1993

January 20. President Clinton is inaugurated. He popularized the idea of "end[ing] welfare as we know it" during his presidential campaign.

January 21. U.S. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) reintroduces the Work for Welfare Act, which would provide full federal funding for the Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training Program (JOBS).

February 2. House Ways and Means Committee Republicans introduce a welfare reform bill with two tiers of AFDC, the transition program and the work program. After a total of five years’ participation by clients in both programs, states could opt to drop clients from the rolls of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC).

June 21. The Clinton Administration names a 27-member task force to develop a welfare reform plan. The effort is led by Bruce Reed, deputy assistant to the president for domestic policy; David T. Ellwood, assistant secretary for planning and evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); and Mary Jo Bane, HHS assistant secretary, Administration for Children and Families.

November 10. House Republicans unveil H.R. 3500, a welfare reform proposal sponsored by Minority Leader Robert H. Michel (R-Ill.) and cosponsored by 160 Republican lawmakers. The proposal requires that by 2002, 90 percent of those who receive AFDC for two years or more would work in exchange for their benefits. The proposal allows states to convert AFDC to block grants, requires paternity establishment in exchange for AFDC benefits, and denies AFDC to minor parents under age 18. It would save $19.5 billion over five years.

Janurary 11. APWA releases a bipartisan plan for reforming the nation's welfare system, Responsibility, Work, Pride: The Values of Welfare Reform, that was developed by state human service commissioners. The plan calls for expanded job training and work, stronger child support enforcement, increased federal support for the JOBS Program, improved health care coverage, and streamlined administration of services.

January 18. U.S. Senator John Breaux (D-La.) calls for Congress to address welfare reform in 1994 year with the same urgency as health care reform.

January 25. Sixteen Senate Republicans, including U.S. Senators Bob Dole (Kan.) and Hank Brown (Colo.), introduce the Welfare Reform Act of 1994, S. 1795. It gives states the option of ending AFDC after two years, requires teen mothers to live at home, preserves the AFDC entitlement, and allows for the establishment of a voucher program in which the combined value of AFDC and food stamp benefits can be used as a wage subsidy.

February 18. House Republicans this week say they will file a discharge petition to force a vote on the House floor on H.R. 3500, the House Republican welfare proposal.

April 15. U.S. Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Christopher Bond (R-Mo.) introduce the first bipartisan welfare bill, the Welfare to Self-Sufficiency Act, S. 2009. The bill is modeled after Iowa’s Promise Jobs Program.

April 22. Two additional welfare reform bills are introduced this week: U.S. Representatives. Lynn Woolsey (D-Calif.) and Ralph Regula (R-Ohio) introduce legislation that would federalize child support collection and triple funding for the JOBS Program. The Working Off Welfare Act seeks to strengthen transitional services as families move off welfare.

Reps. Jim Talent (R-Mo.) and Tim Hutchison (R-Ark.) introduce the Real Welfare Reform Act, which denies benefits to unmarried mothers under age 21, imposes a 3.5 percent cap on welfare spending, and requires 50 percent of welfare recipients to work for benefits by 1996. U.S. Sens. Lauch Faircloth (R-N.C.), Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), and Hank Brown (R-Colo.) introduce the bill in the Senate.

May 11. The Mainstream Forum, a group of 90 Democrats led by Rep. Dave McCurdy (Okla.), introduces a welfare reform bill with a two-year lifetime limit on AFDC, followed by a mandatory community service requirement in which recipients could participate for a maximum of three years. The bill denies benefits to most noncitizens.

May 27. Rep. Patsy Mink (D-Hawaii) and 30 House Democrats announce welfare reform legislation that would provide cash assistance, food stamps, and housing assistance for two years to welfare recipients who obtain jobs and leave AFDC and whose income is less than 300 percent of poverty. The bill does not call for time-limited benefits.

June 14. President Clinton unveils the Work and Responsibility Act in Kansas City, Missouri. The proposal calls for $9.3 billion in additional federal funding over five years and imposes a mandatory work requirement after two years on AFDC for recipients born after 1971 who are unable to find jobs. The proposal expands the JOBS Program and strengthens regulations regarding paternity establishment and child support. The bill requires minors to live at home as a condition of receiving aid. All but $2.1 billion in new funding will be offset through reductions in entitlements, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

June 24. The Clinton welfare bill is officially introduced in the Senate as S. 2224 and the House of Representatives as H.R. 4605.

