACHES TO MOVE

3 WELFARE RECIPIENTS INTO WORK.— 

4 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in consulta5 tion with the Secretary of Labor, shall develop a 

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

7 Works Clearinghouse of Proven and Promising 

8 Projects to Move Welfare Recipients into Work’) of the 

9 projects that used a proven approach or a promising 

10 approach in moving welfare recipients into work, 

11 based on independent, rigorous evaluations of the 

12 projects. The database shall include a separate listing 

13 of projects that used a developmental approach in de14 livering services and a further separate listing of the 

15 projects with no or negative effects. The Secretary 

16 shall add to the What Works Clearinghouse of Proven 

17 and Promising Projects to Move Welfare Recipients 

18 into Work data about the projects that, based on an 

19 independent, well-conducted experimental evaluation 

20 of a program or project, using random assignment or 

21 other research methodologies that allow for the strong22 est possible causal inferences, have shown they are 

23 proven, promising, developmental, or ineffective ap24 proaches. 


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1 ‘‘(2) CRITERIA FOR EVIDENCE OF EFFECTIVE2 NESS OF APPROACH.—The Secretary, in consultation 

3 with the Secretary of Labor and organizations with 

4 experience in evaluating research on the effectiveness 

5 of various approaches in delivering services to move 

6 welfare recipients into work, shall— 

7 ‘‘(A) establish criteria for evidence of effec8 tiveness; and 

9 ‘‘(B) ensure that the process for establishing 

10 the criteria— 

11 ‘‘(i) is transparent; 

12 ‘‘(ii) is consistent across agencies; 

13 ‘‘(iii) provides opportunity for public 

14 comment; and 

15 ‘‘(iv) takes into account efforts of Fed16 eral agencies to identify and publicize effec17 tive interventions, including efforts at the 

18 Department of Health and Human Services, 

19 the Department of Education, and the De20 partment of Justice. 

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

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

23 means a process, product, strategy, or practice 

24 that is— 


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1 ‘‘(i) research-based, based on the results 

2 of 1 or more empirical studies, and linked 

3 to program-determined outcomes; and 

4 ‘‘(ii) evaluated using rigorous research 

5 designs. 

6 ‘‘(B) PROVEN APPROACH.—The term ‘prov7 en approach’ means an approach that— 

8 ‘‘(i) meets the requirements of a prom9 ising approach; and 

10 ‘‘(ii) has demonstrated significant 

11 positive outcomes at more than 1 site in 

12 terms of increasing work and earnings of 

13 participants, reducing poverty and depend14 ence, or strengthening families. 

15 ‘‘(C) PROMISING APPROACH.—The term 

16 ‘promising approach’ means an approach— 

17 ‘‘(i) that meets the requirements of sub18 paragraph (D)(i); 

19 ‘‘(ii) that has been evaluated using 

20 well-designed and rigorous randomized con21 trolled or quasi-experimental research de22 signs; 

23 ‘‘(iii) that has demonstrated signifi24 cant positive outcomes at only 1 site in 

25 terms of increasing work and earnings of 


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1 participants, reducing poverty and depend2 ence, or strengthening families; and 

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

4 positive outcomes have exceeded the costs of 

5 achieving the outcomes. 

6 ‘‘(D) DEVELOPMENTAL APPROACH.—The 

7 term ‘developmental approach’ means an ap8 proach that— 

9 ‘‘(i) is research-based, grounded in rel10 evant empirically-based knowledge, and 

11 linked to program-determined outcomes; 

12 ‘‘(ii) is evaluated using rigorous re13 search designs; and 

14 ‘‘(iii) has yet to demonstrate a signifi15 cant positive outcome in terms of increasing 

16 work and earnings of participants in a 

17 cost-effective way.’’. 

18 SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

19 The amendment made by this Act shall take effect on 

20 October 1, 2016. 


sradovich on DSK3TPTVN1PROD with BILLS

sradovich on DSK3TPTVN1PROD with BILLS
Union Calendar No. 478 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5169 

[Report No. 114–615, Part I] 

A BILL 

To strengthen welfare research and evaluation, and 

for other purposes. 

JUNE 10, 2016 

Reported from the Committee on Ways and Means with 

J

an amendment 

UNE 10, 2016 

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform 

printed House on the State of the Union and ordered to be discharged; committed to the Committee of the Whole 


sradovich on DSK3TPTVN1PROD with BILLS