I 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 240
To reauthorize and improve the program of block grants to States for tem-
porary assistance for needy families, improve access to quality child 
care, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 4, 2005
Ms. PRYCE of Ohio (for herself, Mr. THOMAS, Mr. BOEHNER, Mr. BARTON 
of Texas, Mr. GOODLATTE, Mr. HERGER, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. BILIRAKIS, 
Mr. DELAY, Mr. SHAW, Mr. CANTOR, Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsylvania, Mr. 
CAMP, Mrs. JOHNSON of Connecticut, Mr. WELLER, Mr. WILSON of 
South Carolina, and Mr. KLINE) introduced the following bill; which was 
referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the 
Committees on Energy and Commerce, Education and the Workforce, 
Agriculture, and Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently deter-
mined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 
as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To reauthorize and improve the program of block grants 
to States for temporary assistance for needy families, 
improve access to quality child care, and for other pur-
poses.
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 ‘‘Personal Responsi-
bility, Work, and Family Promotion Act of 2005’’. 
SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
The table of contents of this Act is as follows:
Sec. 1. Short title. 
Sec. 2. Table of contents. 
Sec. 3. References. 
Sec. 4. Findings. 
TITLE I—TANF 
Sec. 101. Purposes. 
Sec. 102. Family assistance grants. 
Sec. 103. Promotion of family formation and healthy marriage. 
Sec. 104. Supplemental grant for population increases in certain States. 
Sec. 105. Bonus to reward employment achievement. 
Sec. 106. Contingency fund. 
Sec. 107. Use of funds. 
Sec. 108. Repeal of Federal loan for State welfare programs. 
Sec. 109. Universal engagement and family self-sufficiency plan requirements. 
Sec. 110. Work participation requirements. 
Sec. 111. Maintenance of effort. 
Sec. 112. Performance improvement. 
Sec. 113. Data collection and reporting. 
Sec. 114. Direct funding and administration by Indian tribes. 
Sec. 115. Research, evaluations, and national studies. 
Sec. 116. Studies by the Census Bureau and the Government Accountability 
Office. 
Sec. 117. Definition of assistance. 
Sec. 118. Technical corrections. 
Sec. 119. Fatherhood program. 
Sec. 120. State option to make TANF programs mandatory partners with one-
stop employment training centers. 
Sec. 121. Sense of the Congress. 
Sec. 122. Extension through fiscal year 2005. 
TITLE II—CHILD CARE 
Sec. 201. Short title. 
Sec. 202. Goals. 
Sec. 203. Authorization of appropriations. 
Sec. 204. Application and plan. 
Sec. 205. Activities to improve the quality of child care. 
Sec. 206. Report by Secretary. 
Sec. 207. Definitions. 
Sec. 208. Entitlement funding. 
TITLE III—CHILD SUPPORT
Sec. 301. Federal matching funds for limited pass through of child support 
payments to families receiving TANF. 
Sec. 302. State option to pass through all child support payments to families 
that formerly received TANF. 
Sec. 303. Mandatory review and adjustment of child support orders for families 
receiving TANF. 
Sec. 304. Mandatory fee for successful child support collection for family that 
has never received TANF. 
Sec. 305. Report on undistributed child support payments. 
Sec. 306. Decrease in amount of child support arrearage triggering passport 
denial. 
Sec. 307. Use of tax refund intercept program to collect past-due child support 
on behalf of children who are not minors. 
Sec. 308. Garnishment of compensation paid to veterans for service-connected 
disabilities in order to enforce child support obligations. 
Sec. 309. Improving Federal debt collection practices. 
Sec. 310. Maintenance of technical assistance funding. 
Sec. 311. Maintenance of Federal Parent Locator Service funding. 
TITLE IV—CHILD WELFARE 
Sec. 401. Extension of authority to approve demonstration projects. 
Sec. 402. Elimination of limitation on number of waivers. 
Sec. 403. Elimination of limitation on number of States that may be granted 
waivers to conduct demonstration projects on same topic. 
Sec. 404. Elimination of limitation on number of waivers that may be granted 
to a single State for demonstration projects. 
Sec. 405. Streamlined process for consideration of amendments to and exten-
sions of demonstration projects requiring waivers. 
Sec. 406. Availability of reports. 
Sec. 407. Technical correction. 
TITLE V—SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME 
Sec. 501. Review of State agency blindness and disability determinations. 
TITLE VI—STATE AND LOCAL FLEXIBILITY 
Sec. 601. Program coordination demonstration projects. 
Sec. 602. State food assistance block grant demonstration project. 
TITLE VII—ABSTINENCE EDUCATION 
Sec. 701. Extension of abstinence education program. 
