We have just learned from our friends at CBPP that a provision extending the TANF Emergency Fund for one year and adding $2.5 B for 2011 will be added to the small business jobs bill (H.R. 4849 – The “Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act of 2010.” ) by action taken in the House Rules Committee today and the full bill will go to the House floor for a vote later this week. The Rules Committee action means that TANF Emergency Fund extension will be automatically added to the bill that comes to the House floor.
This is great news. Now is a key opportunity to weigh in with your House members to urge their support for the small business jobs bill including the TANF Emergency Fund extension. Since this is the first time the TANF Emergency Fund extension will be active in the House, this is a good time to let your representatives know (again) how important this extension is for your state.
While the addition of the TANF Emergency Fund does not require a separate vote on the House floor (as the Kerry/Murray amendment did in the Senate), the bill is subject to a Motion to Recommit and there could be a move on the floor of the House to target and modify the TANF EF provisions.
Assuming the bill passes the House, it will then go to the Senate which is not expected to take it up until after next week’s recess.
Here is more detail: The Emergency Fund provision in the House bill provides for a full year extension with $2.5 billion dollars. The maximum amount that a state can receive under the TANF Emergency Fund or the regular Contingency Fund for 2011 is 30 percent of the state’s Block Grant amount. The House provision does not include all of the changes that the President’s budget proposal had included; specifically, it does not raise the subsidized employment reimbursement to 100 percent and it does not add a fourth category of employment services. The provision also specifies that the subsidized employment category can include a member of a needy family (whether or not receiving TANF cash assistance) or an individual that has exhausted or will soon exhaust all UI benefits and who is needy (regardless of whether the household includes a child). This will allow states to serve childless adults as part of their TANF ECF-funded subsidized employment programs.
The language of the amendment can be found at: http://www.rules.house.gov/111/SpecialRules/hr4849/111_4849_amnd.pdf
Here’s a link to a description of the underlying bill: http://waysandmeans.house.gov/media/pdf/111/HR_4849_Description.pdf This is way out of my area of expertise, so I’m not going to try to summarize it.
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