July 14-15. House Ways and Means Chair Sam Gibbons (D-Fla.) asks Human Resources Subcommittee Chair Harold Ford (D-Tenn.) to hold hearings on the Clinton bill and draft a welfare reform bill by early August.

July 22. Rep. Robert Matsui (D-Calif.) introduces H.R. 4767, the Family Self-Sufficiency Act of 1994. The bill increases funding for JOBS and calls for comprehensive child care services for AFDC recipients leaving welfare.

July 29. The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources holds hearing on the Clinton welfare reform bill.

August 19. The Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources holds hearing on time-limited cash assistance for welfare recipients.

November 8. Republicans win a majority in both houses of Congress. The new congressional leaders promise to bring the "Contract With America" to the House and Senate floors within 100 days. The contract includes the Personal Responsibility Act, which proposes to reform welfare by curbing out-of-wedlock births through denial of benefits. The legislation also imposes a work requirement and caps spending growth of welfare programs. The bill requires all families to be off of AFDC after a total of five years of benefits. It is the first proposal to remove entitlement status from AFDC, SSI, and a number of nutrition programs.

1995

January 5. The House Ways and Means Committee begins hearings on "Contract With America" items, including welfare reform.

March 8. The House Ways and Means Committee approves, 22-11, a welfare reform bill--the Personal Responsibility Act--that would modify 40 federal programs, end the entitlement status of AFDC, and give states considerably more control over public assistance through block grants. The Senate Finance Committee begins hearings on welfare reform.

March 21. The House opens debate on the Personal Responsibility Act.

March 22. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that, although the Personal Responsibility Act will save $66 billion over five years, all 50 states will fail to meet its job requirements.

March 23. The House rejects, 228-205, a Democratic proposal sponsored by Rep. Nathan Deal (D-Ga.) that would have provided job training and education to adults on welfare.

March 24. The House votes 234-199 to approve H.R. 4, the Personal Responsibility Act. Only nine Democrats supported the measure; five Republicans voted against it.

March 25. President Clinton denounces major elements of the House-passed welfare bill in his weekly radio address.

April 27. The Senate Finance Committee convenes its final hearing on welfare reform.

May 18. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-N.Y.) introduces his welfare reform bill, the Family Support Act of 1995, which retains the individual entitlement status for low-income families.

May 26. The Senate Finance Committee approves, 12-8, a welfare reform proposal from Sen. Bob Packwood (R-Ore.) that would provide $16.7 billion in block grants to the states for temporary assistance to needy families. Similar to the House bill, it includes a $1.7 billion loan fund to states, a five-year lifetime time limit on assistance, and a state option to deny assistance to noncitizens.

July 20. Sen. Phil Gramm (R-Tex.) releases an outline of an alternative welfare reform bill that addresses the concerns of senators displeased with the Finance Committee bill--most specifically the formula for distributing block grants.

July 31. Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) announces a compromise welfare proposal at the National Governors’ Association (NGA) summer meeting in Burlington, Vermont. At the NGA meeting, President Clinton announces that he has directed HHS to provide "fast-track demonstration approval"--within 30 days--to states with certain waiver requests for welfare reform.

August 8. Majority Leader Bob Dole halts Senate consideration of welfare reform legislation, S. 1120, the Work Opportunity Act of 1995, after two days of debate.

August 11. Dole announces 26 modifications to the Work Opportunity Act.

September 6. The Senate resumes debate of legislation, now called H.R. 4, the Welfare Reform Act.

September 7. The Senate votes 54-45 to defeat the Democrats’ welfare reform plan. The bill would have preserved the entitlement to welfare while increasing the number of recipients enrolled in education, training, and work.

September 19. Following a week of debate, the Senate votes 87-12 to pass the Welfare Reform Act. Senators approve over 40 amendments to the bill, including a compromise leadership amendment, before final passage. The estimated savings is $67 billion over seven years.

October 24. Over 40 House and Senate welfare reform conferees convene to begin working out the differences between the House and Senate bills.

November 8. An analysis of the Senate welfare reform bill by the Office of Management and Budget finds that proposed policy changes would result in one million more children living in poverty.

November 14. Welfare reform conferees release a preliminary outline of a compromise bill that will be included in budget reconciliation. President Clinton vows to veto the measure.

December 7. The Clinton Administration releases a budget plan proposing $46 billion in savings over seven years for welfare reform.

The president vetoes the budget reconciliation bill, which contains welfare reform provisions.

December 21. The House votes 245-178 to pass the welfare reform conference report.

