Here's updated document for your use -- it's also posted on White House
welfare reform web site
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The following is a HEX DUMP:
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03/23/99 CLINTON-GORE ACCOMPLISHMENTS Hex-Dump Conversion
REFORMING WELFARE
On August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, fulfilling his longtime commitment to 'end
welfare as we know it. ' As the President said upon signing, this legislation
H
provides an historic opportunity to end welfare as we know it and transform our
broken welfare system by promoting the fundamental values of work,
responsibility, and family. "
TRANSFORMING THE BROKEN WELFARE SYSTEM
Overhauling the Welfare System with the Personal Responsibility Act: In 1996, the
President signed a bipartisan welfare plan that is dramatically changing the nation's
welfare system into one that requires work in exchange for time-limited assistance. The
law contains strong work requirements, performance bonuses to reward states for moving
welfare recipients into jobs and reducing illegitimacy, state maintenance of effort
requirements, comprehensive child support enforcement, and supports for families
moving from welfare to work -- including increased funding for child care. State
strategies are making a real difference in the success of welfare reform, specifically in
job placement, child care and transportation.
Law Builds on the Administration's Welfare Reform Strategy: Even before the
Personal Responsibility Act became law, many states were well on their way to changing
their welfare programs to jobs programs. By granting Federal waivers, the Clinton
Administration allowed 43 states -- more than all previous Administrations combined --
to require work, time-limit assistance, make work pay, improve child support
enforcement, and encourage parental responsibility. The vast majority of states have
chosen to continue or build on their welfare demonstration projects approved by the
Clinton Administration.
Welfare Rolls Decline as More Recipients go to Work: In January 1999, the President
released state-by-state data (from September 1998) 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. This historic decline occurred in response to the Administration's
grants of Federal waivers to 43 states, the provisions of the new welfare reform law, and
the strong economy. Recent information released 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.
Hex.Dump Conversion
MOVING PEOPLE FROM WELFARE TO WORK
Mobilizing the Business Community: At the President's urging, the Welfare to Work
Partnership was launched in May 1997 to lead the national business effort to hire people
from the welfare rolls. Founded with 105 participating businesses, the Partnership grew
to 5,000 within one year, and in his 1999 State of the Union address, the President
announced that the Partnership now includes over 10,000 businesses who have hired
hundreds of thousands of people. Since 1997, these businesses have hired over 410,000
welfare recipients, more than meeting the challenge the President set in May of 1998. The
Partnership provides technical assistance and support to businesses around the country,
including: a toll-free number, a web site, a quarterly newsletter, and a "Blueprint for
Business".hiring manual. The Partnership also published The Road to Retention, a
report of companies that have found higher retention rates for fonner welfare recipients
for other new hires, and strategies they used to achieve this success.
Connecting Small Businesses with New Workers: The Small Business Administration
is addressing the unique and vital role of small businesses who employ over one-half of
the private workforce, by helping small businesses throughout the country connect with
job training organizations and job-ready welfare recipients. In addition, SBA provides
training and assistance to welfare recipients who wish to start their own businesses.
SBA provides assistance to businesses through its 1-800-U-ASK-SBA number, as well
through its network of small business and women's business centers, one-stop capital
shops, district offices, and its home page.
Mobilizing Civic, Religious and Non-profit Groups: The Vice President created the
Welfare to Work Coalition to Sustain Success, a coalition of national civic, service, and
faith-based groups committed to helping former welfare recipients succeed in the
workforce. Working in partnership with public agencies and employers, Coalition
members provide mentoring, job training, child care, transportation, and other support to
help these new workers with the transition to self sufficiency. Charter members ofthe
Coalition include: Alpha Kappa Alpha, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the Baptist
Joint Committee, Goodwill, Salvation Army, the United Way, Women's Missionary
Union, the YMCA, the YWCA, and other civic and faith-based groups.
Doing Our Fair Share with the Federal Government's Hiring Initiative: Under the
Clinton Administration, the Federal workforce is the smallest it has been in thirty years.
Yet, this Administration also believes that the Federal government, as the nation's largest
employer, must lead by example. The President asked the Vice President to oversee the
Federal government's hiring initiative in which Federal agencies have committed to
directly hire at least 10,000 welfare recipients in the next four years. On March 1st, the
Vice President announced that the federal government has hired over 10,000 welfare
recipients nearly two years ahead of schedule. As a part of this effort, the White House
pledged to hire six welfare recipients and has already exceeded this goal.
'. Funds to Help Move More People from Welfare to Work, with a Focus on Fathers:
Because ofthe President's leadership, the 1997 Balanced Budget Act included the total
funding requested by the President for the creation of his $3 billion welfare to work fund.
This program helps states and local communities move long-term welfare reci~M~anversion
certain non-custodial parents, into lasting, unsubsidized jobs. These funds can be used for
job creation, job placement and job retention efforts, including wage subsidies to private
employers and other critical post-employment support services. The Department of
Labor provides oversight but most of the dollars are placed, through the Private Industry
Councils, in the hands of the localities who are on the front lines of the welfare reform
effort. In addition, 25 percent of the funds are awarded by the Department of Labor on
a competitive basis to support innovative welfare to work projects. The President
announced the first round of 49 competitive grants in May, and the Vice President
announced the second round of75 competitive grants in November 1998. In January
1999, the Department of Labor announced the availability of$240 million in competitive
grants for FY 1999. These funds will support innovative local welfare-to-work strategies
for noncustodial parents, individuals with limited English proficiency, disabilities,
substance abuse problems, or a history of domestic violence.
The President's FY 2000 budget includes $1 billion for the Welfare-to-Work program to
help 200,000 long-term welfare recipients in high-poverty areas move into lasting
unsubsidized employment. This is an extension of the two-year $3 billion
Welfare-to-Work program the President secured in the Balanced Budget Act. The
initiative, as reauthorized, will provide 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 children's lives. Under this proposal, states and communities
will use a minimum of20 percent of their fonnula 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 will 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 will go toward assisting
long-term welfare recipients with the greatest barriers to employment to move into lasting
jobs. The reauthorized program also will double the welfare-to-work funding available
for tribes.
Tax Credits for Employers: The Welfare to Work Tax Credit, enacted in the 1997
Balanced Budget Act, provides a credit equal to 35 percent of the first $10,000 in wages
in the first year of employment, and 50 percent of the first $10,000 in wages in the second
year, to encourage the hiring and retention of long tenn welfare recipients. This credit
complements the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides a credit of up to $2,400
for the first year of wages for eight groups of job seekers. The Omnibus Budget Act
included an extension through June 30, 1999 and the President's FY 2000 budget
proposes to extend both credits for an additional year.
Welfare-to-Work Housing Vouchers: In his FY 1999 budget, the President proposed
$283 million for 50,000 new housing vouchers for welfare recipients who need housing
assistance to get or keep a job, and Congress approved full funding for this new initiative.
Families will use these housing vouchers to move closer to a new job, to reduce a long
commute, or to secure more stable housing to eliminate emergencies that keep them from
getting to work every day on time. Nearly all of these vouchers will be awarded to
communities on a competitive basis, to communities who create cooperative efforts
among their housing, welfare and employment agencies to assure the most effective use
Hex-Dump Conversion
Qfthis flexible new tool to help people make the transition from welfare to work. The
President's FY 2000 budget provides $430 million for 75,000 welfare-to-work vouchers,
including $144 million in new funds for 25,000 additional vouchers.
Welfare-to-Work Transportation: One of the biggest barriers facing people who
move from welfare to work -- in cities and in rural areas -- is finding transportation to get
to jobs, training programs and child care centers. Few welfare recipients own cars.
Existing mass transit does not provide adequate links to many suburban jobs at all, or
within a reasonable commute time. In addition, many entry level jobs require evening or
weekend hours that are poorly served by existing transit routes. To help those on welfare
get to work, President Clinton proposed a $100 million a year welfare to work
transportation plan as part of his IS TEA reauthorization bill. The Transportation Equity
Act for the 21 st Century (TEA-21) authorized $750 million over five years for the
President's initiative and reverse commute grants. Of this amount, $50 million is
guaranteed funding in FY 1999, rising to $150 million in 2003. The Omnibus Budget Act
included $75 million for this program in FY 1999 and the Department of Transportation
is currently reviewing applications for this first year funding. The President's budget
proposes to double funding for FY 2000, bringing it to the full authorized level of $150
million. The Job Access competitive grants will assist states and localities in developing
flexible transportation alternatives, such as van services, for welfare recipients and other
low income workers.
Eliminating Anti-Work and Anti-Family Rules that Denied Families Health Coverage: In
August 1998, the President eliminated a vestige of the old welfare system by announcing
that the Department of Health and Human Services will revise its regulations to allow all
states to provide Medicaid coverage to working, two-parent families who meet State
income eligibility. Under the old welfare regulations, adults in two-parent families who
worked more than 100 hours per month could not receive Medicaid regardless of income
level, while there were no such restrictions on single-parent families. Because these
regulations provided disincentives to marriage and full-time work, the Administration
allowed a number of states to waive this rule. The new regulation eliminates this rule
for all States, providing health coverage for more than 130,000 working families to help
them stay employed and off welfare.
PROMOTING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Enforcing Child Support -- 80% Increase in Collections: The Clinton Administration
collected a record $14.4 billion in child support in 1998 through tougher enforcement, an
increase of $6.4 billion, or 80% since 1992. Not only are collections up, but the number
of families that are actually receiving child support has also increased. In 1997, the
number of child support cases with collections rose to 4.2 million, an increase of 48%
fom 2.8 million in 1992. In additi"on, a new collection system proposed by the President
in 1994 and enacted as part ofthe 1996 welfare reform law located one million
delinquent parents in its first nine months of operation. This National Directory of New
Hires helps track parents across state lines by enabling child support officials to match
records of delinquent parents with wage records from throughout the nation.
Approximately one-third of all child support cases involve parents living in different
Hex-Dump Conversion
states. In June 1998, the President signed the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act, a law
based on his 1996 proposal for tougher penalties for parents who repeatedly fail to
support children living in another state or who flee across state lines to avoid supporting
them. This new law creates two new felonies, with penalties of up to two years in
prison, for egregious child support evaders who travel across state or country lines to
evade child support obligations, or who have an unpaid obligation to a child living in
another state that is more than $10,000 or has remained unpaid for more than two years.
Increasing Parental Responsibility: The President's unprecedented and sustained
campaign to ensure parents financially support their children is working. Paternity
establishment, often the crucial first step in child support cases, has dramatically
increased, due in large part to the in-hospital voluntary paternity establishment program
begun in 1994 by the Clinton Administration. In 1997, the number of paternities
established or acknowledged rose to a record 1.3 million, two and a halftimes the 1992
figure of512,000. In addition to tougher enforcement including a strong partnership
with states, President Clinton has taken executive action including: directing the Treasury
Department to collect past-due child support from Federal payments including Federal
income tax refunds and employee salaries, and taking steps to deny Federal loans to any
delinquent parents. The Federal government collected over $1.1 billion in delinquent
child support from federal income tax refunds for tax year 1997, a 70 percent increase
since 1992. The welfare reform law contains tough child support measures that President
Clinton has long supported including: the national new hire reporting system; streamlined
paternity establishment; uniform interstate child support laws; computerized state-wide
collections; and tough new penalties. These five measures are proj ected to increase child
support collections by an additional $24 billion over the next ten years.
