To extend the program of block grants to States for temporary assistance for needy families and related programs through September 30, 2019.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 2940) to extend the program of block grants to States for temporary assistance for needy families and related programs through September 30, 2019.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on the bill under consideration.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2940 is bipartisan legislation that extends the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, TANF, and the Child Care Entitlement to States, CCES, through September 30, 2019. This legislation will allow the Department of Health and Human Services to make on-time payments to States, Tribes, and territories for the fourth quarter of the fiscal year.

I thank my friend and ranking member, Mrs. Walorski, for her support of parents and grandparents and for partnering with me to ensure that there is no disruption in help for families or promised funding to States.

States depend on Federal TANF and childcare funding to help struggling parents and grandparents work and to provide basic necessities for children. Without the funding we are extending today, States would likely reduce access to childcare assistance, transportation, and job training, and delay or reduce assistance families use to buy basics like food, housing, and diapers.

Mr. Speaker, I include in the Record this letter from the bipartisan leadership of the National Governors Association urging Congress to quickly enact H.R. 2940.

National Governors Association,

Washington, DC, May 30, 2019.

Hon. Mitch McConnell,

Majority Leader, U.S. Senate,

Washington, DC.

Hon. Chuck Schumer,

Minority Leader, U.S. Senate,

Washington, DC.

Hon. Nancy Pelosi,

Speaker of the House, House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Hon. Kevin McCarthy,

Minority Leader, House of Representatives,

Washington, DC.

Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Schumer,

Speaker Pelosi, and Minority Leader McCarthy:

We write to urge you to support and pass H.R. 2940,

introduced by Chairman Davis and Ranking Member Walorski of

the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Worker and Family

Support, which would extend the Temporary Assistance for

Needy Families (TANF) program through September 30, 2019. As

you know, the program funding is currently slated to expire

on June 30, 2019.

TANF is a critical program for states and served 3.1

million recipients, including 1.2 million families in 2018.

TANF provides vital cash assistance, job training, child

care, and other critical services for families and children.

The program provided a total of $16.5 billion in 2018 in

federal dollars for these services for the 50 states, the

District of Columbia, the territories, and American Indian

tribes. States also are required to contribute at least $10.3

billion in state funds per year under the maintenance-of-

effort requirement.

We ask that Congress act quickly and pass H.R. 2940, a

clean TANF extension, and send it to the President for

signature in order to avoid any lapse in funding for states

and to mitigate any adverse impacts to American families.

While continued short-term extensions make it challenging for

states to allocate resources strategically, we look forward

to working with you on a long-term reauthorization bill in

the near future.

Sincerely,

Governor Kate Brown,

Chair, National Governors Association, Health and Human

Services Committee.

Governor Charlie Baker,

Vice Chair, National Governors Association, Health and

Human Services Committee.

Mr. Speaker, in my home State of Illinois, we use more than half of TANF dollars to provide childcare to working parents and grandparents, and almost a fourth of it is for child welfare services to reduce child abuse and neglect. If the Federal Government fails to make TANF and CCES payments on time, it will affect our State budget, but it will also harm the most vulnerable families.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this legislation, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from California (Ms. Judy Chu).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Alabama (Ms. Sewell).

Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentlewoman from Wisconsin (Ms. Moore).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the ranking member, Representative Walorski from Indiana, and all of my colleagues who have supported and who cosponsor and support this legislation. Congress can and should do far more to reduce child poverty and help hardworking families to make ends meet.

For example, a recent study by the National Academy of Sciences found multiple paths to reducing child poverty by 50 percent in just 10 years using well-known evidence-based tools like the earned income tax credit, the child independent care tax credit, and the Child Care and Development Fund.

Mr. Speaker, I hope to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find new ways to support the parents and grandparents who are working so hard. But while we are looking for ways to make sure that States and the Federal Government do more, we should certainly not allow a funding lapse that would result in States having to do less.

Mr. Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to support this simple, bipartisan legislation to allow us to meet our commitments to State governments and to families in need across the country.

Mr. Speaker, I urge full support, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2940, to extend the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or TANF, program for another 3 months, because families who use these critical benefits should not be penalized for the failures here in Washington.

We are here for the 39th extension of TANF because we are once again unable to move a longer term extension or a reauthorization of this program.

