Last month, House Republicans passed a bill to reauthorize the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Act (TANF) on a party-line vote. The bill, the Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services for Success Act (JOBS for Success Act), or H.R. 5861, comes as TANF is set to expire at the end of September. TANF is a block grant program to the states, whereby states then use the funds to provide cash assistance, along with employment and training support, to low-income families. The program includes work-requirements for qualifying adults. In addition to actual jobs, work activities can include CTE and some other job training. ACTE has several priorities related to TANF reauthorization to improve the law to better assist TANF recipients in accessing meaningful job training that will improve their economic well-being
The bill makes some positive changes that address most of ACTE's recommendations. Among many reforms, the bill would eliminate the 12-month limit for individuals to count CTE programs as a work activity for the purpose of receiving benefits. This will allow TANF recipients to pursue longer-term credentials, including those that may take 18 or 24 months to complete and are often associated with higher earnings. Additionally, the bill eliminates an existing arbitrary limitation on the percentage of a state's work participation rate that can be met through recipients' education activities. The bill would also establish an outcome-based performance accountability system largely aligned with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). This is a step in the right direction, though ACTE would like to see credential attainment included as a metric of success.
Some Democrats and other organizations have acknowledged the bill makes some important reforms, but have criticized it for providing an insufficient level of funding. Indeed, the bill would continue the roughly 20-year trend of flat-funding TANF, which due to inflation, has reduced the program's real value by more than one-third. Similarly, ACTE is concerned that some aspects of the bill would place a greater burden on the workforce development system without allocating adequate funds to accommodate for these changes.
ACTE has endorsed another TANF-related bill that was offered as an amendment to the comprehensive reauthorization bill during the markup but not voted on, the Improving Access to Good Jobs for Parents Act (H.R. 5888). That amendment would have provided $900 million in formula grants to states and provide critical resources to partnerships across the workforce development ecosystem, including community colleges and CTE programs. ACTE believes these funds would strengthen coordination across programs and increase skills and economic opportunities for TANF recipients. We hope to see the idea revisited as the TANF reauthorization process moves forward.
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