As you well know, welfare caseloads have plummeted by half since 1996, and the majority of adults who are now off the welfare rolls have gone to work. More than 20,000 employers have answered our challenge and committed to hire and retain former welfare recipients. We are pleased to be at the forefront of this quiet social revolution. The Partnership takes great pride in the progress our employers have made. Still, we are quick to acknowledge that the job of ending a failed welfare system is far from complete.
Important challenges lie ahead.
We also know that too many individuals who have left the rolls eventually return. To move the agenda forward in pursuit of that goal, we offer a series of policy recommendations to you and your colleagues in Congress. When Congress revisits the 1996 law, it should not reduce TANF block grant funding despite large declines in welfare cases. States, for their part, should move expeditiously to spend their TANF allocations on services most vital to welfare recipients and to all low-wage workers. Any effort by states to use TANF money for other purposes should be strongly discouraged.