-
https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/files/original/900f20396362bc556013eebd125c89ba.pdf
619e36ce6e35de7cc662e6b09dd2aa08
PDF Text
Text
•Draft
NGA/NCSLIAPWA CONFERENCE ON WELFARE REFORM
Carol H. Rasco
September 9, 1996
�Thank you,
Tht-·
2
thank NGA, NCSL, and APWA
for inviting the Administration to. be a part of this .·
conference and for working with us as you prepared
for this meeting.
Ji.o.v.
. I
As I prepared to come here, I could not help but.
think back eight years ago to
thE~
signing of the
Family Support Act. ... then Governors Clinton and
Castle represented the NGA in the Rose Garden as
President Reagan signed that version of welfare
reform ....
�3
.... as part of my reflection I also wondered how I
could come here today and not
c~:onvey
the message
of, "I'm a Fed and I'm here to hellp you" .... some of
the most dreaded words to state officials -- I know,
I've been in your seat.
In those years in the statehouse, I also experienced
rnajor systems changes at this point. in the state
legislative calendar. But I don't think I ever faced a
system change as far reaching as found in the
Personal Responsibility and Wor·k Opportunity
Reconciliation Act of 1996, and I can only imagine
the anxiety you feel, with many of your states'
�4
budgets prepared, pre-session hearings now being
heldl and an early 1997 legislative session start date
faci~o~.
You probably feel like many of us here
in Washington as we read and re-read this law:
Stop the World -- at least for .a few moments -- I
need to get off!
But time, legislative schedules, deadlines set on law
and, most importantly, the lives of our clients march
on, and so must we.
�5
Less than three week.s ago, Pres:ident Clinton -again .in tlhe Rose Garden with, by the way,
Congressman Castle and severa 1 of your governors
1
present -- signed legislation with strong bipartisan
support tlhat makes the most dramatic changes in
the country's social welfare system in thirty years.
Welfare as we knew it is no more.
But, as President Clinton said on signing the bill,
while the legislation ·may have 11narked the end of
"welfare as we know
it"~
it is really only the
beginning of welfare reform.
�6
We. now have an historic opportunity to create a
new program that provides those who need it with a
hand up and. out of poverty. Bu1t the challenging
work now begins.
As many of you know from Governor Clinton's
tenure in the NGA, the President has a profound
understanding of the state perspective on welfare
reform. And it is certainly fitting that the. law relies ·
so heavily on the
state~.
Clearly, states have long
been ahead of the curve on wel1fare reform.
.
'
�7
You have demonstrated a record of innovation
reflected in the nearly 80 state waiver programs
approved to date. States have known for some time
that federal welfare laws were not working, and the
push for waivers was a manifestation of that. This
legislation recognizes that states are in the best
position to accomplish the goals we all want to
reach.
Now you have the opportunity you have long
sought. Each of us has an awesome responsibility
to fulfill in making this law work to improve the
lives of people now on welfare.
�8
We in the federal government will. be working with
you, but we will play a very different role than we
have in the past. We will be prescribing processes
a lot less than we used to, and instead working with
you on outcomes and
goals~
You will have many
other partners, as well --the business community,
the non-profit sector, the
religio~Js
community, state
agencies who have not worked on this issue
.
.
~
.
previously, and welfare r-aripien;ts. themselves. And
we must all work to ensure that .everyone does their
part. But in so many ways, it wiU be up to you.
�9
Vision
What does truly successful welfare reform look like
to the President and his Administration?
The President has 3 primary goals for welfare
reform:
(1) to create a genuine transitional system of
support for families in need;·
(2) to make work pay; and
�10
(3) to do everything we can to achieve those.
two goals while protecting children dur,ing
this difficult transition period.
(1) The fundamenta·l problem wi:th the old welfare
system was its answer to the question, "What does
a poor family need?" The answer was a check.
Plain and simple. The less income you brought into
the household the larger your check. The system
.contained all the wrong incentivE!s and was out of·
step with our values and culture .
�11
I think it is fair to say that a new consensus has
· emerged in this country that the right answer to the
question of what a family in poverty needs is work.
Work gives shape and meaning and dignity to all of
our lives. It has to be the centerrpiece of our social
compact. All those who· can wo1rk, should. All
those who work full time should not have to raise
their children in poverty .
. So the first goal of welfare refor1m is to transform
welfare offices and programs from check-writing
operations to work preparation, placement, and
support.