I certainly hope Democratic leaders in the House will allow Chairman Davis and me to work with our colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee in a bipartisan manner to develop a long-term TANF reauthorization that ensures this program focuses on helping individuals prepare for, find, and keep good jobs.

At a time when we have 7.5 million job openings and growing demand for workers that is driving wages up, we not only want every person to reach their full potential--we need them to.

We have the opportunity to make economic and social gains in ways not seen in decades so families are better off financially, helping to improve their overall well-being in the near and long term.

Better wages and stable work bring along a whole host of benefits, most importantly, the positive impact on children who are spared the trauma that comes from unrest in the home.

At the root of addressing these challenges needs to be a focus on human interaction, engagement, support, encouragement, and belief in the possible, not just assumptions about the probable.

It is time to focus on solving the root causes rather than pushing complex government ideas that will only address the symptoms.

That is why I, along with more than 50 of my colleagues, have come forth with a full reauthorization of the TANF program. Our bill, called the JOBS for Success Act, would return the program's focus to families by:

Expecting universal case management so we can rebuild the human connection and so no one is ignored or left behind in this process;

Holding States accountable for work outcomes, meaning folks can get and keep a job, and ensuring that dollars go to their families;

Prioritizing households below 200 percent of the poverty line so they get the services they need to be successful;

Using funds to support and encourage work over the long term, because we know life is hard, not just when someone is starting a job, but 6 months into the job when the car breaks down or one of life's many challenges happens; and

Increasing resources available to support childcare to more than $14 billion annually, better utilizing existing funds, and allowing up to half of a State's annual allocation to be used for childcare.

We all want families to succeed and to achieve their American Dream. The first step on that bridge out of poverty is getting a job, keeping a job, and moving through the ranks to higher pay and more benefits.

Unfortunately, under Democratic leadership, we have yet to see any proposals to reform or improve this program. And today, we are moving to the floor without any formal consideration by the committee or hearings on this bill.

Instead of reaching across the aisle to get things done for the American people, Democratic leadership is focused on investigating the President and going after his tax returns. They are proposing new entitlements that tax low-income workers and subsidize large corporations. They are passing bills that claim to protect people with preexisting conditions but, in reality, take away their health insurance choices. And they are continuing to allow infanticide by refusing to bring to the floor the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act.

Republicans want to work on bipartisan changes to improve childcare under TANF, and we have come forward with a viable plan to improve support for families in need by nearly doubling historic funding levels.

I know my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have the same desire, and I hope we can find common ground before the next bill comes to the floor.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I continue to reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield the balance of my time to the gentleman from Kansas (Mr. Estes), and I ask unanimous consent that he be allowed to control that time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of H.R. 2940, which strengthens the ``Temporary Assistance for Needy-Families'' program.

Specifically, H.R. 2940 extends the authorizations for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF) and the Child Care Entitlement to States (CCES) through September 30, 2019.

The legislation passed by Congress to end the Trump Shutdown authorizes the TANF program through June 30, 2019.

H.R. 2940 is necessary to ensure that the Department of Health and Human Services has the authority to pay fourth quarter allotments to states, tribes, and territories on time and in full, preventing any interruption of benefits to low-income parents and children.

TANF is administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and features four program goals: provide assistance to needy families so that children can be cared for in their own homes; reduce the dependency of needy parents by promoting job preparation, work and marriage; prevent and reduce unplanned pregnancies among 1 single young adults; and encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.

Under TANF, the federal government gives states a fixed block grant totaling $16.5 billion each year.

This annual amount has not increased for inflation over the past two decades-and now covers only two-thirds of the purchasing power when it was created.

TANF and SNAP are essential to provide nutritional and financial assistance to the nation's neediest families and children.

Nearly half (48 percent) (3,375,666) of Texan children live in low- income families which is significantly higher than the national level of 41 percent.

Texas needs to increase the amount of funding for needy families to support their livelihoods and prosperity.

Many TANF families struggle with multiple barriers to self- sufficiency, such as disabilities, mental health issues, domestic violence and substance use disorders.

As a result, these families may not always be able to meet the full participation requirements.

States and counties should be given the flexibility to provide partial credit to these families with special needs.

