Welfare Reform and Upward Mobility Act

Bill: 113-s-2015
Sponsor: Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT]
Introduced: 2014-02-11 in the Senate
Policy area: Social Welfare
Subjects: Abortion
Budget process
Congressional oversight
Employment and training programs
Food assistance and relief
Government trust funds
Health programs administration and funding
Income tax credits
Performance measurement
Poverty and welfare assistance

Summary:
action_date: 2014-02-11
text: 
Welfare Reform and Upward Mobility Act - Amends the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008 to declare that it should be the purpose of the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP, formerly the food stamp program) to increase employment, encourage healthy marriage, and promote prosperous self-sufficiency, which means the ability of households to maintain an income above the poverty level without services and benefits from the federal government.
 
Declares that food or a food product shall be considered a food under such Act only if it is a bare essential (as determined by the Secretary of Agriculture [USDA]).
 
Defines &quot;able-bodied, work capable adult&quot; and &quot;physically or mentally incapable of work.&quot; 
 
Prescribes additional conditions of participation, denying SNAP eligibility, for instance, to any able-bodied, work-capable adult who: (1) refuses to register for employment or without good cause accept an offer of employment at a certain wage, (2) refuses without good cause to give a state agency sufficient information of his or her employment status or job availability, (3) voluntarily quits a job or reduces work effort below 30 hours a week unless another adult in the same family unit increases employment to make up the difference, or (4) is on strike because of a labor dispute other than a lockout.
 
Revises SNAP eligibility requirements for students with dependent children.
 
Denies SNAP eligibility to members of a program-eligible family required by the state agency to participate in work activation unless the relevant one or more adults in such family comply with the work activation standards. Terminates benefits for all family members for failure to participate in work activation during a given month.
 
Prescribes work activation standards for a family unit with adult members required to participate in work activation.
 
Requires each state participating in SNAP to carry out a work activation program whose goals are to: (1) encourage and assist able-bodied, work-capable adult SNAP recipients to obtain paid employment; (2) reduce dependence on government assistance; and (3) ensure that able-bodied, work-capable adult SNAP recipients make a contribution to society and the taxpayers in exchange for assistance received.
 
Sets forth mandatory state work activation participation rates.
 
Prescribes requirements for: (1) funding reductions as a penalty for inadequate state performance, (2) restoration in funding resulting from improved state performance, and (3) rewards to states for reducing government dependence.
 
Amends the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to terminate its temporary increase in SNAP benefits. 
 
Requires the President's budget to include the total level of means-tested welfare spending by the federal government as well as the total by all states, local governments, and the federal government for the most recent year for which such data is available, and estimated levels for the fiscal year during which the budget submission is made.
 
Amends the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 to define &quot;means-tested welfare spending&quot; and specifies the federal programs on which welfare spending shall be means-tested, and which federal programs shall not be.
 
Requires reports to congressional budget committees and the concurrent resolution on the budget to include specified information with respect to means-tested welfare spending, and requires a point of order in both chambers of Congress if the means-tested welfare spending limit is to be exceeded. 
 
Amends the Social Security Act (SSA) to authorize the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make grants to states to reward reductions in poverty and government dependence and increases in self-sufficiency. 
 
Restricts funding for health benefits coverage that includes abortion.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2014-02-11
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2014-02-11
text: Introduced in Senate