Breaking the Cycle of Dependency -- Preventing Teen Pregnancy: Significant
components of the President's comprehensive effort to reduce teen pregnancy became law
when the President signed the 1996 Personal Responsibility Act. The law requires
unmarried minor parents to stay in school and live at home or in a supervised setting;
encourages "second chance homes" to provide teen parents with the skills and support
they need; and provides $50 million a year in new funding for state abstinence education
activities. Since 1993, the Clinton Administration has supported innovative and
promising teen pregnancy prevention strategies, including working with boys and young
men on pregnancy prevention strategies. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen
Pregnancy, a private nonprofit organization, was formed in response to the President's
1995 State of the Union. In 1997, the President announced the National Strategy to
Prevent Teen Pregnancy, mandated in the welfare reform law. The first annual report on
this Strategy reported that HHS-supported programs already reach at least 31 percent or
1,470 communities in the United States. Notably, data shows we are making progress in
reducing teen pregnancy -- teen births have fallen six years in a row, by 15 percent from
1991 to 1997. And, teen pregnancy rates are at their lowest level in 20 years.
Hex-Dump Conversion
RESTORING FAIRNESS AND PROTECTING THE MOST VULNERABLE
The President made a commitment to fix several provisions in the welfare reform law that had
nothing to do with moving people from welfare to work. In 1997, the President fought for and
ultimately was successful in ensuring that the Balanced Budget Act protects the most vulnerable.
In 1998, the President continued to reverse unfair cuts in benefits to legal immigrants. The
Administration's FY 2000 budget would build on this progress by restoring important disability,
health, and nutrition benefits to additional categories of legal immigrants, at a cost of $1.3 billion
over five years.
Disability and Health: The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 restored disability and health
benefits to 420,000 legal immigrants who were in this country before welfare reform
became law (August 22, 1996), at an estimated cost of$I1.5 billion. The
Administration's new budget would restore eligibility for SSI and Medicaid to legal
immigrants who enter the country after that date if they have been in the U.S. for five
years and become disabled after entering the United States. This proposal would cost
approximately $930 million and assist an estimated 54,000 legal immigrants by 2004,
about half of whom would be elderly.
Nutritional Assistance: The Agricultural Research Act of 1998 provided Food Stamps
for 225,000 legal immigrant children, senior citizens, and people with disabilities who
came to the United States by August 22, 1996. The Administration's budget would
extend this provision by allowing legal immigrants in the United States on August 22,
1996 who subsequently reach age 65 to be eligible for Food Stamps at cost of $60
million.
Childrens' Health Care and Maternal Care for Pregnant Women: States currently
can provide health coverage to immigrant children who entered the country before August
22, 1996. The President's FY 2000 budget would give states the option to provide health
coverage to legal immigrant children who entered the country after August 22, 1996.
Under this proposal, states could provide health coverage to those children through
Medicaid or their CHIP allotment. The proposal would cost $220 million and serve
approximately 55,000 children by FY 2004. Furthermore, the budget proposes to give
states the option to provide Medicaid coverage to legal immigrant women who entered
the country after August 22, 1996 and subsequently became pregnant. Such coverage
would help reduce the number of high-risk pregnancies, ensure healthier children, and
lower the cost of emergency Medicaid deliveries. This proposal would cost $105 million
and serve approximately 23,000 women by FY 2004.
Helping PeopJe Who Want to Work but Can't Find a Job: The Balanced Budget Act
(BBA), as amended by the Agricultural Research Act, also restored $1.3 billion in food
stamp cuts. The welfare reform law restricted food stamps for able-bodied childless
adults to only 3 out of every 36 months, unless they were working. This move ignored
the fact that finding a job often takes time. The BBA provided funds for work slots and
food stamp benefits to help those who are willing to work but, through no fault of their
own, have not yet found employment. In addition, the BBA allows states to exempt up to
15 percent of the food stamp recipients (70,000 individuals monthly) who would
otherwise be denied benefits as a result of the "3 in 36" limit. Hex-Dump Conversion
==================== ATTACHMENT 1 ====================
ATT CREATION TIME/DATE: 0 00:00:00.00
TEXT:
Unable to convert ARMS_EXT: [ATTACH.DB7]MAIL452556994.036 to ASCII,
The following is a HEX DUMP:
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03/23/99 CLINTON-GORE ACCOMPLISHMENTS Hex-Dump Conversion
REFORMING WELFARE
On August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, fulfilling his longtime commitment to 'end
welfare as we know it. ' As the President said upon signing, this legislation
H
provides an historic opportunity to end welfare as we know it and transform our
broken welfare system by promoting the fundamental values of work,
responsibility, and family. "
TRANSFORMING THE BROKEN WELFARE SYSTEM
Overhauling the Welfare System with the Personal Responsibility Act: In 1996, the
President signed a bipartisan welfare plan that is dramatically changing the nation's
welfare system into one that requires work in exchange for time-limited assistance. The
law contains strong work requirements, performance bonuses to reward states for moving
welfare recipients into jobs and reducing illegitimacy, state maintenance of effort
requirements, comprehensive child support enforcement, and supports for families
moving from welfare to work -- including increased funding for child care. State
strategies are making a real difference in the success of welfare reform, specifically in
job placement, child care and transportation.
Law Builds on the Administration's Welfare Reform Strategy: Even before the
Personal Responsibility Act became law, many states were well on their way to changing
their welfare programs to jobs programs. By granting Federal waivers, the Clinton
Administration allowed 43 states -- more than all previous Administrations combined --
to require work, time-limit assistance, make work pay, improve child support
enforcement, and encourage parental responsibility. The vast majority of states have
chosen to continue or build on their welfare demonstration projects approved by the
Clinton Administration.
Welfare Rolls Decline as More Recipients go to Work: In January 1999, the President
released state-by-state data (from September 1998) 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. This historic decline occurred in response to the Administration's
grants of Federal waivers to 43 states, the provisions of the new welfare reform law, and
the strong economy. Recent information released 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.
Hex.Dump Conversion
MOVING PEOPLE FROM WELFARE TO WORK
Mobilizing the Business Community: At the President's urging, the Welfare to Work
Partnership was launched in May 1997 to lead the national business effort to hire people
from the welfare rolls. Founded with 105 participating businesses, the Partnership grew
to 5,000 within one year, and in his 1999 State of the Union address, the President
announced that the Partnership now includes over 10,000 businesses who have hired
hundreds of thousands of people. Since 1997, these businesses have hired over 410,000
welfare recipients, more than meeting the challenge the President set in May of 1998. The
Partnership provides technical assistance and support to businesses around the country,
including: a toll-free number, a web site, a quarterly newsletter, and a "Blueprint for
Business".hiring manual. The Partnership also published The Road to Retention, a
report of companies that have found higher retention rates for fonner welfare recipients
for other new hires, and strategies they used to achieve this success.
Connecting Small Businesses with New Workers: The Small Business Administration
is addressing the unique and vital role of small businesses who employ over one-half of
the private workforce, by helping small businesses throughout the country connect with
job training organizations and job-ready welfare recipients. In addition, SBA provides
training and assistance to welfare recipients who wish to start their own businesses.
SBA provides assistance to businesses through its 1-800-U-ASK-SBA number, as well
through its network of small business and women's business centers, one-stop capital
shops, district offices, and its home page.
Mobilizing Civic, Religious and Non-profit Groups: The Vice President created the
Welfare to Work Coalition to Sustain Success, a coalition of national civic, service, and
faith-based groups committed to helping former welfare recipients succeed in the
workforce. Working in partnership with public agencies and employers, Coalition
members provide mentoring, job training, child care, transportation, and other support to
help these new workers with the transition to self sufficiency. Charter members ofthe
Coalition include: Alpha Kappa Alpha, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the Baptist
Joint Committee, Goodwill, Salvation Army, the United Way, Women's Missionary
Union, the YMCA, the YWCA, and other civic and faith-based groups.
Doing Our Fair Share with the Federal Government's Hiring Initiative: Under the
Clinton Administration, the Federal workforce is the smallest it has been in thirty years.
Yet, this Administration also believes that the Federal government, as the nation's largest
employer, must lead by example. The President asked the Vice President to oversee the
Federal government's hiring initiative in which Federal agencies have committed to
directly hire at least 10,000 welfare recipients in the next four years. On March 1st, the
Vice President announced that the federal government has hired over 10,000 welfare
recipients nearly two years ahead of schedule. As a part of this effort, the White House
pledged to hire six welfare recipients and has already exceeded this goal.
'. Funds to Help Move More People from Welfare to Work, with a Focus on Fathers:
Because ofthe President's leadership, the 1997 Balanced Budget Act included the total
funding requested by the President for the creation of his $3 billion welfare to work fund.
This program helps states and local communities move long-term welfare reci~M~anversion
certain non-custodial parents, into lasting, unsubsidized jobs. These funds can be used for
job creation, job placement and job retention efforts, including wage subsidies to private
employers and other critical post-employment support services. The Department of
Labor provides oversight but most of the dollars are placed, through the Private Industry
Councils, in the hands of the localities who are on the front lines of the welfare reform
effort. In addition, 25 percent of the funds are awarded by the Department of Labor on
a competitive basis to support innovative welfare to work projects. The President
announced the first round of 49 competitive grants in May, and the Vice President
announced the second round of75 competitive grants in November 1998. In January
1999, the Department of Labor announced the availability of$240 million in competitive
grants for FY 1999. These funds will support innovative local welfare-to-work strategies
for noncustodial parents, individuals with limited English proficiency, disabilities,
substance abuse problems, or a history of domestic violence.
The President's FY 2000 budget includes $1 billion for the Welfare-to-Work program to
help 200,000 long-term welfare recipients in high-poverty areas move into lasting
unsubsidized employment. This is an extension of the two-year $3 billion
Welfare-to-Work program the President secured in the Balanced Budget Act. The
initiative, as reauthorized, will provide 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 children's lives. Under this proposal, states and communities
will use a minimum of20 percent of their fonnula 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 will 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 will go toward assisting
long-term welfare recipients with the greatest barriers to employment to move into lasting
jobs. The reauthorized program also will double the welfare-to-work funding available
for tribes.
Tax Credits for Employers: The Welfare to Work Tax Credit, enacted in the 1997
Balanced Budget Act, provides a credit equal to 35 percent of the first $10,000 in wages
in the first year of employment, and 50 percent of the first $10,000 in wages in the second
year, to encourage the hiring and retention of long tenn welfare recipients. This credit
complements the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides a credit of up to $2,400
for the first year of wages for eight groups of job seekers. The Omnibus Budget Act
included an extension through June 30, 1999 and the President's FY 2000 budget
proposes to extend both credits for an additional year.
Welfare-to-Work Housing Vouchers: In his FY 1999 budget, the President proposed
$283 million for 50,000 new housing vouchers for welfare recipients who need housing
assistance to get or keep a job, and Congress approved full funding for this new initiative.
Families will use these housing vouchers to move closer to a new job, to reduce a long
commute, or to secure more stable housing to eliminate emergencies that keep them from
getting to work every day on time. Nearly all of these vouchers will be awarded to
communities on a competitive basis, to communities who create cooperative efforts
among their housing, welfare and employment agencies to assure the most effective use
Hex-Dump Conversion
Qfthis flexible new tool to help people make the transition from welfare to work. The
President's FY 2000 budget provides $430 million for 75,000 welfare-to-work vouchers,
including $144 million in new funds for 25,000 additional vouchers.
Welfare-to-Work Transportation: One of the biggest barriers facing people who
move from welfare to work -- in cities and in rural areas -- is finding transportation to get
to jobs, training programs and child care centers. Few welfare recipients own cars.