�12
Welfare offices should be places where people who
need help temporarily
-~
because of family crisis,
unemployment, or for whatever reason -- can go to
· get it. And the help they get willl be help in
preparing for, finding, and holding a job.
(2) The second goal of welfare reform is to ensure
that work pays. I'm sure I don't need to tell all of
you that for many years it simply made rational
sense for. a mother in many states to choose to stay
.
on welfare rather than to work.
�13
The decision was based on
sim~,le
economics: A
mother leaving welfare to go to work would often
bring home less cash while facing increased
expenses for chold care, transportation and work .
clothes, and of course putting her family's health
care and other benefits at risk.
It was no wonder so many people chose welfare
over work. The only real
surpris~e
is how many
people chose to leave welfare for work despite the .
economics.
~·~~~
Let me tell you a bit about what's been
.·.
·~~~
accomplished so far to change these
e~arnlcs.
�. 14
First, we've taken two critical steps to increase the
incomes of the working poor --the expansion of the
Earned Income Tax Credit and the increase in the
minimum wage. When both of these changes are
. fully phased in, a
. urith2~w
person~working
a full-time
minimum wage job will hav.e over $14,000 in annual
income after taxes, excluding other benefits. That
· is a major improvement over four years· ago.
The second critical element is clhild care. The new
law increases federal funding for child care over the
next six years by $4 billion.
�15
The President is also proposing to expand Head ·
Start to over 1· million children in. the next six years,
. and is leading a national challenge ·to support
efforts to keep schQols open late, so that parents.
.
.
1 ..
have a sa f e, secure p Iace f or th e1r c h"ld ren
they-are-sttl·l-at-we·Fk-;--
~~
1f-1~ .
w 1e
~.u~~
. ML ~ q;/- /J/fJtle. ,
A final piece of the puzzle is health care. The
welfare bill guarantees. a year of !Medicaid for those
.
leaving welfare for work and severs the link
between Medicaid and welfare.
�16
Several states have developed plans to extend
coverage to more working poor families, and the
Kassebaum-Kennedy law will he:lp families keep
their insurance if they have to S\Nitch jobs, which so
often happens at entry levels. Of course, there is
more to be done ·to expand health care coverage so
that all working Americans and their children have.
it, arid the President is committed. to moving step
by step toward that
g~al.
The bottom line is that welfare must never again
· pay better than work.
�17
· (3) Our third goal is to e·nsure that children are
protected. Families and their children will be better
off on the long run with a system1 that substitutes
paychecks for welfare checks and ensures that
those who do take a job, any job, can raise their
kids out· of poverty.
The bill also includes the child support enforcement.
measures the President proposed two years ago.
These sweeping changes could increase· child
support collections by $24 billion over 10 years .
�18
They will make it easier to establish paternity, track
delinquent parents across state lines, and
streamline procedures for withholding child support
from wages. As a result, children will get more of
the support they need and deserve ..
Problems with the Bill
The President signed this legislation because it
presented a historic opportunity to reform welfare.
However, as you all know, he did so with strong
objections· to certain provisions that are not related ·
to welfare reform. ·
�19
He has vowed to correct the deep cuts .in Food
Stamps for workong families witt. high shelter costs.
He us also committed to changing provisions that
are so unfair to legal immigrant families who have
followed the rules, worked hard, and paid taxes, and
who have suffered a calamity that has forced them
to seek assistance. In addition 1:o placing an undue
hardship· o·n these individuals, this will shift costs to
states, local governments, and communities that
serve large immigrant populations. The President is
committed to working with
Cong~ress
to fix these
parts of the bill in the legislative process.
�20
In
implem~nting
the bill, the Administration has
already taken actions to treat
le~al
immigrants
fairly. We have offered states a waiver of food
stamp recertification requirements, so that many
states will have more time to develop the
. procedures needed to make accurate
determinations about eligibility. We are continuing
•
>
to reduce the bureaucratic delays in the citizenship
process, so that legal immigrants who are eligible
to become citizens can do so as quickly as
· possible.
�21
The Attorney General has issued a memorandum
pursuant to· the new law listing non-cash services
that may not be denied to immig1rants because
~hey
are necessary for the protection of life and safety.
Finally, we are widely disseminajting information on
naturalization. I hope you will i111clude the issue of
naturalization. in your discussions with the everwidening circle of stakeholders with whom you will
be working -- .Public and private.