December 22. The Senate votes 52-47 to pass the conference report. The estimated savings is $58 billion over seven years.

1996

January 9. President Clinton vetoes H.R. 4, the welfare reform conference committee bill. He says that an acceptable welfare reform bill must include more funding for child care, health coverage for low-income families, requirements for state funding, and additional funding during times of economic downturn or population growth.

February 6. The National Governors’ Association unanimously approves bipartisan agreements on welfare and Medicaid reform at their winter meeting in Washington, D.C. Both House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole (R-Kan.) pledge that both houses of Congress will give the governors’ policy statements serious consideration.

February 20. The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources holds hearings on the NGA policy statement for welfare reform.

February 22. The Senate Finance Committee holds hearings on the NGA policy statement.

February 28. HHS Secretary Donna Shalala, testifying before the Senate Finance Committee, announces that the president cannot support the NGA welfare proposal "in its current form." She says that the proposal needs to be modified to provide vouchers for children of parents terminated from assistance, to retain the entitlement status of child welfare services and food stamps, and to include fundamental revision of the immigration section.

March 5. President Clinton notes in a speech before the National Association of Counties that his administration has approved waivers for 53 different welfare reform projects in 37 states, covering nearly 75 percent of all welfare recipients.

April 26. The White House proposes a new welfare reform bill with estimated savings of $38 billion over seven years. HHS Assistant Secretary Mary Jo Bane tells Congress the bill "promotes work, encourages parental responsibility, and provides a safety net for children."

May 4. President Clinton announces executive actions urging states to tighten eligibility for teen mothers on welfare.

May 18. President Clinton announces his support for a Wisconsin proposal for welfare reform, Wisconsin Works, (or W-2) that would end the guarantee of welfare benefits and would require work.

May 22. Congressional Republicans introduce revised welfare reform bills in both the House and Senate that are modeled, in part, on the NGA policy statements. The legislation retains federal control of child protection and adoption programs and allows legal immigrants who are who are not yet citizens to be eligible for cash welfare. Republicans say they will attach to the welfare bill a plan to give states control of Medicaid.

June 6. The House votes 289-136 to approve H.R. 3562, the Wisconsin Only bill, which would authorize the state of Wisconsin to implement its statewide welfare reform demonstration project, Wisconsin Works.

June 18. President Clinton announces actions to strengthen child support enforcement through implementation of a new federal system to track delinquent parents across state lines. The administration hopes to increase collections by an additional $6.4 billion and reduce federal welfare payments by $1.1 billion over 10 years.

June 26. Senate Finance Committee approves S. 1795, the Personal Repsonsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, the Senate Republican leadership’s welfare and Medicaid reform legislation.

July 11. House and Senate Republican leadership announce their decision to split the welfare and Medicaid reform bills contained in H.R. 3507 and S. 1795. President Clinton had threatened to veto the reform bill, objecting to the Medicaid provisions.

July 18. The House of Representatives passes, by a vote of 256 to 170, its budget reconciliation package, H.R. 3734, which contains a modified version of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996, H.R. 3507.

July 23. The Senate passes its welfare reform bill by a vote of 74 to 24.

July 25. House and Senate conferees begin meeting to work out the differences between their respective welfare reform measures.

July 30. House-Senate conferees complete work on H.R. 3734 and send bill to House for final passage.

July 31. President Clinton announces he will sign H.R. 3734. House of Representatives passes bill by a vote of 328 to 101.

August 1. Senates passes H.R. 3734 by vote of 78 to 21.

August 22. President Clinton signs the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996.

August 27. Administration for Children and Families sends letter to each lead state agency for the Child Care and Development Block Grant asking them to submit an interim application-planning document that will enable them to receive the new mandatory and matching child-care funds available under H.R. 3734.

September 9–10. APWA, NGA, and the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) hold joint briefing, bringing together nearly 600 state and local officials to discuss the new welfare reform law, P.L. 104-193. The briefing includes explanations of the new law, workshops with federal agencies and departments, and open discussions among the states.

September 11. Mary Jo Bane, assistant secretary for HHS’ Administration for Children and Families, and Peter B. Edelman, acting assistant secretary for HHS Planning and Evaluation, resign, citing concerns about the new welfare reform law.