Existing mass transit does not provide adequate links to many suburban jobs at all, or
within a reasonable commute time. In addition, many entry level jobs require evening or
weekend hours that are poorly served by existing transit routes. To help those on welfare
get to work, President Clinton proposed a $100 million a year welfare to work
transportation plan as part of his IS TEA reauthorization bill. The Transportation Equity
Act for the 21 st Century (TEA-21) authorized $750 million over five years for the
President's initiative and reverse commute grants. Of this amount, $50 million is
guaranteed funding in FY 1999, rising to $150 million in 2003. The Omnibus Budget Act
included $75 million for this program in FY 1999 and the Department of Transportation
is currently reviewing applications for this first year funding. The President's budget
proposes to double funding for FY 2000, bringing it to the full authorized level of $150
million. The Job Access competitive grants will assist states and localities in developing
flexible transportation alternatives, such as van services, for welfare recipients and other
low income workers.
Eliminating Anti-Work and Anti-Family Rules that Denied Families Health Coverage: In
August 1998, the President eliminated a vestige of the old welfare system by announcing
that the Department of Health and Human Services will revise its regulations to allow all
states to provide Medicaid coverage to working, two-parent families who meet State
income eligibility. Under the old welfare regulations, adults in two-parent families who
worked more than 100 hours per month could not receive Medicaid regardless of income
level, while there were no such restrictions on single-parent families. Because these
regulations provided disincentives to marriage and full-time work, the Administration
allowed a number of states to waive this rule. The new regulation eliminates this rule
for all States, providing health coverage for more than 130,000 working families to help
them stay employed and off welfare.
PROMOTING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Enforcing Child Support -- 80% Increase in Collections: The Clinton Administration
collected a record $14.4 billion in child support in 1998 through tougher enforcement, an
increase of $6.4 billion, or 80% since 1992. Not only are collections up, but the number
of families that are actually receiving child support has also increased. In 1997, the
number of child support cases with collections rose to 4.2 million, an increase of 48%
fom 2.8 million in 1992. In additi"on, a new collection system proposed by the President
in 1994 and enacted as part ofthe 1996 welfare reform law located one million
delinquent parents in its first nine months of operation. This National Directory of New
Hires helps track parents across state lines by enabling child support officials to match
records of delinquent parents with wage records from throughout the nation.
Approximately one-third of all child support cases involve parents living in different
Hex-Dump Conversion
states. In June 1998, the President signed the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act, a law
based on his 1996 proposal for tougher penalties for parents who repeatedly fail to
support children living in another state or who flee across state lines to avoid supporting
them. This new law creates two new felonies, with penalties of up to two years in
prison, for egregious child support evaders who travel across state or country lines to
evade child support obligations, or who have an unpaid obligation to a child living in
another state that is more than $10,000 or has remained unpaid for more than two years.
Increasing Parental Responsibility: The President's unprecedented and sustained
campaign to ensure parents financially support their children is working. Paternity
establishment, often the crucial first step in child support cases, has dramatically
increased, due in large part to the in-hospital voluntary paternity establishment program
begun in 1994 by the Clinton Administration. In 1997, the number of paternities
established or acknowledged rose to a record 1.3 million, two and a halftimes the 1992
figure of512,000. In addition to tougher enforcement including a strong partnership
with states, President Clinton has taken executive action including: directing the Treasury
Department to collect past-due child support from Federal payments including Federal
income tax refunds and employee salaries, and taking steps to deny Federal loans to any
delinquent parents. The Federal government collected over $1.1 billion in delinquent
child support from federal income tax refunds for tax year 1997, a 70 percent increase
since 1992. The welfare reform law contains tough child support measures that President
Clinton has long supported including: the national new hire reporting system; streamlined
paternity establishment; uniform interstate child support laws; computerized state-wide
collections; and tough new penalties. These five measures are proj ected to increase child
support collections by an additional $24 billion over the next ten years.
Breaking the Cycle of Dependency -- Preventing Teen Pregnancy: Significant
components of the President's comprehensive effort to reduce teen pregnancy became law
when the President signed the 1996 Personal Responsibility Act. The law requires
unmarried minor parents to stay in school and live at home or in a supervised setting;
encourages "second chance homes" to provide teen parents with the skills and support
they need; and provides $50 million a year in new funding for state abstinence education
activities. Since 1993, the Clinton Administration has supported innovative and
promising teen pregnancy prevention strategies, including working with boys and young
men on pregnancy prevention strategies. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen
Pregnancy, a private nonprofit organization, was formed in response to the President's
1995 State of the Union. In 1997, the President announced the National Strategy to
Prevent Teen Pregnancy, mandated in the welfare reform law. The first annual report on
this Strategy reported that HHS-supported programs already reach at least 31 percent or
1,470 communities in the United States. Notably, data shows we are making progress in
reducing teen pregnancy -- teen births have fallen six years in a row, by 15 percent from
1991 to 1997. And, teen pregnancy rates are at their lowest level in 20 years.
Hex-Dump Conversion
RESTORING FAIRNESS AND PROTECTING THE MOST VULNERABLE
The President made a commitment to fix several provisions in the welfare reform law that had
nothing to do with moving people from welfare to work. In 1997, the President fought for and
ultimately was successful in ensuring that the Balanced Budget Act protects the most vulnerable.
In 1998, the President continued to reverse unfair cuts in benefits to legal immigrants. The
Administration's FY 2000 budget would build on this progress by restoring important disability,
health, and nutrition benefits to additional categories of legal immigrants, at a cost of $1.3 billion
over five years.
Disability and Health: The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 restored disability and health
benefits to 420,000 legal immigrants who were in this country before welfare reform
became law (August 22, 1996), at an estimated cost of$I1.5 billion. The
Administration's new budget would restore eligibility for SSI and Medicaid to legal
immigrants who enter the country after that date if they have been in the U.S. for five
years and become disabled after entering the United States. This proposal would cost
approximately $930 million and assist an estimated 54,000 legal immigrants by 2004,
about half of whom would be elderly.
Nutritional Assistance: The Agricultural Research Act of 1998 provided Food Stamps
for 225,000 legal immigrant children, senior citizens, and people with disabilities who
came to the United States by August 22, 1996. The Administration's budget would
extend this provision by allowing legal immigrants in the United States on August 22,
1996 who subsequently reach age 65 to be eligible for Food Stamps at cost of $60
million.
Childrens' Health Care and Maternal Care for Pregnant Women: States currently
can provide health coverage to immigrant children who entered the country before August
22, 1996. The President's FY 2000 budget would give states the option to provide health
coverage to legal immigrant children who entered the country after August 22, 1996.
Under this proposal, states could provide health coverage to those children through
Medicaid or their CHIP allotment. The proposal would cost $220 million and serve
approximately 55,000 children by FY 2004. Furthermore, the budget proposes to give
states the option to provide Medicaid coverage to legal immigrant women who entered
the country after August 22, 1996 and subsequently became pregnant. Such coverage
would help reduce the number of high-risk pregnancies, ensure healthier children, and
lower the cost of emergency Medicaid deliveries. This proposal would cost $105 million
and serve approximately 23,000 women by FY 2004.
Helping PeopJe Who Want to Work but Can't Find a Job: The Balanced Budget Act
(BBA), as amended by the Agricultural Research Act, also restored $1.3 billion in food
stamp cuts. The welfare reform law restricted food stamps for able-bodied childless
adults to only 3 out of every 36 months, unless they were working. This move ignored
the fact that finding a job often takes time. The BBA provided funds for work slots and
food stamp benefits to help those who are willing to work but, through no fault of their
own, have not yet found employment. In addition, the BBA allows states to exempt up to
15 percent of the food stamp recipients (70,000 individuals monthly) who would
otherwise be denied benefits as a result of the "3 in 36" limit. Hex-Dump Conversion
Here's updated document for your use -- it's also posted on White House
welfare reform web site
Unable to convert ARMS_EXT: [ATTACH.D87]MAIL452556994.036 to ASCII,
The following is a HEX DUMP:
FF575043BA060000010A02010000000205000000AD680000000200000D23A865B05E74DDF7296E
IB5674C72BFF03280EAF2A215F85A9BAAD025E73CA2F56C41BFOB5E5BA46AE51FBEBFCDDDBB6C9
Hex-Dump Conversion
03/23/99 CLINTON-GORE ACCOMPLISHMENTS
REFORMING WELFARE
On August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, fUlfilling his longtime commitment to 'end
welfare as we know it. ' As the President said upon signing, "". this legislation
provides an historic opportunity to end welfare as we know it and transform our
broken welfare system by promoting the fundamental values of work,
responsibility, andfamily. "
TRANSFORMING THE BROKEN WELFARE SYSTEM
Overhauling the Welfare System with the Personal Responsibility Act: In 1996, the
President signed a bipartisan welfare plan that is dramatically changing the nation's
welfare system into one that requires work in exchange for time-limited assistance. The
law contains strong work requirements, performance bonuses to reward states for moving
welfare recipients into jobs and reducing illegitimacy, state maintenance of effort
requirements, comprehensive child support enforcement, and supports for families
moving from welfare to work -- including increased funding for child care~ State
strategies are making a real difference in the success of welfare reform, specifically in
job placement, child care and transportation.
Law Builds on the Administration's Welfare Reform Strategy: Even before the
Personal Responsibility Act became law, many states were well on their way to changing
their welfare programs to jobs programs. By granting Federal waivers, the Clinton
Administration allowed 43 states -- more than all previous Administrations combined --
to require work, time-limit assistance, make work pay, improve child support
enforcement, and encourage parental responsibility. The vast majority of states have
chosen to continue or build on their welfare demonstration projects approved by the
Clinton Administration.
Welfare Rolls Decline as More Recipients go to Work: In January 1999, the President
released state-by-state data (from September 1998) 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. This historic decline occurred in response to the Administration's
grants of Federal waivers to 43 states, the provisions of the new welfare reform law, and
the strong economy. Recent information released 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.
Hex-Dump Conversion
MOVING PEOPLE FROM WELFARE TO WORK
Mobilizing the Business Community: At the President's urging, the Welfare to Work
Partnership was launched in May 1997 to lead the national business effort to hire people
from the welfare rolls. Founded with 105 participating businesses, the Partnership grew
to 5,000 within one year, and in his 1999 State of the Union address, the President
announced that the Partnership now includes over 10,000 businesses who have hired
hundreds of thousands of people. Since 1997, these businesses have hired over 410,000
welfare recipients, more than meeting the challenge the President set in May of 1998. The
Partnership provides technical assistance and support to businesses around the country,
including: a toll-free number, a web site, a quarterly newsletter, and a "Blueprint for
Business" hiring manual. The Partnership also published The Road to Retention, a
report of companies that have found higher retention rates for former welfare recipients
for other new hires, and strategies they used to achieve this success.
Connecting Small Businesses with New Workers: The Small Business Administration
is addressing the unique and vital role of small businesses who employ over one-half of
the private workforce, by helping small businesses throughout the country connect with
job training organizations and job-ready welfare recipients. In addition, SBA provides
training and assistance to welfare recipients who wish to start their own businesses.
SBA provides assistance to businesses through its 1-800-U-ASK-SBA number, as well
through its network of small business and women's business centers, one-stop capital
shops, district offices, and its home page.
Mobilizing Civic, Religious and Non-profit Groups: The Vice President created the
Welfare to Work Coalition to Sustain Success, a coalition of national civic, service, and
faith-based groups committed to helping former welfare recipients succeed in the
workforce. Working in partnership with public agencies and employers, Coalition
members provide mentoring,job training, child care, transportation, and other support to
help these new workers with the transition to self sufficiency. Charter members of the
Coalition include: Alpha Kappa Alpha, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the Baptist
Joint Committee, Goodwill, Salvation Army, the United Way, Women's Missionary
Union, the YMCA, the YWCA, and other civic and faith~based groups.
