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Collins votes to preserve welfare work requirements

by jmaloni

Press release

Fri, Mar 15th 2013 02:55 pm

Congressman Chris Collins, NY-27, issued the following statement after voting for legislation preserving work requirements for welfare recipients (H.R. 890, the Preserving Work Requirements for Welfare Programs Act of 2013):

"Requiring work for people receiving payments from certain welfare programs has proven to be an extremely successful approach since it became law as part of the historic and bipartisan reform of welfare back in 1996. That is why many were stunned last summer when the Obama administration announced it would allow states to waive work requirements for people receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) payments.

"The legislation passed in the House prevents the Obama administration from issuing work requirement waivers. These work requirements have a proven history of helping to lift people out of poverty. It is now my hope that the Senate will address this important issue and that Washington leaders will work together to find more ways to break the cycle of government dependency."

According to the House ways and means committee report issued last year, between 1996 and 2000, employment of single mothers increased by 15 percent; earnings for female-headed households remained higher in 2009 than in 1996 despite shifting economic conditions; TANF caseloads decreased by 57 percent through December 2011; and child poverty has decreased dramatically and continues below the levels in the 1990s.

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