I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 4126
To offer States a national welfare reform option and incentives to implement
the welfare reform option, to strengthen child support enforcement, to
provide all States with the flexibility and resources necessary to promote
work and self-sufficiency, to expand access to affordable child care,
and for other purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 24, 1994
Mrs. LOWEY (for herself, Mr. LEWIS of Georgia, Mr. FROST, Mr. PARKER,
Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas, and Mr. FALEOMAVAEGA) introduced the fol-
lowing bill; which was referred jointly to the Committees on Ways and
Means and Education and Labor
A BILL
To offer States a national welfare reform option and incen-
tives to implement the welfare reform option, to strength-
en child support enforcement, to provide all States with
the flexibility and resources necessary to promote work
and self-sufficiency, to expand access to affordable child
care, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Work-First Welfare
Reform Act of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) FINDINGS.—The Congress finds that—
(1) in 1991, fewer than 8 percent of households
receiving assistance under the program of aid to
families with dependent children (AFDC) included a
wage earner;
(2) half of all AFDC recipients leave welfare as
a result of finding employment, but many return to
welfare because of an inability to retain employment
or child care arrangements;
(3) expanded access to affordable child care is
essential if parents receiving AFDC are to increase
their participation in work, job search, education
and training, and other activities aimed at attaining
self-sufficiency;
(4) lack of affordable health insurance in many
low-wage jobs is a major barrier for AFDC recipi-
ents who are trying to leave welfare for work;
(5) more vigorous efforts to establish paternity
and tougher child support enforcement will be essen-
tial to the success of welfare reform;
(6) AFDC recipients should have the same fi-
nancial incentives to work that other Americans
enjoy;
(7) AFDC rules which dramatically reduce ben-
efits for recipients who work are a major work dis-
incentive for AFDC recipients;
(8) welfare programs should be based on a re-
ciprocal obligation, under which recipients must take
steps toward independence and the Federal Govern-
ment and the States must provide services to assist
that transition;
(9) the Family Support Act of 1988 contained
landmark changes in Federal welfare policy designed
to make AFDC a transitional route to work, rather
than a long term alternative to work;
(10) despite a number of important exceptions,
implementation of welfare-to-work programs under
the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training
(JOBS) program, thus far, has not transformed the
basic message and administrative practice of welfare
from cash assistance to work promotion;
(11) barriers to effective implementation of the
JOBS program include—
(A) insufficient resources necessary for
States and localities to support effective pro-
grams that involve all mandatory participants
in the JOBS program;
(B) excessive caseload burdens and inad-
equate automated systems that prevent JOBS
program staff from properly monitoring and re-
porting on participation and providing essential
case management and job development services;
(C) inadequate linkages between JOBS
program staff and welfare eligibility workers;
(D) insufficient emphasis on work pro-
motion and on the enforcement of work and
education requirements; and
(E) insufficient interaction by JOBS pro-
gram workers with private sector employers;
(12) effective implementation of the JOBS pro-
gram, or another program similar in its goals and
scope, is crucial to any attempt to implement more
far-reaching welfare reform proposals, especially ini-
tiatives involving time limits on AFDC cash assist-
ance and subsidized work; and
(13) welfare-to-work policies must build on suc-
cessful, rigorously evaluated approaches to imple-
menting the JOBS program, and encourage all
States to adopt similar strategies.
(b) PURPOSES.—The purposes of this Act are to—
(1) create a national model for welfare reform
that would require States which elect to pursue this
approach to fundamentally reorient their welfare
programs toward getting all AFDC applicants and
recipients who are capable of working to work;
(2) help ensure the most effective use of the
Nation’s investments in welfare-to-work programs;
(3) provide enhanced Federal support and ad-
ministrative flexibility to States in order to enable
them to increase participation in their JOBS pro-
grams and to build the capacity to provide inte-
grated welfare-job development services;
(4) make a series of policy changes, applicable
to all States, which are designed to reward work and
reduce welfare dependency; and
(5) establish a national child support enforce-
ment registry which would serve as an information
clearinghouse for all child support orders in order to
facilitate enforcement, especially in interstate cases.
SEC. 3. TABLE OF CONTENTS.
The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title.
Sec. 2. Findings and purposes.
Sec. 3. Table of contents.
TITLE I—STATE WELFARE REFORM OPTION
Sec. 101. Welfare reform plan.
TITLE II—INCENTIVES FOR STATE PARTICIPATION IN WELFARE
REFORM
Sec. 201. Increased funding for the State JOBS program.
Sec. 202. Authority to adjust individual AFDC benefits quarterly.
Sec. 203. Grants to support welfare reform.