Doing Our Fair Share with the Federal Government's Hiring Initiative: Under the
Clinton Administration, the Federal workforce is the smallest it has been in thirty years.
Yet, this Administration also believes that the Federal government, as the nation's largest
employer, must lead by example. The President asked the Vice President to oversee the
Federal government's hiring initiative in which Federal agencies have committed to
directly hire at least 10,000 welfare recipients in the next four years. On March 1st, the
Vice President announced that the federal government has hired over 10,000 welfare
recipients nearly two years ahead of schedule. As a part of this effort, the White House
pledged to hire six welfare recipients and has already exceeded this goal.
Funds to Help Move More People from Welfare to Work, with a Focus on Fathers:
Because of the President's leadership, the 1997 Balanced Budget Act included the total
funding requested by the President for the creation of his $3 billion welfare to work fund.
Hex-Dump Conversion
This program helps states and local communities move long-term welfare recipients, and
certain non-custodial parents, into lasting, unsubsidized jobs. These funds can be used for
job creation, job placement and job retention efforts, including wage subsidies to private
employers and other critical post-employment support services. The Department of
Labor provides oversight but most of the dollars are placed, through the Private Industry
Councils, in the hands of the localities who are on the front lines of the welfare reform
effort. In addition, 25 percent of the funds are awarded by the Department of Labor on
a competitive basis to support innovative welfare to work projects. The President
announced the first round of 49 competitive grants in May, and the Vice President
announced the second round of75 competitive grants in November 1998. In January
1999, the Department of Labor announced the availability of$240 million in competitive
grants for FY 1999. These funds will support innovative local welfare-to-work strategies
for noncustodial parents, individuals with limited English proficiency, disabilities,
substance abuse problems, or a history of domestic violence.
The President's FY 2000 budget includes $1 billion for the Welfare-to-Work program to
help 200,000 long-term welfare recipients in high-poverty areas move into lasting
unsubsidized employment. This is an extension of the two-year $3 billion
Welfare-to-Work program the President secured in the Balanced Budget Act. The
initiative, as reauthorized, will provide 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 children's lives. Under this proposal, states and communities
will 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 will 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 will go toward assisting
long-term welfare recipients with the greatest barriers to employment to move into lasting
jobs. The reauthorized program also will double the welfare-to-work funding available
for tribes.
Tax Credits for Employers: The Welfare to Work Tax Credit, enacted in the 1997
Balanced Budget Act, provides a credit equal to 35 percent of the first $10,000 in wages
in the first year of employment, and 50 percent of the first $10,000 in wages in the second
year, to encourage the hiring and retention oflong term welfare recipients. This credit
complements the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides a credit of up to $2,400
for the first year of wages for eight groups of job seekers. The Omnibus Budget Act
included an extension through June 30, 1999 and the President's FY 2000 budget
proposes to extend both credits for an additional year.
Welfare-to-Work Housing Vouchers: In his FY 1999 budget, the President proposed
$283 million for 50,000 new housing vouchers for welfare recipients who need housing
assistance to get or keep a job, and Congress approved full funding for this new initiative.
Families will use these housing vouchers to move closer to a new job, to reduce a long
commute, or to secure more stable housing to eliminate emergencies that keep them from
getting to work every day on time. Nearly all of these vouchers will be awarded to
communities on a competitive basis, to communities who create cooperative efforts
among their housing, welfare and employment agencies to assure the most effective use
Hex-Dump Conversion
of this flexible new tool to help people make the transition from welfare to work. The
President's FY 2000 budget provides $430 million for 75,000 welfare-to-work vouchers,
including $144 million in new funds for 25,000 additional vouchers.
Welfare-to-Work Transportation: One of the biggest barriers facing people who
move from welfare to work -- in cities and in rural areas -- is finding transportation to get
to jobs, training programs and child care centers. Few welfare recipients own cars.
Existing mass transit does not provide adequate links to many suburban jobs at all, or
within a reasonable commute time. In addition, many entry level jobs require evening or
weekend hours that are poorly served by existing transit routes. To help those on welfare
get to work, President Clinton proposed a $100 million a year welfare to work
transportation plan as part of his ISTEA reauthorization bill. The Transportation Equity
Act for the 21 st Century (TEA-21) authorized $750 million over five years for the
President's initiative and reverse commute grants. Of this amount, $50 million is
guaranteed funding in FY 1999, rising to $150 million in 2003. The Omnibus Budget Act
included $75 million for this program in FY 1999 and the Department of Transportation
is currently reviewing applications for this first year funding. The President's budget
proposes to double funding for FY 2000, bringing it to the full authorized level of $150
million. The Job Access competitive grants will assist states and localities in developing
flexible transportation alternatives, such as van services, for welfare recipients and other
low income workers.
Eliminating Anti-Work and Anti-Family Rules that Denied Families Health Coverage: In
August 1998, the President eliminated a vestige of the old welfare system by announcing
that the Department of Health and Human Services will revise its regulations to allow all
states to provide Medicaid coverage to working, two-parent families who meet State
income eligibility. Under the old welfare regulations, adults in two-parent families who
worked more than 100 hours per month could not receive Medicaid regardless of income
level, while there were no such restrictions on single-parent families. Because these
regulations provided disincentives to marriage and full-time work, the Administration
allowed a number of states to waive this rule. The new regulation eliminates this rule
for all States,. providing health coverage for more than 130,000 working families to help
them stay employed and off welfare.
PROMOTING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Enforcing Child Support -- 80% Increase in Collections: The Clinton Administration
collected a record $14.4 billion in child support in 1998 through tougher enforcement, an
increase of $6.4 billion, or 80% since 1992. Not only are collections up, but the number
of families that are actually receiving child support has also increased. In 1997, the
number of child support cases with collections rose to 4.2 million, an increase of 48%
fom 2.8 million in 1992. In addition, a new collection system proposed by the President
in 1994 and enacted as part of the 1996 welfare reform law located one million
delinquent parents in its first nine months of operation. This National Directory of New
Hires helps track parents across state lines by enabling child support officials to match
records of delinquent parents with wage records from throughout the nation.
Approximately one-third of all child support cases involve parents living in different
I-lCX.DWllp Conversion
states. In June 1998, the President signed the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act, a law
based on his 1996 proposal for tougher penalties for parents who repeatedly fail to
support children living in another state or who flee across state lines to avoid supporting
them. This new law creates two new felonies, with penalties of up to two years in
prison, for egregious child support evaders who travel across state or country lines to
evade child support obligations, or who have an unpaid obligation to a child living in
another state that is more than $10,000 or has remained unpaid for more than two years.
Increasing Parental Responsibility: The President's unprecedented and sustained
campaign to ensure parents financially support their children is working. Paternity
establishment, often the crucial first step in child support cases, has dramatically
increased, due in large part to the in-hospital voluntary paternity establishment program
begun in 1994 by the Clinton Administration. In 1997, the number of paternities
established or acknowledged rose to a record 1.3 million, two and a half times the 1992
figure of 512,000. In addition to tougher enforcement including a strong partnership
with states, President Clinton has taken executive action including: directing the Treasury
Department to collect past-due child support from Federal payments including Federal
income tax refunds and employee salaries, and taking steps to deny Federal loans to any
delinquent patents. The Federal government collected over $1.1 billion in delinquent
child support from federal income tax refunds for tax year 1997, a 70 percent increase
since 1992. The welfare reform law contains tough child support measures that President
Clinton has long supported including: the national new hire reporting system; streamlined
paternity establishment; uniform interstate child support laws; computerized state-wide
collections; and tough new penalties. These five measures are projected to increase child
support collections by an additional $24 billion over the next ten years.
Breaking the Cycle of Dependency -- Preventing Teen Pregnancy: Significant
components of the President's comprehensive effort to reduce teen pregnancy became law
when the President signed the 1996 Personal Responsibility Act. The law requires
unmarried minor parents to stay in school and live at home or in a supervised setting;
encourages "second chance homes" to provide teen parents with the skills and support
they need; and provides $50 million a year in new funding for state abstinence education
activities. Since 1993, the Clinton Administration has supported innovative and
promising teen pregnancy prevention strategies, including working with boys and young
men on pregnancy prevention strategies. The National Campaign to Prevent.Teen
Pregnancy, a private nonprofit organization, was formed in response to the President's
1995 State of the Union. In 1997, the President announced the National Strategy to
Prevent Teen Pregnancy, mandated in the welfare reform law. The first annual report on
this Strategy reported that HHS-supported programs already reach at least 31 percent or
1,470 communities in the United States. Notably, data shows we are making progress in
reducing teen pregnancy -- teen births have fallen six years in a row, by 15 percent from
1991 to 1997. And, teen pregnancy rates are at their lowest level in 20 years.
Hex=Dwnp Conversion
RESTORING FAIRNESS AND PROTECTING THE MOST VULNERABLE
The President made a commitment to fix several provisions in the welfare reform law that had
nothing to do with moving people from welfare to work. In 1997, the President fought for and
ultimately was successful in ensuring that the Balanced Budget Act protects the most vulnerable.
In 1998, the President continued to reverse unfair cuts in benefits to legal immigrants. The
Administration's FY 2000 budget would build on this progress by restoring important disability,
health, and nutrition benefits to additional categories of legal immigrants, at a cost of $1.3 billion
over five years.
Disability and Health: The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 restored disability and health
benefits to 420,000 legal immigrants who were in this country before welfare reform
became law (August 22, 1996), at an estimated cost of $11.5 billion. The
Administration's new budget would restore eligibility for SSI and Medicaid to legal
immigrants who enter the country after that date if they have been in the U.S. for five
years and become disabled after entering the United States. This proposal would cost
approximately $930 million and assist an estimated 54,000 legal immigrants by 2004,
about half of whom would be elderly.
Nutritional Assistance: The Agricultural Research Act of 1998 provided Food Stamps
for 225,000 legal immigrant children, senior citizens, and people with disabilities who
came to the United States by August 22, 1996. The Administration's budget would
extend this provision by allowing legal immigrants in the United States on August 22,
1996 who subsequently reach age 65 to be eligible for Food Stamps at cost of $60
million.
Childrens' Health Care and Maternal Care for Pregnant Women: States currently
can provide health coverage to immigrant children who entered the country before August
22, 1996. The President's FY 2000 budget would give states the option to provide health
coverage to legal immigrant children who entered the country after August 22, 1996.
Under this proposal, states could provide health coverage to those children through
Medicaid or their CHIP allotment. The proposal would cost $220 million and serve
approximately 55,000 children by FY 2004. Furthermore, the budget proposes to give
states the option to provide Medicaid coverage to legal immigrant women who entered
the country after August 22, 1996 and subsequently became pregnant. Such coverage
would help reduce the number of high-risk pregnancies, ensure healthier children, and
lower the cost of emergency Medicaid deliveries. This proposal would cost $105 million
and serve approximately 23,000 women by FY 2004.