TITLE VIII—TRANSITIONAL MEDICAL ASSISTANCE 
Sec. 801. Extension of medicaid transitional medical assistance program 
through fiscal year 2006. 
Sec. 802. Adjustment to payments for medicaid administrative costs to prevent 
duplicative payments and to fund extension of transitional 
medical assistance. 
TITLE IX—EFFECTIVE DATE 
Sec. 901. Effective date.
SEC. 3. REFERENCES. 
Except as otherwise expressly provided, wherever in 
this Act an amendment or repeal is expressed in terms 
of an amendment to, or repeal of, a section or other provi-
sion, the amendment or repeal shall be considered to be 
made to a section or other provision of the Social Security 
Act. 
SEC. 4. FINDINGS. 
The Congress makes the following findings: 
(1) The Temporary Assistance for Needy Fami-
lies (TANF) Program established by the Personal 
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation 
Act of 1996 (Public Law 104–193) has succeeded in 
moving families from welfare to work and reducing 
child poverty. 
(A) There has been a dramatic increase in 
the employment of current and former welfare 
recipients. The percentage of working recipients 
reached an all-time high in fiscal year 1999 and 
continued steady in fiscal years 2000 and 2001. 
In fiscal year 2003, 31.3 percent of adult re-
cipients were counted as meeting the work par-
ticipation requirements. All States but one met 
the overall participation rate standard in fiscal 
year 2003, as did the District of Columbia and 
Puerto Rico.
(B) Earnings for welfare recipients re-
maining on the rolls have also increased signifi-
cantly, as have earnings for female-headed 
households. The increases have been particu-
larly large for the bottom 2 income quintiles, 
that is, those women who are most likely to be 
former or present welfare recipients. 
(C) Welfare dependency has plummeted. 
As of June 2004, 1,969,909 families and 
4,727,291 individuals were receiving assistance. 
Accordingly, the number of families in the wel-
fare caseload and the number of individuals re-
ceiving cash assistance declined 55 percent and 
61 percent, respectively, since the enactment of 
TANF. 
(D) The child poverty rate continued to de-
cline between 1996 and 2003, falling 14 percent 
from 20.5 to 17.6 percent. Child poverty rates 
for African-American and Hispanic children 
have also fallen dramatically during the past 7 
years. 
(2) As a Nation, we have made substantial 
progress in reducing teen pregnancies and births, 
slowing increases in nonmarital childbearing, and
improving child support collections and paternity es-
tablishment. 
(A) The birth rate to teenagers declined 30 
percent from its high in 1991 to 2002. The 
2002 teenage birth rate of 43.0 per 1,000 
women aged 15–19 is the lowest recorded birth 
rate for teenagers. 
(B) During the period from 1991 through 
2001, teenage birth rates fell in all States and 
the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, 
and the Virgin Islands. Declines also have 
spanned age, racial, and ethnic groups. There 
has been success in lowering the birth rate for 
both younger and older teens. The birth rate 
for those 15–17 years of age has declined 40 
percent since 1991, and the rate for those 18 
and 19 has declined 23 percent. The rate for 
African American teens—until recently the 
highest—has declined the most—42 percent 
from 1991 through 2002. 
(C) Since the enactment of the Personal 
Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconcili-
ation Act of 1996, child support collections 
within the child support enforcement system 
have 
grown 
every 
year, 
increasing 
from
$12,000,000,000 in fiscal year 1996 to over 
$21,000,000,000 in fiscal year 2003. The num-
ber of paternities established or acknowledged 
in fiscal year 2003 (over 1,500,000) includes a 
more than 100 percent increase through in-hos-
pital acknowledgement programs—862,043 in 
2003 compared to 324,652 in 1996. Child sup-
port collections were made in nearly 8,000,000 
cases in fiscal year 2003, significantly more 
than the almost 4,000,000 cases having a col-
lection in 1996. 
(3) The Personal Responsibility and Work Op-
portunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 gave States 
great flexibility in the use of Federal funds to de-
velop innovative programs to help families leave wel-
fare and begin employment and to encourage the 
formation of 2-parent families. 
(A) Total Federal and State TANF ex-
penditures 
in 
fiscal 
year 
2003 
were 
$26,300,000,000, up from $25,400,000,000 in 
fiscal year 2002 and $22,600,000,000 in fiscal 
year 1999. This increased spending is attrib-
utable to significant new investments in sup-
portive services in the TANF program, such as 
child care and activities to support work.
(B) Since the welfare reform effort began 
there has been a dramatic increase in work par-
ticipation (including employment, community 
service, and work experience) among welfare re-
cipients, as well as an unprecedented reduction 
in the caseload because recipients have left wel-
fare for work. 
(C) States are making policy choices and 
investment decisions best suited to the needs of 
their citizens. 