September 17. APWA testifies, with NGA and NCSL, on behalf of states, regarding six technical corrections to the P.L. 104-193: problems with the $50 pass-through on child-support payments, transferring Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) dollars to child care and Title XX, using maintenance-of-effort dollars for legal immigrants, treating disabled parents in two-parent families, making the “look-back” dates for children’s eligibility for Medicaid or foster care/adoption consistent, and repealing the mandate on the state supplemental payment to Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

September 19. Clinton Administration withdraws August 19 approval of waiver that would have allowed the District of Columbia an exemption from the five-year ceiling on lifetime benefits after Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.) introduced legislation, S. 2060, to require D.C. to comply with the five-year limit.

September 30. P.L. 104-208, the omnibus spending measure, funds the Social Services Block Grant (Title XX) at $2.5 billion for FY 97, superseding the amount ($2.38 billion) allocated by the welfare reform act.

October 1. Deadline for states to file their plans to opt into the TANF Block Grant. Twenty-three states submit plans; two states, Wisconsin and Michigan, were authorized on September 30 to begin their TANF program.

October 11. Twenty-six states file TANF state plans. The Red Cliff Tribe of Wisconsin becomes first Native American tribe to file their own TANF plan. Florida is third state to receive HHS approval for its TANF plan.

The Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) informs state Medicaid directors that “in absence of submitting a State Plan Amendment, you are expected to continue providing Medicaid eligibility for all the groups you covered on July 16, 1996, including permissible legal immigrants.”

October 25. The Social Security Administration (SSA) sends letter to state human service administrators detailing the timetable for redetermining noncitizens currently receiving SSI. In February and March 1997, SSA will send notices to noncitizens informing them that their eligibility is under review. After a 90-day response period, SSA will notify beneficiaries if their benefits are to be stopped.

SSA issues a guidance to state agencies on administering the 40 quarters of qualifying work determination used in assessing noncitizen eligibility for food stamp benefits.

October 28. HHS alerts state human service administrators to a December 1996 Federal Register notice and comment period to address the proposed distribution and allocation formula for $500 million in enhanced funding for Medicaid eligibility changes necessitated by the new welfare reform law.

November 18. Thirty-five states and one Native American tribe have filed state TANF plans. Thirteen TANF state plans are determined to be complete.

November 29. HHS still working on recommendations for technical corrections to the welfare reform law which were due to Congress on November 22. The earliest date for legislative action would be when Congress meets in January 1997.

December 4. HHS issues revised list of publication dates for welfare reform regulations. Title I, TANF: state plan submissions, financial management and reporting, individual development accounts (date uncertain); tribal program requirements (March 1997); audits, penalties, and corrective action (January 1997); data collection and reporting (March 1997) methodology for determining child poverty (February 1997); illegitimacy rate reduction bonus (March 1997); high performance bonus (April 1997); omnibus conforming regulation (October 1997). Title II, Child Support: state directory of new hires (January 1997); state case registry and expansion of federal parent locator service (June 1997); state laws concerning paternity establishment (January 1997); automated data processing (ADP) requirements (August 1997); ADP funding limitation (January 1997); grants to states for access and visitation programs (March 1997); tribal program (May 1997); omnibus conforming regulation (October 1997). Title VI, Child Care: child care program (December 1996).

December 15. Clinton Administration sends Congress its recommendations on needed technical corrections to P.L. 104-193, which were required by legislation to be submitted by November 22, 1996. Over 130 pages long, this document includes over 70 recommended changes with a description of technical problems, proposed legislative language, and a budget impact analysis.

December 20. HHS determines that 20 TANF state plans are complete. Thirty-nine states have filed state TANF plans.

1997

January 9. Guam is the first territory to submit a TANF plan.

January 21. HHS determines that 32 TANF state plans are complete.

January 22. HCFA issues revised sections of the State Medicaid Manual that give states guidance in implementing the Medicaid-related section of P.L. 104-193, which describes changes to Medicaid coverage for low-income children and families, SSI recipients, and immigrants.

January 31. State human service administrators receive a program instruction from HHS, detailing the possible designs of state TANF programs and clarifying the flexibility states have in meeting the TANF maintenance-of-effort requirements under the new law.

January 24. HHS revises answer to the questions of when state must begin the required 45-day comment period after submitting their state plans to HHS. HHS will use the date a plan was submitted as the date for determining when the TANF Block Grant begins.

February 5. State Medicaid directors receive a letter from HCFA outlining policy on waivers and welfare reform.

The Social Security Administration begins to notify legal aliens who receive SSI that they may lose their benefits. Aliens may continue to receive benefits under the new law by becoming citizens or by obtaining 40 qualifying quarters of work.

February 6. President Clinton releases FY 98 budget proposal, including a wide range of program proposals to amend the new welfare reform law, P.L. 104-193.