Helping PeopJe Who Want to Work but Can't Find a Job: The Balanced Budget Act
(BBA), as amended by the Agricultural Research Act, also restored $1.3 billion in food
stamp cuts. The welfare reform law restricted food stamps for able-bodied childless
adults to only 3 out of every 36 months, unless they were working. This move ignored
the fact that finding a job often takes time. The BBA provided funds for work slots and
food stamp benefits to help those who are willing to work but, through no fault of their
own, have not yet found employment. In addition, the BBA allows states to exempt up to
15 percent of the food stamp recipients (70,000 individuals monthly) who would
Automated RecO r :
otherwise be denied benefits as a result of the "3 in 36" limit. Hex-Dump ConversIon
==================== ATTACHMENT 1 ====================
ATT CREATION TIME/DATE: 0 00:00:00.00
TEXT:
Unable to convert ARMS_EXT: [ATTACH.D87]MAIL452556994.036 to ASCII,
The following is a HEX DUMP:
FF575043BA060000010A02010000000205000000AD680000000200000D23A865B05E74DDF7296E
IB5674C72BFF03280EAF2A215F85A9BAAD025E73CA2F56C41BFOB5E5BA46AE51FBEBFCDDDBB6C9
Hex-Dump Conversion
03/23/99 CLINTON-GORE ACCOMPLISHMENTS
REFORMING WELFARE
On August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, fUlfilling his longtime commitment to 'end
welfare as we know it. ' As the President said upon signing, "". this legislation
provides an historic opportunity to end welfare as we know it and transform our
broken welfare system by promoting the fundamental values of work,
responsibility, andfamily. "
TRANSFORMING THE BROKEN WELFARE SYSTEM
Overhauling the Welfare System with the Personal Responsibility Act: In 1996, the
President signed a bipartisan welfare plan that is dramatically changing the nation's
welfare system into one that requires work in exchange for time-limited assistance. The
law contains strong work requirements, performance bonuses to reward states for moving
welfare recipients into jobs and reducing illegitimacy, state maintenance of effort
requirements, comprehensive child support enforcement, and supports for families
moving from welfare to work -- including increased funding for child care~ State
strategies are making a real difference in the success of welfare reform, specifically in
job placement, child care and transportation.
Law Builds on the Administration's Welfare Reform Strategy: Even before the
Personal Responsibility Act became law, many states were well on their way to changing
their welfare programs to jobs programs. By granting Federal waivers, the Clinton
Administration allowed 43 states -- more than all previous Administrations combined --
to require work, time-limit assistance, make work pay, improve child support
enforcement, and encourage parental responsibility. The vast majority of states have
chosen to continue or build on their welfare demonstration projects approved by the
Clinton Administration.
Welfare Rolls Decline as More Recipients go to Work: In January 1999, the President
released state-by-state data (from September 1998) 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. This historic decline occurred in response to the Administration's
grants of Federal waivers to 43 states, the provisions of the new welfare reform law, and
the strong economy. Recent information released 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.
Hex-Dump Conversion
MOVING PEOPLE FROM WELFARE TO WORK
Mobilizing the Business Community: At the President's urging, the Welfare to Work
Partnership was launched in May 1997 to lead the national business effort to hire people
from the welfare rolls. Founded with 105 participating businesses, the Partnership grew
to 5,000 within one year, and in his 1999 State of the Union address, the President
announced that the Partnership now includes over 10,000 businesses who have hired
hundreds of thousands of people. Since 1997, these businesses have hired over 410,000
welfare recipients, more than meeting the challenge the President set in May of 1998. The
Partnership provides technical assistance and support to businesses around the country,
including: a toll-free number, a web site, a quarterly newsletter, and a "Blueprint for
Business" hiring manual. The Partnership also published The Road to Retention, a
report of companies that have found higher retention rates for former welfare recipients
for other new hires, and strategies they used to achieve this success.
Connecting Small Businesses with New Workers: The Small Business Administration
is addressing the unique and vital role of small businesses who employ over one-half of
the private workforce, by helping small businesses throughout the country connect with
job training organizations and job-ready welfare recipients. In addition, SBA provides
training and assistance to welfare recipients who wish to start their own businesses.
SBA provides assistance to businesses through its 1-800-U-ASK-SBA number, as well
through its network of small business and women's business centers, one-stop capital
shops, district offices, and its home page.
Mobilizing Civic, Religious and Non-profit Groups: The Vice President created the
Welfare to Work Coalition to Sustain Success, a coalition of national civic, service, and
faith-based groups committed to helping former welfare recipients succeed in the
workforce. Working in partnership with public agencies and employers, Coalition
members provide mentoring,job training, child care, transportation, and other support to
help these new workers with the transition to self sufficiency. Charter members of the
Coalition include: Alpha Kappa Alpha, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the Baptist
Joint Committee, Goodwill, Salvation Army, the United Way, Women's Missionary
Union, the YMCA, the YWCA, and other civic and faith~based groups.
Doing Our Fair Share with the Federal Government's Hiring Initiative: Under the
Clinton Administration, the Federal workforce is the smallest it has been in thirty years.
Yet, this Administration also believes that the Federal government, as the nation's largest
employer, must lead by example. The President asked the Vice President to oversee the
Federal government's hiring initiative in which Federal agencies have committed to
directly hire at least 10,000 welfare recipients in the next four years. On March 1st, the
Vice President announced that the federal government has hired over 10,000 welfare
recipients nearly two years ahead of schedule. As a part of this effort, the White House
pledged to hire six welfare recipients and has already exceeded this goal.
Funds to Help Move More People from Welfare to Work, with a Focus on Fathers:
Because of the President's leadership, the 1997 Balanced Budget Act included the total
funding requested by the President for the creation of his $3 billion welfare to work fund.
Hex-Dump Conversion
This program helps states and local communities move long-term welfare recipients, and
certain non-custodial parents, into lasting, unsubsidized jobs. These funds can be used for
job creation, job placement and job retention efforts, including wage subsidies to private
employers and other critical post-employment support services. The Department of
Labor provides oversight but most of the dollars are placed, through the Private Industry
Councils, in the hands of the localities who are on the front lines of the welfare reform
effort. In addition, 25 percent of the funds are awarded by the Department of Labor on
a competitive basis to support innovative welfare to work projects. The President
announced the first round of 49 competitive grants in May, and the Vice President
announced the second round of75 competitive grants in November 1998. In January
1999, the Department of Labor announced the availability of$240 million in competitive
grants for FY 1999. These funds will support innovative local welfare-to-work strategies
for noncustodial parents, individuals with limited English proficiency, disabilities,
substance abuse problems, or a history of domestic violence.
The President's FY 2000 budget includes $1 billion for the Welfare-to-Work program to
help 200,000 long-term welfare recipients in high-poverty areas move into lasting
unsubsidized employment. This is an extension of the two-year $3 billion
Welfare-to-Work program the President secured in the Balanced Budget Act. The
initiative, as reauthorized, will provide 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 children's lives. Under this proposal, states and communities
will 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 will 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 will go toward assisting
long-term welfare recipients with the greatest barriers to employment to move into lasting
jobs. The reauthorized program also will double the welfare-to-work funding available
for tribes.
Tax Credits for Employers: The Welfare to Work Tax Credit, enacted in the 1997
Balanced Budget Act, provides a credit equal to 35 percent of the first $10,000 in wages
in the first year of employment, and 50 percent of the first $10,000 in wages in the second
year, to encourage the hiring and retention oflong term welfare recipients. This credit
complements the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides a credit of up to $2,400
for the first year of wages for eight groups of job seekers. The Omnibus Budget Act
included an extension through June 30, 1999 and the President's FY 2000 budget
proposes to extend both credits for an additional year.
Welfare-to-Work Housing Vouchers: In his FY 1999 budget, the President proposed
$283 million for 50,000 new housing vouchers for welfare recipients who need housing
assistance to get or keep a job, and Congress approved full funding for this new initiative.
Families will use these housing vouchers to move closer to a new job, to reduce a long
commute, or to secure more stable housing to eliminate emergencies that keep them from
getting to work every day on time. Nearly all of these vouchers will be awarded to
communities on a competitive basis, to communities who create cooperative efforts
among their housing, welfare and employment agencies to assure the most effective use
Hex-Dump Conversion
of this flexible new tool to help people make the transition from welfare to work. The
President's FY 2000 budget provides $430 million for 75,000 welfare-to-work vouchers,
including $144 million in new funds for 25,000 additional vouchers.
Welfare-to-Work Transportation: One of the biggest barriers facing people who
move from welfare to work -- in cities and in rural areas -- is finding transportation to get
to jobs, training programs and child care centers. Few welfare recipients own cars.
Existing mass transit does not provide adequate links to many suburban jobs at all, or
within a reasonable commute time. In addition, many entry level jobs require evening or
weekend hours that are poorly served by existing transit routes. To help those on welfare
get to work, President Clinton proposed a $100 million a year welfare to work
transportation plan as part of his ISTEA reauthorization bill. The Transportation Equity
Act for the 21 st Century (TEA-21) authorized $750 million over five years for the
President's initiative and reverse commute grants. Of this amount, $50 million is
guaranteed funding in FY 1999, rising to $150 million in 2003. The Omnibus Budget Act
included $75 million for this program in FY 1999 and the Department of Transportation
is currently reviewing applications for this first year funding. The President's budget
proposes to double funding for FY 2000, bringing it to the full authorized level of $150
million. The Job Access competitive grants will assist states and localities in developing
flexible transportation alternatives, such as van services, for welfare recipients and other
low income workers.
Eliminating Anti-Work and Anti-Family Rules that Denied Families Health Coverage: In
August 1998, the President eliminated a vestige of the old welfare system by announcing
that the Department of Health and Human Services will revise its regulations to allow all
states to provide Medicaid coverage to working, two-parent families who meet State
income eligibility. Under the old welfare regulations, adults in two-parent families who
worked more than 100 hours per month could not receive Medicaid regardless of income
level, while there were no such restrictions on single-parent families. Because these
regulations provided disincentives to marriage and full-time work, the Administration
allowed a number of states to waive this rule. The new regulation eliminates this rule
for all States,. providing health coverage for more than 130,000 working families to help
them stay employed and off welfare.
PROMOTING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Enforcing Child Support -- 80% Increase in Collections: The Clinton Administration
collected a record $14.4 billion in child support in 1998 through tougher enforcement, an
increase of $6.4 billion, or 80% since 1992. Not only are collections up, but the number
of families that are actually receiving child support has also increased. In 1997, the
number of child support cases with collections rose to 4.2 million, an increase of 48%
fom 2.8 million in 1992. In addition, a new collection system proposed by the President
in 1994 and enacted as part of the 1996 welfare reform law located one million
delinquent parents in its first nine months of operation. This National Directory of New
Hires helps track parents across state lines by enabling child support officials to match
records of delinquent parents with wage records from throughout the nation.
Approximately one-third of all child support cases involve parents living in different
I-lCX.DWllp Conversion
states. In June 1998, the President signed the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act, a law
based on his 1996 proposal for tougher penalties for parents who repeatedly fail to
support children living in another state or who flee across state lines to avoid supporting
them. This new law creates two new felonies, with penalties of up to two years in
prison, for egregious child support evaders who travel across state or country lines to
evade child support obligations, or who have an unpaid obligation to a child living in
another state that is more than $10,000 or has remained unpaid for more than two years.
Increasing Parental Responsibility: The President's unprecedented and sustained
campaign to ensure parents financially support their children is working. Paternity
establishment, often the crucial first step in child support cases, has dramatically
increased, due in large part to the in-hospital voluntary paternity establishment program
begun in 1994 by the Clinton Administration. In 1997, the number of paternities
established or acknowledged rose to a record 1.3 million, two and a half times the 1992
figure of 512,000. In addition to tougher enforcement including a strong partnership
with states, President Clinton has taken executive action including: directing the Treasury
Department to collect past-due child support from Federal payments including Federal
income tax refunds and employee salaries, and taking steps to deny Federal loans to any
delinquent patents. The Federal government collected over $1.1 billion in delinquent
child support from federal income tax refunds for tax year 1997, a 70 percent increase
since 1992. The welfare reform law contains tough child support measures that President
Clinton has long supported including: the national new hire reporting system; streamlined
paternity establishment; uniform interstate child support laws; computerized state-wide
collections; and tough new penalties. These five measures are projected to increase child
support collections by an additional $24 billion over the next ten years.