�22
Implementation Issues
Let me now touch briefly on some of the steps we
Will be taking over the corning months to ·ensure
that our goals for welfa.re reform1 are fulfilled.
The central issue in a reformed welfare system that
requires work is, "Where are the jobs?" The
l
President understands this, and that's why he·
unveiled a new $3.4 billion job creation and .
\
.
placement initiative -- called the Welfare to Work
Jobs Challenge. This fund will provide money to
support job
crea~ion
and placement initiatives,
targeted to the hardest-to-place welfare recipients.
�23
This three-part initiative includes a. targeted welfareto-work tax credit, tax incentives to increase
investment in distressed areas, and a major welfareto-work jobs initiative .. We have provided
information on this challenge for your
notebook~
·
OJifLd ~ ~~ -r-ato_~,
In addition to this proposal, we are. eager to know
from you if there are steps we in the federal
government can take to assist y:ou, as you work to
create an atmosphere where sta~te programs and
departments -- that might never have done so in the
past -- come to view jobs for we·lfare clients as part
of their mission.
�24
.
This will be a critical step in your planning. I was
pleased to see reported in my
h~>me
state this
weekend that the DHS Director acknowledged to. a
legislative committee
Sure, we
wil~
~ast
week,
be initially receiving more money,
but the major outcome has to do with jobs, and
it will be necessary for us to look at the current
jobs and economic development programs in
Arkansas that can be re-focUJsed to make
certain we can meet the worlk requirements.
�25
How can -- or perhaps more app:ropriately -- CAN
the federal government assist _in that effort in your
state?
The President is committed to an active, but
appropriate, role for the Federal government in the
implementation of this welfare reform law.-- our role
will be modified to
ref~ect
more of a
p~rtnership,
and less of the traditional bureaucratic. approach. ·
The White House is bringing together on a regular
basis the agencies with the major responsibility for
implementing this bill, including the Department of
Health and Human Services,
�26
the Department of Agriculture, title Social Security
Administration, and the Immigration and
Naturalization Service, to· ensure that all of us are
working together in a coordinated fashion across
agencies to implement this law smoothly and ·
effectively.
It is with this group of four agencies and seve.ral
· White House departments that y:our three
organizations met as planning proceeded for this
conference.
�27
The White House has committed to convening· this
group regularly for a reporting . and sharing session
in order to better ensure that we act in partnership
with you, the states. We will me.et next week for a
debriefing process from this conference.
A larger group of 11 federal agencies and
departments is meeting bi-weekl:y .at the White
House to discuss the implicatio111s of the law more
broadly. Included in this group are the Departments
of Labor, Commerce; Justice, Housing, and
Education, the Small Business Administration, and
the EPA due to the brownfields iinitiative and its
relation to jobs creation.
�28
We are all here these two days to ·learn from one
another. All of us have questions about how to
interpret the· statute and· how programs will work on
the ground level. The Administration officials who
are here today and tomorrow wil:l. do their best to
discuss these questions with you and to listen. But .
it would be misleading to suggest that we. have all
the answers at this point. In fact, one benefit of ·this
conference coming so soon after the enactment of
the law is that we can all take advantage of this
opportunity to learn from one another.
�29
On the other hand, from the perspective of state
officials, I know that the law's effective dates must
seem very near indeed. There is so much to do:
developing work programs; changing the culture of
welfare offices; writing new state plans;
implementing a new child suppo:rt enforcemernt
system and a new child care block grant; managing
major changes to food stamps a1nd other nutrition
programs; delinking Medicaid
fr~m
welfare and
other systems; and getting a handle on
performance bonuses and contingency funds.
�30
Conclusion
Working together, I know we can bring all these
strands together and make .this law a success. But
the success of welfare reform will depend on the.
work that goes on each and every day in each and
every state -- and, quite frankly, most importantly
the work that occurs every day i1n the communities,
large and small across this country.
I have already heard or read tha1t this law has
numerous analogies to various processes in our
.lives.
�31
There are those who have said
Vie
will move from
chaos and confusion, to a state of change, on to
competence. There are even thc>se who have said
the law is like the eye of the fiercest storm, and we
must work to keep the devastation and churning
off-shore, out of the lives of the clients.
