The House Ways and Means Committee approved Thursday a massive overhaul of the country’s welfare system that would push more people on the public dole to look for work, hoping to wean them off benefits altogether.
The bill cleared the committee on a 22-14 party-line vote, after Republicans first shot down Democratic attempts to boost funding for job training, child care and drug recovery for those on welfare.
It now heads to the full House as one of the final, big pieces of Speaker Paul D. Ryan’s legacy-building, anti-poverty agenda.
Dubbed the Jobs for Success Act, the bill would tighten eligibility requirements for federal assistance and ask states to push recipients to find and keep a job.
Republicans said the economy is booming due to their moves to cut taxes and federal regulations, but too many eligible adults in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program — the government’s official name for welfare — are not seeking out available work.
“This is the moment you have a goldilocks economy. Let’s take advantage of it and get as many of our brothers and sisters into those opportunities,” said Rep. David Schweikert, Arizona Republican.
Democrats predicted another floor fight over the bill, saying the GOP’s refusal to raise corporate tax rates to throw more money at things like child care, in particular, will spark a public backlash.
“We’ll go into the history of the refusal of the majority party to face up to this, and you can expect it to be done in very effective ways on our part,” said Rep. Sander Levin, Michigan Democrat. “Go home yourself. Talk to your employers, how many provide child care? It’s a tiny percentage. So face up to it. Face up to it, and work with us. If not, we’ll have a strong battle on the floor.”
The overall bill would make states work with welfare recipients on a game plan for finding work, and would score states on their ability to place and keep their residents in jobs.
It also would require states to describe how they’re using federal funds, rather than just detailing how much is spent, and limit benefits to those making 200 percent of the federal poverty level or less.
Right now, there is no federal limit on who can receive assistance, leaving states to receive block grants and set their own caps.
The bill would maintain the current funding level of about $30 billion per year, with the federal government posting about $16.5 billion in block-grants and states providing the rest in matching funds.
Reforming the 1996 program a key part of the GOP’s midterm-year push to fulfill promises it made to its conservative base in its 2016 “Better Way” agenda.
Republicans say too many people stay in safety-net programs like TANF and Medicaid — the federal-state insurance program for the poor — indefinitely, keeping them out of the productive workforce and sapping taxpayer-funded benefits.
“We need to attack poverty right at its roots. Instead of starting with welfare, we start with work,” their 2016 blueprint on poverty said. “Instead of expanding government, we expand opportunity. Instead of letting people languish, we get them on the ladder of opportunity and help them climb that ladder so they can make the most of their lives.”
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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