2013: Schweikert Voted To Preserve Work Requirements To The Temporary Assistance For Needy Families Program. In March 2013, Schweikert voted to support restoring work requirements for TANF, as part of the Republican Study Committee's proposed budget resolution covering fiscal years 2014 to 2023. According to the House Budget Committee, "This budget also calls for preservation of the work requirement that is the lynchpin of the successful 1996 reform of the TANF program. The President's proposed waiver of these work requirements would be a dramatic step backward -- for the program and for the individuals who participate in it -- and is prohibited by this budget." The vote was on an amendment to the House budget resolution replacing the entire budget with the RSC's proposed budget; the amendment failed by a vote of 104 to 132 with 171 Democrats voting present. According to Congressional Quarterly, "Repeating a strategy from last year, 171 Democrats voted "present" to push Republicans to vote against the RSC plan to make sure it did not have enough support to replace the Ryan plan." [House Vote 86, 3/21/13; Republican Study Committee, 3/18/13; Congressional Quarterly, 3/25/13; Congressional Actions, H. Amdt. 35; Congressional Actions, H. Con. Res. 25]
TANF Work Waivers Had Been Created After Requests From Multiple Governors For Flexibility In Administering The TANIF Program. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) announcement last summer that it would consider state requests for waivers to test alternative ways "to improve employment outcomes for needy families" arose from widespread state dissatisfaction with the work performance measure that states must meet, known as the work participation rate (WPR). HHS had received requests from several governors of both parties for greater flexibility than the work rate afforded them in designing work programs." [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2/26/13]
Monitoring The Work Requirement Was "Burdensome And Costly" And Designed To Maximize Success In Meeting The Work Rate While Not Necessarily Helping Individuals Find Jobs. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, "Moreover, monitoring TANF recipients' work participation is burdensome and costly for states. States are required to track and document every hour of every recipient's participation. This means that states devote significant staff time to tracking hours rather than providing direct service to individuals that could improve their prospects for securing employment or make them more job-ready. Also, since the work participation rate is a primary measure by which states' TANF programs are judged, states have designed their programs to maximize their success in meeting the work rate, often at the expense of actually helping individuals with significant employment barriers overcome those barriers and find jobs.." [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, 2/26/13]
2013: Schweikert Voted To Reauthorize The Temporary Assistance For Needy Families Program, While Eliminating Work Requirement Waivers For States. In March 2013, Schweikert voted for a bill that, according to Congressional Quarterly, would have "reauthorize[d] the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families through Dec. 31, 2013 and bar[red] the Health and Human Services secretary from taking any action to further implement the TANF Work Requirement Waiver program or provide new waivers. It also would [have] rescind[ed] any waivers provided under the program prior to the date of enactment." The vote was on final passage. The House approved the bill by a vote of 246 to 181, but as of November 2013, the Senate had taken no substantive action on it. [House Vote 68, 3/13/13; Congressional Quarterly, 3/13/13; Congressional Actions, H.R. 890]
The Obama Administration Had Announced That It Would Grant Waivers To TANF's Work Requirements If Governors Could Show Alternate Methods To Accomplish Welfare- To-Work. According to the Associated Press, "Renewing a political fight from last year's presidential campaign, House Republicans passed a bill Wednesday that would prevent the Obama administration from waiving work requirements in the landmark 1996 welfare reform law. [...]Last summer, the Obama administration announced it would be willing to grant states waivers of some of the law's requirements but only if governors can show they can accomplish the same welfare-to-work goals using different methods." [Associated Press, 3/13/13]
TANF, Created By 1996 Welfare Reform Law, Offered States Block Grant To Provide Cash Welfare To Needy Families, And Required Half Of A State's Recipients To Meet Work Requirements; Caseloads Declined Afterwards. According to the Associated Press, "The 1996 welfare act created the TANF program, provided states with block grants to carry out welfare reform, limited how long families may receive cash benefits and required that 50 percent of families receiving benefits be participating in work activities. Welfare caseloads declined after the law was enacted. In 2012, an average of 4 million people received benefits each month." [Associated Press, 3/13/13]
HHS Secretary: To Qualify For A Work Requirement Waiver, States Need To Say How They Would Move 20 Percent More People From Welfare To Work, And Show Progress Within A Year. According to the Associated Press, "In a July letter to congressional leaders, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said that to qualify for a waiver, governors must show how they will move at least 20 percent more people from welfare to work. States must also show clear progress toward that goal within a year. 'What HHS proposed was allowing states in demonstration projects to see if they could undertake further innovations to help people move to work,' said Rep. Sander Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee. 'I just think it's a mistake to take the campaign of last year and project it onto the floor of the Congress.'" [Associated Press, 3/13/13]
Republicans Argued HHS' Waivers Were Illegal. According to the Associated Press, "Republicans contend that the Health and Human Services Department was acting illegally in offering the waivers, saying the welfare law bars the administration from waiving the work requirement. 'Some have said that this is a waste of time because no state has even asked for a waiver,' Camp said. 'Preserving the work requirement in welfare is never a waste of time. It was good bipartisan policy when President Bill Clinton signed it into law and it is good sound policy today.'" [Associated Press, 3/13/13]
Supporters Said Administration Was Trying To Weaken The Program's Work Requirements, Passed In The 1996 Welfare Reform Law. According to the Associated Press, "Republicans say President Barack Obama is trying to weaken work requirements in the law a claim that is disputed by administration officials and Democrats in Congress. [. . .] Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney seized on the issue during the campaign, accusing Obama of gutting welfare reform. The issue became the subject of many campaign ads. 'Clearly the best way out of poverty is a job and it is critical that our laws both foster job creation as well as ensure welfare is always a pathway to work,' said Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. 'That's what this legislation is about, ensuring that work and other productive activities remain a central part of the TANF cash welfare program.'" [Associated Press, 3/13/13]
Opponents Said Republicans Were Distorting Waiver Program And That The Administration Was Trying To Innovate In Coordination With State Officials. According to the Associated Press, "Democrats claim that Republicans are distorting the goal of the waivers. The administration said the waiver program was a response to concerns from state officials that the law's work requirements created bureaucratic hurdles to placing welfare recipients in jobs. 'Flexibility was requested by governors on both sides of the aisle to allow states to test new, more effective ways to place more people on a path to self-sufficiency,' the White House said in a statement. 'The administration is disappointed that the bill includes this unnecessary bar to innovative welfare-to-work strategies.'" [Associated Press, 3/13/13]
2019: Schweikert Voted Against An Continuing Appropriations Bill For All But Homeland Security That Would End That Partial Government Shutdown As Well As Extend TANF Through The End Of FY 2020. In January 2019, Schweikert voted against a bill that, according to Congressional Quarterly, "provide[d] $271.8 billion for full-year fiscal 2019 funding for six of the seven spending bills that reached a conference agreement, but that lack enacted appropriations (all except Homeland Security) and would [have] extend[ed] authorization for several expiring programs including the National Flood Insurance Program and the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families." The vote was on a passage. The House passed the bill by a vote of 234 to 180. [House Vote 49, 1/23/19; Congressional Quarterly, 1/23/19; Congressional Actions, H.R. 648]