IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 447 
Expressing the sense of the Congress that States should have the flexibility 
to design welfare programs that make sense in their communities with 
an overall goal of helping children and reducing poverty by promoting 
and supporting work. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JULY 13, 2006 
Mr. MCDERMOTT (for himself and Mr. LEVIN) submitted the following con-
current resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and 
Means 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of the Congress that States should 
have the flexibility to design welfare programs that make 
sense in their communities with an overall goal of helping 
children and reducing poverty by promoting and sup-
porting work. 
Whereas the number of children in poverty dropped from 
14,500,000 to 11,600,000 between 1996 and 2000; 
Whereas the percentage of single mothers working increased 
from 63.5 percent in 1996 to nearly 73 percent in 2000; 
Whereas dramatic gains in the collection of child support 
have been achieved since 1996; 
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•HCON 447 IH 
Whereas many States substantially increased their invest-
ments in key work supports such as child care and trans-
portation, making it possible for the parents of poor chil-
dren to go to work; 
Whereas a strong economy in the late 1990s, a significant in-
crease in the Earned Income Tax Credit, and a number 
of new Federal and State welfare policies helped stimu-
late these improvements; 
Whereas a significant portion of this progress has been re-
versed in the last 4 years; 
Whereas over 5,000,000 more Americans fell into poverty 
since 2000, including 1,500,000 children; 
Whereas the percentage of employed single women with chil-
dren declined from nearly 73 percent in 2000 to less than 
69 percent in 2005; 
Whereas as many as half of the parents who left welfare for 
work lacked health insurance a year later, in part be-
cause of problems in the Transitional Medicaid program; 
Whereas the percentage of poor single mothers who report 
they are neither working nor receiving cash welfare in-
creased to 33 percent in 2004, the highest rate on record 
according to an analysis from the Congressional Research 
Service (CRS); 
Whereas, in 2004, children of single mothers in extreme pov-
erty experienced a dwindling benefit from their mothers’ 
income, as that income dropped to its lowest level in at 
least 18 years, reaching only 26.4 percent of the poverty 
threshold; 
Whereas Congress had an opportunity to help restore the 
progress of the late 1990s by continuing the States’ flexi-
bility to design programs to meet local needs but with a 
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•HCON 447 IH 
stronger emphasis on making work pay and reducing pov-
erty as the end goal of welfare reform; 
Whereas federally funded research has demonstrated that 
State programs which focused on moving people to better 
jobs resulted in longer-term employment, more family 
self-sufficiency, and fewer returns to cash assistance; 
Whereas Congress enacted provisions in the Deficit Reduction 
Act of 2006 (DRA) that instead impeded State flexibility 
to pursue many of the strategies that have proved to be 
most effective in generating long-term employment, while 
also increasing the incentive to cut caseloads at the ex-
pense of reducing poverty; 
Whereas provisions in the DRA went so far as to impose 
Federal requirements on programs implemented with only 
State funds, including on programs designed specifically 
to help two-parent families; 
Whereas the Congressional Budget Office has estimated it 
will cost States $8,400,000,000 over 5 years to comply 
with the requirements of the DRA; 
Whereas the value of the grants provided to States under the 
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program will 
have lost 27 percent of their original value by 2010 under 
the DRA; 
Whereas only one-quarter of children eligible for child care 
assistance under State eligibility rules receive any assist-
ance and only one-seventh of those eligible under Federal 
criteria receive such aid; 
Whereas the Congressional Budget Office estimates that it 
will cost $3,500,000,000 over the next 5 years for Fed-
eral child care funding to maintain pace with inflation 
and simply continue the current level of child care serv-
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•HCON 447 IH 
ices, yet the DRA provided less than one-third of that 
amount; and 
Whereas the value of work has been allowed to dangerously 
erode, with the minimum wage now at it lowest level as 
a percentage of poverty on record, not even reaching 70 
percent of the poverty threshold for full-time, full-year 
work: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That it is the sense of the Congress that re-
warding hard work and helping families and children es-
cape poverty is a vital national interest, and that the Fed-
eral Government should provide States with sufficient 
guidance, flexibility, encouragement, and resources to pur-
sue this goal through their welfare programs. 
Æ 
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