Breaking the Cycle of Dependency -- Preventing Teen Pregnancy: Significant
components of the President's comprehensive effort to reduce teen pregnancy became law
when the President signed the 1996 Personal Responsibility Act. The law requires
unmarried minor parents to stay in school and live at home or in a supervised setting;
encourages "second chance homes" to provide teen parents with the skills and support
they need; and provides $50 million a year in new funding for state abstinence education
activities. Since 1993, the Clinton Administration has supported innovative and
promising teen pregnancy prevention strategies, including working with boys and young
men on pregnancy prevention strategies. The National Campaign to Prevent.Teen
Pregnancy, a private nonprofit organization, was formed in response to the President's
1995 State of the Union. In 1997, the President announced the National Strategy to
Prevent Teen Pregnancy, mandated in the welfare reform law. The first annual report on
this Strategy reported that HHS-supported programs already reach at least 31 percent or
1,470 communities in the United States. Notably, data shows we are making progress in
reducing teen pregnancy -- teen births have fallen six years in a row, by 15 percent from
1991 to 1997. And, teen pregnancy rates are at their lowest level in 20 years.
Hex=Dwnp Conversion
RESTORING FAIRNESS AND PROTECTING THE MOST VULNERABLE
The President made a commitment to fix several provisions in the welfare reform law that had
nothing to do with moving people from welfare to work. In 1997, the President fought for and
ultimately was successful in ensuring that the Balanced Budget Act protects the most vulnerable.
In 1998, the President continued to reverse unfair cuts in benefits to legal immigrants. The
Administration's FY 2000 budget would build on this progress by restoring important disability,
health, and nutrition benefits to additional categories of legal immigrants, at a cost of $1.3 billion
over five years.
Disability and Health: The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 restored disability and health
benefits to 420,000 legal immigrants who were in this country before welfare reform
became law (August 22, 1996), at an estimated cost of $11.5 billion. The
Administration's new budget would restore eligibility for SSI and Medicaid to legal
immigrants who enter the country after that date if they have been in the U.S. for five
years and become disabled after entering the United States. This proposal would cost
approximately $930 million and assist an estimated 54,000 legal immigrants by 2004,
about half of whom would be elderly.
Nutritional Assistance: The Agricultural Research Act of 1998 provided Food Stamps
for 225,000 legal immigrant children, senior citizens, and people with disabilities who
came to the United States by August 22, 1996. The Administration's budget would
extend this provision by allowing legal immigrants in the United States on August 22,
1996 who subsequently reach age 65 to be eligible for Food Stamps at cost of $60
million.
Childrens' Health Care and Maternal Care for Pregnant Women: States currently
can provide health coverage to immigrant children who entered the country before August
22, 1996. The President's FY 2000 budget would give states the option to provide health
coverage to legal immigrant children who entered the country after August 22, 1996.
Under this proposal, states could provide health coverage to those children through
Medicaid or their CHIP allotment. The proposal would cost $220 million and serve
approximately 55,000 children by FY 2004. Furthermore, the budget proposes to give
states the option to provide Medicaid coverage to legal immigrant women who entered
the country after August 22, 1996 and subsequently became pregnant. Such coverage
would help reduce the number of high-risk pregnancies, ensure healthier children, and
lower the cost of emergency Medicaid deliveries. This proposal would cost $105 million
and serve approximately 23,000 women by FY 2004.
Helping PeopJe Who Want to Work but Can't Find a Job: The Balanced Budget Act
(BBA), as amended by the Agricultural Research Act, also restored $1.3 billion in food
stamp cuts. The welfare reform law restricted food stamps for able-bodied childless
adults to only 3 out of every 36 months, unless they were working. This move ignored
the fact that finding a job often takes time. The BBA provided funds for work slots and
food stamp benefits to help those who are willing to work but, through no fault of their
own, have not yet found employment. In addition, the BBA allows states to exempt up to
15 percent of the food stamp recipients (70,000 individuals monthly) who would
Automated RecO r :
otherwise be denied benefits as a result of the "3 in 36" limit. Hex-Dump ConversIon
Here's updated document for your use -- it's also posted on White House
welfare reform web site
Unable to ,convert ARMS_EXT: [ATTACH.D87]MAIL452556994.036 to ASCII,
The following is a HEX DUMP:
FF575043BA060000010A02010000000205000000AD680000000200000D23A865B05E74DDF7296E
IB5674C72BFF03280EAF2A215F85A9BAAD025E73CA2F56C41BFOB5E58A46AE5IFBE8FCDDD8B6C9
972C505BID7239D26E90F3B19D8EF5C9B8124CF7CEA1394EB437F7A4A168D811C99DE9EDDB5AOE
OE632AC754522301DA73F8698E5EF761D460CBFB9DIDFFA450083849AA67EBBOA242677DF6D9C8
90D037B907FDAC3D32069C274E77594E78CAD697E849AD3FFIC7ABB25AEF8C5D20DB65BDE779CB
REFORMING WELFARE
On August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, fulfilling his longtime commitment to 'end
welfare as we know it. ' As the President said upon signing, "". this legislation
provides an historic opportunity to end welfare as we know it and transform our
broken welfare system by promoting the fondamental values of work,
responsibility, and family. "
TRANSFORMING THE BROKEN WELFARE SYSTEM
Overhauling the Welfare System with the Personal Responsibility Act: In 1996, the
President signed a bipartisan welfare plan that is dramatically changing the nation's
welfare system into one that requires work in exchange for time-limited assistance. The
law contains strong work requirements, performance bonuses to reward states for moving
welfare recipients into jobs and reducing illegitimacy, state maintenance of effort
requirements, comprehensive child support enforcement, and supports for families
moving from welfare to work -- including increased funding for child care. State
strategies are making a real difference in the success of welfare reform, specifically in
job placement, child care and transportation.
Law Builds on the Administration's Welfare Reform Strategy: Even before the.
Personal Responsibility Act became law, many states were well on their way to changing
their welfare programs to jobs programs. By granting Federal waivers, the Clinton
Administration allowed 43 states -- more than all previous Administrations combined --
to require work, time-limit assistance, make work pay, improve child support
enforcement, and encourage parental responsibility. The vast majority of states have
chosen to continue or build on their welfare demonstration projects approved by the
Clinton Administration.
Welfare Rolls Decline as More Recipients go to Work: In January 1999, the President
released state-by-state data (from September 1998) 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. This historic decline occurred in response to the Administration's
grants of Federal waivers to 43 states, the provisions ofthe new welfare reform law, and
the strong economy. Recent information released 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.
Hex-Dump Canagement SYste
MOVING PEOPLE FROM WELFARE TO WORK on version m
Mobilizing the Business Community: At the President's urging, the Welfare to Work
Partnership was launched in May 1997 to lead the national business effort to hire people
from the welfare rolls. Founded with 105 participating businesses, the Partnership grew
to 5,000 within one year, and in his 1999 State of the Union address, the President
announced that the Partnership now inCludes over 10,000 businesses who have hired
hundreds of thousands of people. Since 1997, these businesses have hired over 410,000
welfare recipients, more than meeting the challenge the President set in May of 1998. The
Partnership provides technical assistance and support to businesses around the country,
including: a toll-free number, a web site, a quarterly newsletter, and a "Blueprint for
Business" hiring manual. The Partnership also published The Road to Retention, a
report of companies that have found higher retention rates for former welfare recipients
for other new hires, and strategies they used to achieve this success.
Connecting Small Businesses with New Workers: The Small Business Administration
is addressing the unique and vital role of small businesses who employ over one-half of
the private workforce, by helping small businesses throughout the country connect with
job training organizations and job-ready welfare recipients. In addition, SBA provides
training and assistance to welfare recipients who wish to start their own businesses.
SBA provides assistance to businesses through its 1-800-U-ASK-SBA number, as well
through its network of small business and women's business centers, one-stop capital
shops, district offices, and its home page.
Mobilizing Civic, Religious and Non-profit Groups: The Vice President created the
Welfare to Work Coalition to Sustain Success, a coalition of national civic, seryice, and
faith-based groups committed to helping former welfare recipients succeed in the
workforce. Working in part~ership with public agencies and employers, Coalition
members provide mentoring, job training, child care, transportation, and other support to
help these new workers with the transition to self sufficiency. Charter members of the
Coalition include: Alpha Kappa Alpha, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the Baptist
Joint Committee, Goodwill, Salvation Army, the United Way, Women's Missionary
Union, the YMCA, the YWCA, and other civic and faith-based groups.
Doing Our Fair Share with the Federal Government's Hiring Initiative: Under the
Clinton Administration, the Federal workforce is the smallest it has been in thirty years.
Yet, this Administration also believes that the Federal government, as the nation's largest
employer, must lead by example. The President asked the Vice President to oversee the
Federal government's hiring initiative in which Federal agencies have committed to
directly hire at least 10,000 welfare recipients in the next four years. On March I st, the
Vice President announced that the federal government has hired over 10,000 welfare
recipients nearly two years ahead of schedule. As a part of this effort, the White House
pledged to hire six welfare recipients and has already exceeded this goal.
Funds to Help Move More People from Welfare to Work, with a Focus on Fathers:
Because of the President's leadership, the 1997 Balanced Budget Act included the total
funding requested by the President for the creation of his $3 billion welfare to work fund.
Hex-Dump Conversion
This program helps states and local communities move long-tenn welfare recipients, and
certain non-custodial parents, into lasting, unsubsidized jobs_ These funds can be used for
job creation, job placement and job retention efforts, including wage subsidies to private
employers and other critical post-employment support services. The Department of
Labor provides oversight but most of the dollars are placed, through the Private Industry
Councils, in the hands of the localities who are on the front lines of the welfare refonn
effort. In addition, 25 percent of the funds are awarded by the Department of Labor on
a competitive basis to support innovative welfare to work projects. The President
announced the first round of 49 competitive grants in May, and the Vice President
announced the second round of75 competitive grants in November 1998. In January
1999, the Department of Labor announced the availability of $240 million in competitive
grants for FY 1999. These funds will support innovative local welfare-to-work strategies
for noncustodial parents, individuals with limited English proficiency, disabilities,
substance abuse pro~lems, or a history of domestic violence.
The President's FY 2000 budget includes $1 billion for the Welfare-to-Work program to
help 200,000 long-tenn welfare recipients in high-poverty areas move into lasting
unsubsidized employment. This is an extension of the two-year $3 billion
Welfare-to-Work program the President secured in the Balanced Budget Act. The
initiative, as reauthorized, will provide 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 children's lives. Under this proposal, states and communities
will use a minimum of 20 percent of their fonnula 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 will 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 will go toward assisting
long-tenn welfare recipients with the greatest barriers to employment to move into lasting
jobs. The reauthorized program also will double the welfare-to-work funding available
for tribes.
Tax Credits for Employers: The Welfare to Work Tax Credit, enacted in the 1997
. Balanced Budget Act, provides a credit equal to 35 percent of the first $10,000 in wages
in the first year of employment, and 50 percent of the first $10,000 in wages in the second
year, to encourage the hiring and retention of long tenn welfare recipients. This credit
complements the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides a credit of up to $2,400
for the first year of wages for eight groups of job seekers. The Omnibus Budget Act
included an extension through June 30, 1999 and the President's FY 2000 budget
proposes to extend both credits for an additional year.
Welfare-to-Work Housing Vouchers: In his FY 1999 budget, the President proposed
$283 million for 50,000 new housing vouchers for welfare recipients who need housing
assistance to get or keep ajob, and Congress approved full funding for this new initiative.