TANF funding should be increased annually by an amount commensurate with the rate of inflation to ensure that the program's actual value does not decrease each year.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in Texas has supported 57,201 Texans in FY2018.

Texas has reported March 2019 TANF expenditures of $3,371,717 for 18,195 cases.

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Texas is listed as one of nine (9) states that spend less than 10 percent of TANF funds.

Another families program that falls under assistance for needy is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which provides nutritional assistance to children and families.

Texas has spent $357,125,771 over the span of 1,377,384 cases in April 2019.

As of April 2019, Houston has 1,557 SNAP cases, which provides services to 3,168 people, of which 252 are elderly and 1,461 are children.

In total, SNAP has funded $350,743 in food assistance as of April 2019 in Houston.

Long-term reauthorization and adequate funding for this safety-net program are critical for counties, which invest over $58 billion annually in human services.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting H.R. 2940 to support the extension of these critical programs for our needy families and children.

Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Dunn).

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today as Congress debates another extension of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, or TANF.

While TANF remains a vital program to millions of Americans, and I support an extension, I am disappointed in my colleagues across the aisle for not taking the opportunity to discuss much-needed reforms to TANF, which are long overdue. In fact, since the program began in 1996, TANF has had only one true reauthorization and has been simply extended 38 times, including four times in the last 2 years since I have been in Congress.

Today, we debate another extension until September 30. However, another extension does not allow us to discuss proposals to reform TANF to help Americans get jobs needed for an independent and prosperous life.

Unlike my colleagues, Republicans have put forth such a proposal called the JOBS for Success Act. The bill expands services to connect people receiving TANF with tailored skills training and jobs. It also allows States to fund apprenticeships and on-the-job training programs, and it expands funding for work-related transportation costs and childcare. In return, the JOBS for Success Act strengthens accountability for securing a job and maintaining it.

These commonsense reforms are needed now more than ever. Under our new Tax Code, our booming economy has more jobs than workers for the first time in history: 7.5 million job openings versus 5.8 million unemployed, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Now is the time for people to get the support and training they need to take part in this historic economic recovery.

Reforming TANF in Congress should be a great first step toward this goal. I know this because I have seen how reforms to TANF can help those in need.

In my home State of Kansas, we allowed TANF dollars to go to the JAG program, which helps at-risk high school students graduate and get a successful career path. In Kansas, JAG has a 91 percent graduation rate and 80 percent employment rate, both above the national average for JAG students.

This one statewide reform is an example of the potential that exists if we come together to look at potential national reforms to TANF and to help families in need and give them the support they need.

Unfortunately, it appears that my colleagues across the aisle are okay with simply kicking the TANF can down the road for the 39th time without discussing the JOBS for Success Act or offering any sort of reform proposal.

As we debate this extension bill, I continue to call on my colleagues to work with us on reforming TANF and developing a full reauthorization bill, not just continuing to kick the can down the road.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 2940, to extend the authorization for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and the Child Care Entitlements to States program through the end of the 2019 fiscal year. This legislation will ensure that families in my district continue to have access to the important financial and social support offered by these programs.

We know that low-income workers face significant hurdles to economic security. TANF is a critical tool for making sure that these families can afford basic necessities like food, housing, and medicine. In fact, over 11,000 families in Alabama currently receive assistance from TANF, and more than 20,000 children benefit from this important program.

This bill will make sure that TANF recipients in Alabama receive the $23.25 million that is expected to be allocated to the State in the coming months.

This legislation also extends the Child Care Entitlement to States program, an important tool as we fight to make sure all parents can have access to affordable, quality childcare. Childcare is one of the largest expenses facing families, and the matching funds included in this program are important to support low-income workers and their children.

I am pleased that this bill will unlock $10.2 million of funding for childcare in Alabama to help meet the needs of children and families in my district.

While I strongly support this bill, it should be noted that no one thinks that this short-term extension of these programs is the perfect solution. But it is critical that we maintain funding and provide continuity for working families and children who depend upon TANF and childcare grant funding.

It is my hope that we will continue to explore ideas to improve these programs, including increasing funding levels for childcare support grants and identifying ways that these programs can more effectively help families in need.

I ask my colleagues to join us in supporting this short-term extension of TANF and childcare entitlement programs, and I ask that they support this bill going forward.