February 14. State and tribal officials receive letters from HHS seeking their comments on developing regulations on tribal provisions of the TANF Block Grant, such as plan content and process, penalties, and data reporting.

February 26. APWA, NGA, and NCSL present joint testimony before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources on the proposed technical amendments bill to P.L. 104-193. They call for amendments related to the contingency fund, the draw-down of the TANF Block Grant, data collection and reporting, work activities, child support, Medicaid, legal immigrants, and the food stamp provisions.

March 12. House introduces bipartisan welfare reform technical correction bill (H.R. 2048) to address drafting and technical problems that were created with the passage P.L. 104-193.

March 21. HCFA releases update to State Medicaid Manual on home- and community-based services waivers.

April 4. APWA adopts resolution during spring meeting, calling on the administration and the U.S. Department of Labor not to apply the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as it applies to TANF community service and work experience placements. P.L. 104-193 does not address how the FLSA may or may not apply to TANF programs.

April 9. House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources approves H.R. 1048, the Welfare Reform Technical Corrections Act of 1997. The bill received bipartisan praise for dealing exclusively with the drafting and technical problems created by the enactment of the P.L. 104-193. The bill would treat two-parent families with one disabled parent as single-parent families; spread the 35-hour work requirement between the two parents; change some of the data collection elements in both the TANF reporting section and the child care reporting section; correct language to assure that unused child care funds would be redistributed to states and not returned to the U.S. Treasury; allow states greater flexibility in how they calculate tribal participation in state TANF plans; and align the look-back dates in determining eligibility for foster care with Medicaid, among other changes.

April 23. The House Ways and Means Committee approves the welfare reform technical corrections legislation, H.R. 1048.

April 30. The House of Representatives adopts H. R. 1048, the Welfare Reform Technical Corrections Act of 1997, without controversy.

May 16. The Office of Community Services (OCS), HHS Administration for Children and Families, announces the release of $5.5 million in grants to nonprofit organizations to develop permanent, full-time jobs for TANF recipients and other low-income or unemployed people. The program, created by the Family Support Act of 1988 and made permanent by Section 112 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act, will allow nonprofit organizations who can work with communities and businesses to create new jobs that target low-income individuals. These organizations must have a formal cooperative agreement with their state TANF agency that includes an evaluation process and an economic development strategy. OCS plans to award up to 20 grants by Sept. 20, 1997.

May 28. The administration and officials from the Departments of Labor, HHS, and Agriculture issue interpretation of Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) as it applies to the work requirements of P.L. 104-193.

June 5. The House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources approves its portion of the budget reconciliation bill, including the addition of a new $3 billion Welfare-to-Work Grant Program, a Fair Labor Standards Act exemption for community work experience, eligibility changes in SSI benefits for noncitizens, the repeal of the SSI state supplements, and various amendments to P.L. 104-193.

June 12. President Clinton signs extension of a supplemental appropriations bill, extending SSI benefits to noncitizens through Sept. 30, 1997.

June 18. Senate Finance Committee approves its portion of the Balanced Budget Reconciliation Act that contains welfare and Medicaid provisions. The $3 billion Welfare-to-Work Grant Program would be structured so that 75 percent of the funds would be provided through formula grants to states. The formula would be based on the amount of a state’s population under the poverty level, the state’s unemployment rate, and its welfare caseload. The remaining 25 percent would be awarded by the HHS secretary under competitive grants.

June 25. House and Senate approve different versions of the Balanced Budget Reconciliation Act containing major changes in the areas of children’s health, Medicaid funding of disproportionate share hospitals, and provisions related to welfare implementation.

July 10. House and Senate begin negotiations on differences over the Budget Reconciliation Bill.

July 15. House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education approves $135 million reduction in Title XX Social Services Block Grant in addition to the 20% reduction authorized in P.L. 104-193. The new level of Title XX funding is set at $2.245 billion.

August 1. House and Senate approve the Budget Reconciliation Act of 1997 (H.R. 2015), which contains a significant number of changes to the recently enacted welfare reform law and the Medicaid program and creates new child health and welfare-to-work programs.

The Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997, P.L. 105-34, the tax package signed into law by President Clinton as part of the balanced budget deal, includes several tax changes that could have an effect on TANF recipients.

August 15. Department of Labor announces timetable for awarding formula grants to states. Starting August 25, with the announcement of funding estimates, through December 30, with the acceptance of state plans.

