National Council on Disability Opinion Editorial on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and People with Disabilities

3/11/2004

From: Mark S. Quigley of the National Council on Disability, 202-272-2004

WASHINGTON, March 11 -- Following is an opinion editorial by Lex Frieden, chairperson of the National Council on Disability, regarding Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and people with disabilities:

As the 108th Congress enters its second session, reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program remains on the agenda. When reauthorization is again considered, it will be important that the new law establish policies that reflect both the intention and desire of people with disabilities to work and the reality that some individuals may have significant work circumstances requiring long-term assistance.

While the TANF program is not specifically directed towards individuals with disabilities, research data indicate far-reaching effects of this program on people with disabilities. The General Accounting Office numbers are startling-over 40 percent of TANF recipients have at least one physical or mental impairment or they have a child with a disability, and eight percent of TANF families have both an adult and a child with a disability. TANF's work requirements and lifetime limits to benefits, which are key elements of welfare reform, pose challenges for state and local agencies as they attempt to address the unique needs of families with individuals with a disability. These challenges must be directly addressed in the reauthorization of TANF if welfare reform is to be meaningful for a large number of TANF recipients. If TANF is to truly help people with a disabilities fulfill their potential and move to work, the proper supports must be in place and continue as they exit the TANF program.

A bipartisan team of Finance Committee Senators-Senators Smith (R-Ore.), Jeffords (I-Vt.), and Conrad (D-N.D.) --introduced last year the Pathways to Independence Act (S. 1523). The bill included important provisions that would assist families with a disability to successfully transition to employment. First, the time a parent spends caring for a child or an adult relative with a disability would count as work. Second, the Senate bill provides a creative formula for allowing up to six months of rehabilitative services to count as work for individuals with disabilities in need of rehabilitation for employment success. The Senate bill also includes modest language requiring states to review an individual's "personal responsibility plan" prior to sanctioning the individual for not working or not meeting other program requirements. This bill is a clear example of the distance Congress has come in recognizing the importance of disability issues in TANF.

The disability community was encouraged when the Senate Finance Committee included portions of the Pathways to Independence Act when it marked up H.R. 4, the Welfare Reform bill, last fall. Congress is now working with people with disabilities and their supporters to get the remaining critical provisions included in the Senate's version of TANF reauthorization, in particular, the provision that allows states flexibility to count more than six months of rehabilitative services as work when the individual needs more services to become employed. Under the Pathways to Independence bill, after the first six months, participation in rehabilitative services could count as work as long as the person spends one-half of his/her time in other work activities. The National Council on Disability (NCD) weighed in on this issue in 2003 with a report entitled TANF and Disability-Importance of Supports for Families with Disabilities in Welfare Reform, available at http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/familysupports.html , which outlines the unique challenges and discriminatory practices individuals with disabilities face in the current TANF program. Based on this report and the wealth of information available on the needs of TANF families and individuals with disabilities, NCD advised Congress to seize this opportunity to ensure that TANF recipients with disabilities receive the accommodations they need to join others who have been able to take advantage of the TANF program to enter the labor market.

It is time for Congress to send a strong signal to states that they have a responsibility to assist families with disabilities. This is a bipartisan issue that calls for a bipartisan solution. To provide states with the flexibility and incentives to invest in families with disabilities, Congress should incorporate in the final reauthorization bill the provisions in the Pathways to Independence Act that would help TANF recipients with disabilities break the chain of dependency on public supports.

NOTES:

Lex Frieden is the Chairperson of the National Council on Disability, an independent federal agency charged with advising the President and Congress on disability policy issues.

For more information, contact Mark Quigley at 202-272-2004 or 202-272-2074 (TTY) or mquigley@ncd.gov .