The federal cash welfare program would be renamed the “JOBS Program” under legislation set to be moved this week by House Republicans.
Today, cash welfare is known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF. But Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee aim to advance a reauthorization this week that would change the name to “Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services.”
“This is a great opportunity to do more to help those who are on the sidelines get to the front lines of employment,” said committee Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Texas.
The committee is scheduled to move the legislative package Wednesday. It would limit states’ ability to redirect welfare funds to other purposes, setting aside job training programs. It also would institute new metrics for measuring states’ success on getting recipients into jobs.
Brady said Monday that the bill is meant to “restore the promises” of the 1996 welfare reforms, which were passed by a GOP Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton. Those reforms set time limits on welfare and instituted work requirements. Brady maintained that the pro-work elements of the reforms have since been weakened.
Before the 1996 reforms established TANF, the welfare program was known as Aid to Families with Dependent Children, or AFDC.
