Patsy T. Mink: “this year we will be working on the reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, known as TANF. It…”

“this year we will be working on the reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, known as TANF. It was a rewrite of the welfare law that we had previously enacted called Aid to Dependent Children. One of the major differences of the two concepts was in the old bill we cared about what happened to the families and to the children. That was our primary purpose. Under TANF it is a 5-year restricted cash assistance to families with the primary emphasis on going to work. What has happened is that the rolls of welfare have dropped, but poverty has remained the same. What we are trying to do in the bill that I have introduced which has 57 sponsors is to put the emphasis on caregiving. It has always been the high principle of Congress to say families count first, the responsibilities of families to nurture their own children. We want to put that at the top, as the emphasis of this new reauthorization: caring for children, allowing parents to stay home to care for their small children and giving them support to build their families' economic future through education. Education must count and be equivalent to work.”