Families will use these housing vouchers to move closer to a new job, to reduce a long
commute, or to secure more stable housing to eliminate emergencies that keep them from
getting to work every day on time. Nearly all of these vouchers will be awarded to
communities on a competitive basis, to communities who create cooperative efforts
among their housing, welfare and employment agencies to assure the most effective use
Hex-Dump Conversion
of this flexible new tool to help people make the transition from welfare to work. The
President's FY 2000 budget provides $430 million for 75,000 welfare-to-work vouchers,
including $144 million in new funds for 25,000 additional vouchers.
Welfare-to-Work Transportation: One ofthe biggest barriers facing people who
move from welfare to work -- in cities and in rural areas -- is finding transportation to get
to jobs, training programs and child care centers. Few welfare recipients own cars.
Existing mass transit does not provide adequate links to many suburban jobs at all, or
within a reasonable commute time. In addition, many entry level jobs require evening or
weekend hours that are poorly served by existing transit routes. To help those on welfare
get to work, President Clinton proposed a $100 million a year welfare to work
transportation plan as part of his ISTEA reauthorization bill. The Transportation Equity
Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) authorized $750 million over five years for the
President's initiative and reverse commute grants. Of this amount, $50 million is
guaranteed funding in FY 1999, rising to $150 million in 2003. The Omnibus Budget Act
included $75 million for this program in FY 1999 and the Department of Transportation
is currently reviewing applications for this first year funding. The President's budget
proposes to double funding for FY 2000, bringing it to the full authorized level of $150
million. The Job Access competitive grants will assist states and localities in developing
flexible transportation alternatives, such as van services, for welfare recipients and other
low income workers.
Eliminating Anti-Work and Anti-FamiJy Rules that Denied Families Health Coverage: In
August 1998, the President eliminated a vestige of the old welfare system by announcing
that the Department of Health and Human Services will revise its regulations to allow all
states to provide Medicaid coverage to working, two-parent families who meet State
income eligibility. Under the old welfare regulations, adults in two-parent families who
worked more than 100 hours per month could not receive Medicaid regardless of income
level, while there were no such restrictions on single-parent families. Because these
regulations provided disincentives to marriage and full-time work, the Administration
allowed a number of states to waive this rule. The new regulation eliminates this rule
for all States, providing health coverage for more than 130,000 working families to help
them stay employed and off welfare.
PROMOTING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Enforcing Child Support -- 80% Increase in Collections: The Clinton Administration
collected a record $14.4 billion in child support in 1998 through tougher enforcement, an
increase of$6.4 billion, or 80% since 1992. Not only are collections up, but the number
of families that are actually receiving child support has also increased. In 1997, the
number of child support cases with collections rose to 4.2 million, an increase of 48%
fom 2.8 million in 1992. In addition, a new collection system proposed by the President
in 1994 and enacted as part of the 1996 welfare reform law located one million
delinquent parents in its first nine months of operation. This National Directory of New
Hires helps track parents across state lines by enabling child support officials to match
records of delinquent parents with wage records from throughout the nation.
Approximately one-third of all child support cases involve parents living in different
Hex-Dump Conversion
states. In June 1998, the President signed the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act, a law
based on his 1996 proposal for tougher penalties for parents who repeatedly fail to
support children living in another state or who flee across state lines to avoid supporting
them. This new law creates two new felonies, with penalties of up to two years in
prison, for egregious child support evaders who travel across state or country lines to
evade child support obligations, or who have an unpaid obligation to a child living in
another state that is more than $10,000 or has remained unpaid for more than two years.
Increasing Parental Responsibility: The President's unprecedented and sustained
campaign to ensure parents financially support their children is working. Paternity
establishment, often the crucial first step in child support cases, has dramatically
increased, due in large part to the in-hospital voluntary paternity establishment program
begun in 1994 by the Clinton Administration. In 1997, the number of paternities
established or acknowledged rose to a record 1.3 million, two and a half times the 1992
figure of 512,000. In addition to tougher enforcement including a strong partnership
with states, President Clinton has taken executive action including: directing the Treasury
Department to collect past-due child support from Federal payments including Federal
income tax refunds and employee salaries, and taking steps to deny Federal loans to any
delinquent parents. The Federal government collected over $1.1 billion in delinquent
child support from federal income tax refunds for tax year 1997, a 70 percent increase
since 1992. The welfare reform law contains tough child support measures that President
Clinton has long supported including: the national new hire reporting system; streamlined
paternity establishment; uniform interstate child support laws; computerized state-wide
collections; and tough new penalties. These five measures are projected to increase child
support collections by an additional $24 billion over the next ten years.
Breaking the Cycle of Dependency -- Preventing Teen Pregnancy: Significant
components of the President's comprehensive effort to reduce teen pregnancy became law
when the President signed the 1996 Personal Responsibility Act. The law requires
unmarried minor parents to stay in school and live at home or in a supervised setting;
encourages "second chance homes" to provide teen parents with the skills and support
they need; and provides $50 million a year in new funding for state abstinence education
activities. Since 1993, the Clinton Administration has supported innovative and
promising teen pregnancy prevention strategies, including working with boys and young
men on pregnancy prevention strategies. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen
Pregnancy, a private nonprofit organization, wa!l formed in response to the President's
1995 State of the Union. In 1997, the President announced the National Strategy to
Prevent Teen Pregnancy, mandated in the welfare reform law. The first annual report on
this Strategy reported that HHS-supported programs already reach at least 31 percent or
1,470 communities in the United States. Notably, data shows we are making progress in
reducing teen pregnancy -- teen births have fallen six years in a row, by 15 percent from
1991 to 1997. And, teen pregnancy rates are at their lowest level in 20 years.
Hex-Dump Conversion
RESTORING FAIRNESS AND PROTECTING THE MOST VULNERABLE
The President made a commitment to fix several provisions in the welfare refonn law that had
nothing to do with moving people from welfare to work. In 1997, the President fought for and
ultimately was successful in ensuring that the Balanced Budget Act protects the most vulnerable.
In 1998, the President continued to reverse unfair cuts in benefits to legal immigrants. The
Administration's FY 2000 budget would build on this progress by restoring important disability,
health, and nutrition benefits to additional categories of legal immigrants, at a cost of $1.3 billion
over five years.
Disability and Health: The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 restored disability and health
benefits to 420,000 legal immigrants who were in this country before welfare refonn
became law (August 22, 1996), at an estimated cost of $11.5 billion. The
Administration's new budget would restore eligibility for SSI and Medicaid to legal
immigrants who enter the country after that date ifthey have been in the U.S. for five
years and become disabled after entering the United States. This proposal would cost
approximately $930 million and assist an estimated 54,000 legal immigrants by 2004,
about half of whom would be elderly.
Nutritional Assistance: The Agricultural Research Act of 1998 provided Food Stamps
for 225,000 legal immigrant children, senior citizens, and people with disabilities who
came to the United States by August 22, 1996. The Administration's budget would
extend this provision by allowing legal immigrants in the United States on August 22,
1996 who subsequently reach age 65 to be eligible for Food Stamps at cost of $60
million.
Childrens' Health Care and Maternal Care for Pregnant Women: States currently
can provide health coverage to immigrant children who .entered the country before August
22, 1996. The President's FY 2000 budget would give states the option to provide health
coverage to legal immigrant children who entered the country after August 22, 1996.
Under this proposal, states could provide health coverage to those children through
Medicaid or their CHIP allotment. The proposal would cost $220 million and serve
approximately 55,000 children by FY 2004. Furthennore, the budget proposes to give
states the option to provide Medicaid coverage to legal immigrant women who entered
the country after August 22, 1996 and subsequently became pregnant. Such coverage
would help reduce the number of high-risk pregnancies, ensure healthier children, and
lower the cost of emergency Medicaid deliveries. This proposal would cost $105 million
and serve approximately 23,000 women by FY 2004.
Helping PeopJe Who Want to Work but Can't Find a Job: The Balanced Budget Act
(BBA), as amended by the Agricultural Research Act, also restored $1.3 billion in food
stamp cuts. The welfare refonn law restricted food stamps for able-bodied childless
adults to only 3 out of every 36 months, unless they were working. This move ignored
the fact that finding a job often takes time. The BBA provided funds for work slots and
food stamp benefits to help those who are willing to work but, through no fault of their
own, have not yet found employment. In addition, the BBA allows states to exempt up to
15 percent of the food stamp recipients (70,000 individuals monthly) who would
Automated Records Management System
Hex-Dump Conversion
==================== ATTACHMENT 1 ====================
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REFORMING WELFARE
On August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed the Personal Responsibility and
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, fulfilling his longtime commitment to 'end
welfare as we know it. ' As the President said upon signing, "". this legislation
provides an historic opportunity to end welfare as we know it and transform our
broken welfare system by promoting the fondamental values of work,
responsibility, and family. "
TRANSFORMING THE BROKEN WELFARE SYSTEM
Overhauling the Welfare System with the Personal Responsibility Act: In 1996, the
President signed a bipartisan welfare plan that is dramatically changing the nation's
welfare system into one that requires work in exchange for time-limited assistance. The
law contains strong work requirements, performance bonuses to reward states for moving
welfare recipients into jobs and reducing illegitimacy, state maintenance of effort
requirements, comprehensive child support enforcement, and supports for families
moving from welfare to work -- including increased funding for child care. State
strategies are making a real difference in the success of welfare reform, specifically in
job placement, child care and transportation.
Law Builds on the Administration's Welfare Reform Strategy: Even before the.
Personal Responsibility Act became law, many states were well on their way to changing
their welfare programs to jobs programs. By granting Federal waivers, the Clinton
Administration allowed 43 states -- more than all previous Administrations combined --
to require work, time-limit assistance, make work pay, improve child support
enforcement, and encourage parental responsibility. The vast majority of states have
chosen to continue or build on their welfare demonstration projects approved by the
Clinton Administration.
Welfare Rolls Decline as More Recipients go to Work: In January 1999, the President
released state-by-state data (from September 1998) 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. This historic decline occurred in response to the Administration's
grants of Federal waivers to 43 states, the provisions ofthe new welfare reform law, and
the strong economy. Recent information released 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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MOVING PEOPLE FROM WELFARE TO WORK on version m
Mobilizing the Business Community: At the President's urging, the Welfare to Work
Partnership was launched in May 1997 to lead the national business effort to hire people
from the welfare rolls. Founded with 105 participating businesses, the Partnership grew
to 5,000 within one year, and in his 1999 State of the Union address, the President
announced that the Partnership now inCludes over 10,000 businesses who have hired
hundreds of thousands of people. Since 1997, these businesses have hired over 410,000
welfare recipients, more than meeting the challenge the President set in May of 1998. The
Partnership provides technical assistance and support to businesses around the country,
including: a toll-free number, a web site, a quarterly newsletter, and a "Blueprint for
Business" hiring manual. The Partnership also published The Road to Retention, a
report of companies that have found higher retention rates for former welfare recipients
for other new hires, and strategies they used to achieve this success.
Connecting Small Businesses with New Workers: The Small Business Administration
is addressing the unique and vital role of small businesses who employ over one-half of
the private workforce, by helping small businesses throughout the country connect with
job training organizations and job-ready welfare recipients. In addition, SBA provides
training and assistance to welfare recipients who wish to start their own businesses.
SBA provides assistance to businesses through its 1-800-U-ASK-SBA number, as well
through its network of small business and women's business centers, one-stop capital
shops, district offices, and its home page.
Mobilizing Civic, Religious and Non-profit Groups: The Vice President created the
Welfare to Work Coalition to Sustain Success, a coalition of national civic, seryice, and
faith-based groups committed to helping former welfare recipients succeed in the
workforce. Working in part~ership with public agencies and employers, Coalition
members provide mentoring, job training, child care, transportation, and other support to
help these new workers with the transition to self sufficiency. Charter members of the
Coalition include: Alpha Kappa Alpha, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America, the Baptist
Joint Committee, Goodwill, Salvation Army, the United Way, Women's Missionary
Union, the YMCA, the YWCA, and other civic and faith-based groups.
