Senate Panel Forges Compromise Over Welfare Bill; Differences Still Remain
Feature Story by Bria Gillum - 7/16/2002
A Senate bill renewing the 1996 welfare law, restoring assistance to legal immigrants and providing money for childcare, has passed an important committee vote.The 13 to 8 vote by the Senate Finance Committee restores states' rights to use federal funds to provide benefits to legal immigrants who arrived in the United States after 1996. The Work, Opportunity, and Responsibility for Kids (WORK) Act of 2002, drafted by Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), also removes current restrictions that prevent immigrants from accessing cash assistance programs to allow them to use the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) work supports if they face financial difficulties.
The current welfare law expires October 1. A vote of the full Senate is not expected until September at the earliest.
Other provisions of the Senate bill increase child-care assistance by $5.5 billion over the next five years, compared with $1 billion in the House version of the bill, and restore health care coverage for immigrant children and pregnant women who arrived in the country during the past six years.
The National Council of La Raza applauded the Finance Committee vote of June 26 but says the WORK Act does not go far enough to "improve language services and access to English language instruction for parents with limited proficiency in English" to prepare them for the workforce.
The Senate bill also maintained the 30-hour work week for people on welfare to devote more time to education and training and search for a job, a contrast with the welfare bill approved by the House that increases the work requirement to 40 hours.
