Fact Sheet: President Clinton Announces Welfare To Work Programs

      PRES!DENT CL!NTON ANNOUNCES WELFARE TO WORK PROGRAMS
New Steps To Help Fathers Support Their Children And Families
Presidential Hall, Old Executive Office Building
January 25, 1999

With welfare caseloads down by nearly half since 1993 and over 10,000
companies committed to welfare-to-work, President Clinton will announce
today a new package of initiatives designed to ensure that those remaining
on the welfare rolls make a successful transition from welfare to work.
These initiatives have a new focus -- to increase the employment of
low-income fathers so they can support their children.   The PresidentD,s
$1 billion Welfare-to-Work initiative would help 200,000 more people
work. At least $150 million is dedicated to helping fathers fulfill their
responsibilities to their children by working and paying child support.
Remaining funds focus on long-term welfare recipients with the greatest
obstacles to employment.   The President also will announce that his budget
will contain new welfare-to-work housing vouchers, transportation funds,
and tax credits to help those on welfare get to work and stay employed.
These initiatives would provide parents the tools they need to support
their children and succeed in the workforce.

Welfare-to-Work Funds with a Focus on Fathers
The PresidentD,s $1 billion Welfare-to-Work initiative would help 200,000
long-term welfare recipients in high-poverty areas move into lasting
unsubsidized employment.  !t is an extension of the two-year, $3 billion
Welfare-to-Work program the President secured in the 1997 Balanced Budget
Act. The initiative, as reauthorized, provides at least $150 million to
ensure that every state helps fathers fulfill their responsibilities by
working, paying child support, and playing a responsible part in their
childrenD,s lives.  Under this proposal, states and communities would use
a minimum of 20 percent of their formula funds to provide job placement
and job retention assistance to low-income fathers who sign personal
responsibility contracts committing them to work and pay child support.
This effort would further increase child support collections, which have
risen 80 percent since the President took office, from $8 billion in 1992
to $14.4 billion in 1998. Remaining funds go toward assisting long-term
welfare recipients with the greatest barriers to employment to move into
lasting jobs. The reauthorized program also doubles the welfare-to-work
funding available for tribes.

Also, the Department of Labor will announce today the availability of $240
million in competitive grants from the current $3 billion Welfare-to-Work
program. These funds will support innovative local welfare-to-work
strategies for individuals with limited English proficiency, disabilities,
substance abuse problems, or a history of domestic violence.

Transportation and Housing for Families Moving From Welfare to Work
The President also will announce today that his budget will contain $580
million for welfare to work housing vouchers and transportation assistance
to help those on welfare obtain work and stay employed. The presidentD,s
budget will provide $430 million for 75,000 welfare-to-work housing
vouchers, including $144 million in new funds for 25,000 additional
vouchers. This is a 50-percent increase over the 50,000 vouchers the
President secured last year. The vouchers would help families move closer
to a new job, reduce a long commute, or secure more stable

-more-



housing so they can perform better on the job.  The PresidentD,s budget
also increases Access to Jobs transportation funding from $75 million to
$150 million, doubling the number of individuals and communities that can
receive transportation assistance.  This competitive grant program
supports innovative state and local transportation solutions such as
shuttles, van pools, new bus routes, and connector services to mass
transit to help welfare recipients and other low-income workers get to
work.

private Sector Hiring from the Welfare Rolls
The President will announce that his budget will include $530 million to
extend for one year Welfare to Work and Work Opportunity Tax Credits to
encourage more employers to hire welfare recipients and other
disadvantaged individuals. Already, in response to the PresidentD,s
challenge two years ago in his State of the Union Address, 10;000
companies have joined the Welfare to Work Partnership and hired, retained,
and promoted hundreds of thousands of former welfare recipients.
Forty-two percent of these companies are very small businesses (25 or
fewer employees), while four percent are very large businesses (3,000 or
more employees) .

Welfare Rolls Decline as More Recipients Go to Work
The President will release state-by-state data showing that welfare
caseloads are at their lowest level in 30 years and that the welfare rolls
have fallen by nearly half since he took office.  Since January 1993, 36
states have had caseload declines of more than 40 percent and nationwide
the rolls have fallen by 44 percent, from 14.1 million to just below 8
million.  Information released recently by the Department of Health and
Human Services also shows that the percentage of welfare recipients
working has tripled since 1992, that an estimated 1.5 million people who
were on welfare in 1997 were working in 1998, and that all states met the
first overall work participation rates required under the welfare reform
law.

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