Doing Our Fair Share with the Federal Government's Hiring Initiative: Under the
Clinton Administration, the Federal workforce is the smallest it has been in thirty years.
Yet, this Administration also believes that the Federal government, as the nation's largest
employer, must lead by example. The President asked the Vice President to oversee the
Federal government's hiring initiative in which Federal agencies have committed to
directly hire at least 10,000 welfare recipients in the next four years. On March I st, the
Vice President announced that the federal government has hired over 10,000 welfare
recipients nearly two years ahead of schedule. As a part of this effort, the White House
pledged to hire six welfare recipients and has already exceeded this goal.
Funds to Help Move More People from Welfare to Work, with a Focus on Fathers:
Because of the President's leadership, the 1997 Balanced Budget Act included the total
funding requested by the President for the creation of his $3 billion welfare to work fund.
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This program helps states and local communities move long-tenn welfare recipients, and
certain non-custodial parents, into lasting, unsubsidized jobs_ These funds can be used for
job creation, job placement and job retention efforts, including wage subsidies to private
employers and other critical post-employment support services. The Department of
Labor provides oversight but most of the dollars are placed, through the Private Industry
Councils, in the hands of the localities who are on the front lines of the welfare refonn
effort. In addition, 25 percent of the funds are awarded by the Department of Labor on
a competitive basis to support innovative welfare to work projects. The President
announced the first round of 49 competitive grants in May, and the Vice President
announced the second round of75 competitive grants in November 1998. In January
1999, the Department of Labor announced the availability of $240 million in competitive
grants for FY 1999. These funds will support innovative local welfare-to-work strategies
for noncustodial parents, individuals with limited English proficiency, disabilities,
substance abuse pro~lems, or a history of domestic violence.
The President's FY 2000 budget includes $1 billion for the Welfare-to-Work program to
help 200,000 long-tenn welfare recipients in high-poverty areas move into lasting
unsubsidized employment. This is an extension of the two-year $3 billion
Welfare-to-Work program the President secured in the Balanced Budget Act. The
initiative, as reauthorized, will provide 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 children's lives. Under this proposal, states and communities
will use a minimum of 20 percent of their fonnula 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 will 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 will go toward assisting
long-tenn welfare recipients with the greatest barriers to employment to move into lasting
jobs. The reauthorized program also will double the welfare-to-work funding available
for tribes.
Tax Credits for Employers: The Welfare to Work Tax Credit, enacted in the 1997
. Balanced Budget Act, provides a credit equal to 35 percent of the first $10,000 in wages
in the first year of employment, and 50 percent of the first $10,000 in wages in the second
year, to encourage the hiring and retention of long tenn welfare recipients. This credit
complements the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides a credit of up to $2,400
for the first year of wages for eight groups of job seekers. The Omnibus Budget Act
included an extension through June 30, 1999 and the President's FY 2000 budget
proposes to extend both credits for an additional year.
Welfare-to-Work Housing Vouchers: In his FY 1999 budget, the President proposed
$283 million for 50,000 new housing vouchers for welfare recipients who need housing
assistance to get or keep ajob, and Congress approved full funding for this new initiative.
Families will use these housing vouchers to move closer to a new job, to reduce a long
commute, or to secure more stable housing to eliminate emergencies that keep them from
getting to work every day on time. Nearly all of these vouchers will be awarded to
communities on a competitive basis, to communities who create cooperative efforts
among their housing, welfare and employment agencies to assure the most effective use
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of this flexible new tool to help people make the transition from welfare to work. The
President's FY 2000 budget provides $430 million for 75,000 welfare-to-work vouchers,
including $144 million in new funds for 25,000 additional vouchers.
Welfare-to-Work Transportation: One ofthe biggest barriers facing people who
move from welfare to work -- in cities and in rural areas -- is finding transportation to get
to jobs, training programs and child care centers. Few welfare recipients own cars.
Existing mass transit does not provide adequate links to many suburban jobs at all, or
within a reasonable commute time. In addition, many entry level jobs require evening or
weekend hours that are poorly served by existing transit routes. To help those on welfare
get to work, President Clinton proposed a $100 million a year welfare to work
transportation plan as part of his ISTEA reauthorization bill. The Transportation Equity
Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) authorized $750 million over five years for the
President's initiative and reverse commute grants. Of this amount, $50 million is
guaranteed funding in FY 1999, rising to $150 million in 2003. The Omnibus Budget Act
included $75 million for this program in FY 1999 and the Department of Transportation
is currently reviewing applications for this first year funding. The President's budget
proposes to double funding for FY 2000, bringing it to the full authorized level of $150
million. The Job Access competitive grants will assist states and localities in developing
flexible transportation alternatives, such as van services, for welfare recipients and other
low income workers.
Eliminating Anti-Work and Anti-FamiJy Rules that Denied Families Health Coverage: In
August 1998, the President eliminated a vestige of the old welfare system by announcing
that the Department of Health and Human Services will revise its regulations to allow all
states to provide Medicaid coverage to working, two-parent families who meet State
income eligibility. Under the old welfare regulations, adults in two-parent families who
worked more than 100 hours per month could not receive Medicaid regardless of income
level, while there were no such restrictions on single-parent families. Because these
regulations provided disincentives to marriage and full-time work, the Administration
allowed a number of states to waive this rule. The new regulation eliminates this rule
for all States, providing health coverage for more than 130,000 working families to help
them stay employed and off welfare.
PROMOTING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY
Enforcing Child Support -- 80% Increase in Collections: The Clinton Administration
collected a record $14.4 billion in child support in 1998 through tougher enforcement, an
increase of$6.4 billion, or 80% since 1992. Not only are collections up, but the number
of families that are actually receiving child support has also increased. In 1997, the
number of child support cases with collections rose to 4.2 million, an increase of 48%
fom 2.8 million in 1992. In addition, a new collection system proposed by the President
in 1994 and enacted as part of the 1996 welfare reform law located one million
delinquent parents in its first nine months of operation. This National Directory of New
Hires helps track parents across state lines by enabling child support officials to match
records of delinquent parents with wage records from throughout the nation.
Approximately one-third of all child support cases involve parents living in different
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states. In June 1998, the President signed the Deadbeat Parents Punishment Act, a law
based on his 1996 proposal for tougher penalties for parents who repeatedly fail to
support children living in another state or who flee across state lines to avoid supporting
them. This new law creates two new felonies, with penalties of up to two years in
prison, for egregious child support evaders who travel across state or country lines to
evade child support obligations, or who have an unpaid obligation to a child living in
another state that is more than $10,000 or has remained unpaid for more than two years.
Increasing Parental Responsibility: The President's unprecedented and sustained
campaign to ensure parents financially support their children is working. Paternity
establishment, often the crucial first step in child support cases, has dramatically
increased, due in large part to the in-hospital voluntary paternity establishment program
begun in 1994 by the Clinton Administration. In 1997, the number of paternities
established or acknowledged rose to a record 1.3 million, two and a half times the 1992
figure of 512,000. In addition to tougher enforcement including a strong partnership
with states, President Clinton has taken executive action including: directing the Treasury
Department to collect past-due child support from Federal payments including Federal
income tax refunds and employee salaries, and taking steps to deny Federal loans to any
delinquent parents. The Federal government collected over $1.1 billion in delinquent
child support from federal income tax refunds for tax year 1997, a 70 percent increase
since 1992. The welfare reform law contains tough child support measures that President
Clinton has long supported including: the national new hire reporting system; streamlined
paternity establishment; uniform interstate child support laws; computerized state-wide
collections; and tough new penalties. These five measures are projected to increase child
support collections by an additional $24 billion over the next ten years.
Breaking the Cycle of Dependency -- Preventing Teen Pregnancy: Significant
components of the President's comprehensive effort to reduce teen pregnancy became law
when the President signed the 1996 Personal Responsibility Act. The law requires
unmarried minor parents to stay in school and live at home or in a supervised setting;
encourages "second chance homes" to provide teen parents with the skills and support
they need; and provides $50 million a year in new funding for state abstinence education
activities. Since 1993, the Clinton Administration has supported innovative and
promising teen pregnancy prevention strategies, including working with boys and young
men on pregnancy prevention strategies. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen
Pregnancy, a private nonprofit organization, wa!l formed in response to the President's
1995 State of the Union. In 1997, the President announced the National Strategy to
Prevent Teen Pregnancy, mandated in the welfare reform law. The first annual report on
this Strategy reported that HHS-supported programs already reach at least 31 percent or
1,470 communities in the United States. Notably, data shows we are making progress in
reducing teen pregnancy -- teen births have fallen six years in a row, by 15 percent from
1991 to 1997. And, teen pregnancy rates are at their lowest level in 20 years.
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RESTORING FAIRNESS AND PROTECTING THE MOST VULNERABLE
The President made a commitment to fix several provisions in the welfare refonn law that had
nothing to do with moving people from welfare to work. In 1997, the President fought for and
ultimately was successful in ensuring that the Balanced Budget Act protects the most vulnerable.
In 1998, the President continued to reverse unfair cuts in benefits to legal immigrants. The
Administration's FY 2000 budget would build on this progress by restoring important disability,
health, and nutrition benefits to additional categories of legal immigrants, at a cost of $1.3 billion
over five years.
Disability and Health: The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 restored disability and health
benefits to 420,000 legal immigrants who were in this country before welfare refonn
became law (August 22, 1996), at an estimated cost of $11.5 billion. The
Administration's new budget would restore eligibility for SSI and Medicaid to legal
immigrants who enter the country after that date ifthey have been in the U.S. for five
years and become disabled after entering the United States. This proposal would cost
approximately $930 million and assist an estimated 54,000 legal immigrants by 2004,
about half of whom would be elderly.
Nutritional Assistance: The Agricultural Research Act of 1998 provided Food Stamps
for 225,000 legal immigrant children, senior citizens, and people with disabilities who
came to the United States by August 22, 1996. The Administration's budget would
extend this provision by allowing legal immigrants in the United States on August 22,
1996 who subsequently reach age 65 to be eligible for Food Stamps at cost of $60
million.
Childrens' Health Care and Maternal Care for Pregnant Women: States currently
can provide health coverage to immigrant children who .entered the country before August
22, 1996. The President's FY 2000 budget would give states the option to provide health
coverage to legal immigrant children who entered the country after August 22, 1996.
Under this proposal, states could provide health coverage to those children through
Medicaid or their CHIP allotment. The proposal would cost $220 million and serve
approximately 55,000 children by FY 2004. Furthennore, the budget proposes to give
states the option to provide Medicaid coverage to legal immigrant women who entered
the country after August 22, 1996 and subsequently became pregnant. Such coverage
would help reduce the number of high-risk pregnancies, ensure healthier children, and
lower the cost of emergency Medicaid deliveries. This proposal would cost $105 million
and serve approximately 23,000 women by FY 2004.
Helping PeopJe Who Want to Work but Can't Find a Job: The Balanced Budget Act
(BBA), as amended by the Agricultural Research Act, also restored $1.3 billion in food
stamp cuts. The welfare refonn law restricted food stamps for able-bodied childless
adults to only 3 out of every 36 months, unless they were working. This move ignored
the fact that finding a job often takes time. The BBA provided funds for work slots and
food stamp benefits to help those who are willing to work but, through no fault of their
own, have not yet found employment. In addition, the BBA allows states to exempt up to
15 percent of the food stamp recipients (70,000 individuals monthly) who would
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