While there may be some promising welfare to work experiments going on around the world, our experience offers a cautionary tale about declaring victory too soon. In the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF), for example, after an early burst of innovation and investment, states began diverting their welfare block grants to fill state budget holes instead of investing in work and getting families out of poverty.
In 2014, only 8 percent of TANF funds were used for work activities, and less than half supported its core purposes. TANF continued to measure caseload reduction, but didn’t hold states accountable for employment outcomes. As a result, more than three fourths of families in poverty got no help at all from TANF. A recent study found that as many as 3 million American children live on less than $2 a day.
There are lessons we can learn from other countries, and I hope my Republican colleagues will work with us to implement them. For example, Great Britain set a goal for cutting child poverty in half, and then they changed their public policies to meet that goal. My Child Poverty Reduction Act would allow us to follow their good example.
We can also learn a lot from other nations about public policies that support work.
The United States is the only developed country that provides zero weeks of paid parental leave. Just this year, our Committee failed to even take up the Family and Medical Insurance Leave Act when it was referred to us.
The United States ranks close to dead last in terms of investment in child care. As a percent of GDP, Denmark invests seven times more than we do in quality child care. The Netherlands, five times more. Great Britain, four times more. But year after year, Republicans have blocked the funding needed to make quality child care available to working families, leaving millions of families on waiting lists instead of at work.
We know health care is a key work support, one that is guaranteed around the world. But despite all of advances the Affordable Care Act brought, Republican governors in 19 states are blocking health care for millions and Republicans in Congress have voted 61 times to undermine or repeal the ACA.
Democrats are serious about work that lifts families out of poverty. That means building on successes like our Earned Income Tax Credit. And it means providing real support to working parents as they try to make a better life for their families.