However, ·if you look at the _list of programs where
you will be trying to bring about major change .-- the
new TANF block grant, Food Stamps, WIC, Medicaid
in all its variations, SSI, child care, child support,
education and training, employment. .. and the list
goes on --
�32
-- then perhaps the best image to keep before us
throughout the process of imple1mentation is the life
of the current welfare recipient. She or he and the
children involved have been trying for years to
make sense out of these
progra~ns,
and more often
than not have been their own case managers, trying
desperately to create a life, a support system for
· making the fami.ly whole.
We now have the framework through this law to
build on the lessons we in government -- whatever
the level -- have learned from one another AND from
the clients.
�33
Over.the last 18 months, I have traveled to 21· of
your states and the District, visiting programs at
various levels of government, .Private and public.
Always, I have tried to learn something about how
you are approaching welfare in your state or
community. On each visit, I always heard how you
are seeking to learn the best ways to coordinate,
collaborate, and achieve results for the families
trapped in· this system -- and make changes that are
long-term and focused on jobs.... and how difficult
the job is.
�34
I doubt anyone in this room has escaped countless
hours in the last
5-~
years in workshops,
conferences, academies, etc., exploring just how we
get to these long-lasting, systemic changes. We
. must app~y those houll"s of lessons to·our ·work in
the days ahead as we seize this opportunity.
In closing, I would like to share ·with you the three
groups of persons that I believe we must keep
before us at all times as we proceed. I challenge
you to pause often in your work and picture beside
you a real person from your state in each of these
categories.
�35
I certainly pledge to keep in my sight some of the ·
people I've met in your states. And then we must
all
l~sten
as the person standing by us asks his or
her questnons ..
1. First, the front line worker.
a.
Will you listen to me while I tell you about
the tools I genuinely need to assist my
clients who really want to be self-sufficient?
�36
b.
Will you take a half day, or a couple of
hours, and sit with me while I do an intake
or a home visit or fill out my required
forms?
c.
Do you really respect and value my work
· and worth, or am I simplly a regulation
enforcer who is there to meet your stated ·
numerical goals and avaid penalties?
�37
2. · Second, the welfare mother,
~>r
the welfare dad.
a. . What kind of system are you creating for
my
· b.
fami~y
that I care about so much? .
Can you help me figure ·out how I can get a
REAL
job?
c ... Would you mind sitting down and talking to
me about how I put my life back together?
�38
3. And finally,· and in my mind, most importantly,
the third group is the ~hildren. ·You have an eight
year old standing by you in the months ahead ... an
eight year old from a welfare family, an
eig~t
year
old whose eyes still light up. as she enters the
classroom each morning:.
a.
Mister, whaVou doing to my life? .
b.
If .I get sick, can my· marna take me to a
d.octor?
c. · Will my .little brother. be safe at day care?
d.
Do I have a chance when I grow up?
�39
I firmly believe children whose chances were
dimmer in the past DO now have a better chance
and we all together hold that chance before us. The
outcome will depend on the creativity and
dedication
~f
all of us in making the most of this
opportunity. Let us work together so that all our
nation's children can soar!
,Thank you verj much.
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Carol Rasco - Meetings, Trips, and Events Series
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Domestic Policy Council
Carol Rasco
Meetings, Trips, and Events Series
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1993-1996
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/48176" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid for boxes 37-59</a>
<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36306" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid for boxes 60-121</a>
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/647140" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Description
An account of the resource
Carol Rasco's Meetings, Trips, and Events Series highlights the topics of discussion for scheduled meetings and events, the persons involved, and information on travel required to attend the meetings or events. Topics include health care reform, disability, employment, education, children and families, and communities. The records include memos, letters, reports, schedules, itineraries, meeting notes, flyers and pamphlets. Folders are arranged chronologically from January 1993 through 1996.
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
1388 folders in 121 boxes
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Paper
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
September 9, 1996 NGA (National Governors Association/NCSL (National Conference of State Legislatures)/APWA (American Public Works Administration) Conf. on Welfare Reform Draft
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Domestic Policy Council
Carol Rasco
Meetings, Trips, Events Series
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Box 103
<a href="http://clintonlibrary.gov/assets/Documents/Finding-Aids/Systematic/2010-0198-S-meetings.pdf" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="https://catalog.archives.gov/id/647140" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Adobe Acrobat Document
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Medium
The material or physical carrier of the resource.
Reproduction-Reference
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
10/12/2011
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
2010-0198-Sa-september-9-1996-nga-national-governors-association-ncsl-national-conference-of-state-legislatures-apwa-american-public-works-administration-conf-on-welfare-reform-draft
647140