(i) To expand aid to working families, 
almost all States disregard a portion of a 
family’s earned income when determining 
benefit levels. 
(ii) Most States increased the limits 
on countable assets above the former Aid 
to Families with Dependent Children 
(AFDC) program. Every State has in-
creased the vehicle asset level above the 
prior AFDC limit for a family’s primary 
automobile. 
(iii) States are experimenting with 
programs to promote marriage and pater-
nal involvement. Over half of the States 
have eliminated restrictions on 2-parent
families. Many States use TANF, child 
support, or State funds to support commu-
nity-based activities to help fathers become 
more involved in their children’s lives or 
strengthen relationships between mothers 
and fathers. 
(4) However, despite this success, there is still 
progress to be made. Policies that support and pro-
mote more work, strengthen families, and enhance 
State flexibility are necessary to continue to build on 
the success of welfare reform. 
(A) Significant numbers of welfare recipi-
ents still are not engaged in employment-related 
activities. While all States have met the overall 
work participation rates required by law, in an 
average month, only 41 percent of all families 
with an adult participated in work activities 
that were countable toward the State’s partici-
pation rate. In fiscal year 2003, four jurisdic-
tions failed to meet the more rigorous 2-parent 
work requirements, and 25 jurisdictions (States 
and territories) are not subject to the 2-parent 
requirements, most because they moved their 2-
parent cases to separate State programs where
they are not subject to a penalty for failing the 
2-parent rates. 
(B) In 2002, 34 percent of all births in the 
U.S. were to unmarried women. And, with 
fewer teens entering marriage, the proportion of 
births to unmarried teens has increased dra-
matically (80 percent in 2002 versus 30 percent 
in 1970). The negative consequences of out-of-
wedlock birth on the mother, the child, the fam-
ily, and society are well documented. These in-
clude increased likelihood of welfare depend-
ency, increased risks of low birth weight, poor 
cognitive development, child abuse and neglect, 
and teen parenthood, and decreased likelihood 
of having an intact marriage during adulthood. 
(C) There has been a dramatic rise in co-
habitation as marriages have declined. It is esti-
mated that 40 percent of children are expected 
to live in a cohabiting-parent family at some 
point during their childhood. Children in single-
parent households and cohabiting-parent house-
holds are at much higher risk of child abuse 
than children in intact married families. 
(D) Children who live apart from their bio-
logical fathers, on average, are more likely to be
poor, experience educational, health, emotional, 
and psychological problems, be victims of child 
abuse, engage in criminal behavior, and become 
involved with the juvenile justice system than 
their peers who live with their married, biologi-
cal mother and father. A child living with a sin-
gle mother is nearly 5 times as likely to be poor 
as a child living in a married-couple family. In 
2003, in married-couple families, the child pov-
erty rate was 8.6 percent, and in households 
headed by a single mother the poverty rate was 
41.7 percent. 
(5) Therefore, it is the sense of the Congress 
that increasing success in moving families from wel-
fare to work, as well as in promoting healthy mar-
riage and other means of improving child well-being, 
are very important Government interests and the 
policy contained in part A of title IV of the Social 
Security Act (as amended by this Act) is intended 
to serve those ends. 
TITLE I—TANF 
SEC. 101. PURPOSES. 
Section 401(a) (42 U.S.C. 601(a)) is amended—
(1) in the matter preceding paragraph (1), by 
striking ‘‘increase’’ and inserting ‘‘improve child 
well-being by increasing’’; 
(2) in paragraph (1), by inserting ‘‘and serv-
ices’’ after ‘‘assistance’’; 
(3) in paragraph (2), by striking ‘‘parents on 
government benefits’’ and inserting ‘‘families on gov-
ernment benefits and reduce poverty’’; and 
(4) in paragraph (4), by striking ‘‘two-parent 
families’’ and inserting ‘‘healthy, 2-parent married 
families, and encourage responsible fatherhood’’. 
SEC. 102. FAMILY ASSISTANCE GRANTS. 
(a) 
EXTENSION
OF
AUTHORITY.—Section 
403(a)(1)(A) (42 U.S.C. 603(a)(1)(A)) is amended—
(1) by striking ‘‘1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 
2001, 2002, and 2003’’ and inserting ‘‘2006 
through 2010’’; and 
(2) by inserting ‘‘payable to the State for the 
fiscal year’’ before the period. 
(b) STATE FAMILY ASSISTANCE GRANT.—Section 
403(a)(1)(C) (42 U.S.C. 603(a)(1)(C)) is amended by 
striking ‘‘fiscal year 2003’’ and inserting ‘‘each of fiscal 
years 2006 through 2010’’. 
(c) MATCHING GRANTS FOR THE TERRITORIES.—
Section 1108(b)(2) (42 U.S.C. 1308(b)(2)) is amended by