August 26. HHS and SSA publish definition of “federal means-tested” benefits. For programs under the jurisdiction of these two departments only, TANF, Medicaid, and SSI meet the definition.

September 3. Vice President Al Gore announces the preliminary funding allocations available to states under the new $3 billion Welfare-to-Work Grant Program authorized by the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, P.L. 105-33.

September 19. HHS clarifies that state child care spending in excess of the matching funds for child care count toward the state’s TANF maintenance-of-effort requirement if the spending benefits TANF-eligible families. Regional HHS offices have been instructed to inform states of this clarification.

U.S. Department of Labor releases a draft version of the interim planning guidance states can use to prepare for the Welfare-to-Work Grants Program, a new $3 billion fund created by the 1997 Budget Reconciliation Act.

September 23. Internal Revenue Service releases information and forms for the revised Work Opportunity Tax Credit and the Welfare-to-Work tax credits. Both credits are available to employers who hire former or current welfare recipients.

September 30. HHS’ Administration for Children and Families issues its final TANF Emergency Data Report form and instructions via Transmittal TANF-ACF-PI-97-6. The report covers the collection of information required under Section 411 of P.L. 104-193.

October 10. U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) releases Summary of Major Changes Under Consideration to the Welfare-to-Work Grants Program. DOL proposes modifying the already-released Draft Interim Planning Guidance for the welfare-to-work program and giving private industry councils “sole authority” to administer the program, target eligible participants and the services they will receive, and otherwise determine how the program will operate.

October 17. U.S. Department of Labor releases final version of planning guidance for the Welfare-to-Work Grants Program, which strengthens the role of the private industry councils, who will administer the program at the local level.

Federal District Court Judge Clarence Newcomer rules that Pennsylvania’s TANF benefit structure, which provides new state residents with assistance equal to the benefit level of their former state, is unconstitutional. Approximately 15 states have some form of limitation on benefits for families that move from another states. P.L. 104-193 grants states the authority to treat new state entrants differently than current residents. Similar lawsuits have been filed in other states and California’s differential benefit structure is currently under a court injunction.

October 20. The Immigration and Naturalization Service publishes affidavit of support, related forms, and regulations to carry out provisions of the new immigration law that requires sponsors of legal immigrants to sign a binding contract. These new immigration provisions are the result of P.L. 104-193 and the immigration reform provisions of P.L. 104-208. These provisions will take effect on Dec. 17, 1997 as an interim rule, and are subject to 120 days of comment (see Federal Register, Oct. 20, 1997)

October 24. U.S. Department of Labor issues additional information on Welfare-to-Work Grants program, a $3 billion fund created by 1997 Budget Reconciliation Act. In FYs 98 and 99, $1.1 billion will be provided to states to help long-term welfare recipients with barriers to employment enter the workforce.

October 29. HHS lists November 1997 as release date for TANF regulations on work provisions, data collection and reporting, penalties and administrative issues, and definitions.

The U.S. Department of Labor is required to publish interim final rules implementing the Welfare-to-Work Grants program by November 3.

November 14. FY 98 Labor, HHS, and Education appropriations bill passes before Congress recesses for 1997. Title XX appropriations is $2.299 billion, $81 million below the funding authorized in the 1996 welfare reform measure but $54 million above Senate and House committee levels. Adoption reform legislation is to be funded by reducing the TANF contingency fund by $56 million. An important technical correction to the Welfare-to-Work Grants program allows states to spend their matching dollars over a three-year period, instead of during the first year in which grant funds are available.

November 20. The proposed rules for the TANF block grant are printed in the Federal Register, a 110-page section, which includes a preamble outlining the Administration on Children and Families’ (ACF) considerations and rationale, the regulations, and several reporting forms that ACF proposes for state use. The rules cover work-participation rates and calculations, data collection, penalty provisions, definitions, and the use of TANF funds.

The U.S. Department of Labor releases interim final regulations on the formula grants for the Welfare-to-Work Grants Program. Seventy-five percent of the grant funds are to be distributed to states by formula. The remaining 25 percent will be allocated through a competitive grants process.

December 3. The Welfare-to-Work Partnership, a nonprofit organization founded by President Clinton to encourage businesses to hire welfare clients, holds its first annual meeting in Los Angeles. During 1997, more that 2,500 employers nationwide have become members of the partnership and committed themselves to hiring at least one welfare recipient.

1998

July 18. The American Public Welfare Association officially becomes the American Public Human Services Assocation, continuing its decades-long work representing public human services.