Welfare Integrity and Data Improvement Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

I rise in reluctant support of this measure, asking for its approval, because without approval, Federal funding for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families will expire on New Year's Eve. My reluctance centers on the incomplete nature of this extension.

It's incomplete, first, in terms of time. In September, Republicans declined to extend this necessary funding for more than 3 months. Now they extend it only for another 9 months, assuring that during the height of the 2012 campaign season next year they'll have an opportunity to blame the poor for whatever questionable anecdote arises in the meantime.

This type of short-term extension at a time of a budgetary crisis in many of our States reduces the ability to plan and to reform. It assures that direct assistance to our most vulnerable neighbors will just barely hang on. It postpones any meaningful action on responding to the Census Bureau report that more Americans were poor in 2010 than at any recent time.

In my home county in the capital of the State of Texas, the percentage of children living in poverty grew from 18.3 percent in 2007 to 24.5 in 2010--almost one in every four children, in our area, impoverished.

And today's bill is incomplete in terms of coverage. An important part of the 1996 reform of the welfare law, a reform that I personally supported, an important part is omitted today, the TANF supplemental grants. These are funds that are allocated to help those States like Texas that were negatively affected by the Federal formula in place at the time.

Without any good explanation or justification, Republicans allowed this initiative to expire last summer, and they continue to do so today. This means that a State government in Texas that is largely indifferent to the needs of its poor citizens has even less capacity to respond to those needs. Because of this deliberate and unjustified omission, Texas loses $500 million; and together with 16 other States, they lose a total of $3 billion over the next decade. This is money that will not be there to assist struggling families and to promote work. Termination of these grants is really a breach of the agreement of 15 years ago as a part of welfare reform.

But as we pass this bill, a few points need to be noted that are positive in nature.

First is the one my colleague refers to as bipartisan legislation that I have worked on with Chairman Geoff Davis. It is designed to assure that Health and Human Services does have common data points so that we ferret out any waste and abuse among various programs and, at the same time, help eligible Americans to receive the assistance to which they are entitled. This has already been incorporated into the child welfare legislation that was also approved by our subcommittee on a bipartisan basis and has been signed into law.

A second provision that is described as ``program integrity'' certainly does sound good in speeches, and it probably does address a problem in Las Vegas and a few other areas that for speech purposes has been described as the so-called ``strip club loophole.'' I'm in favor of closing every loophole that takes public money that needs to go to needy children and diverts it for some other purpose, whether it's at a strip club or it is a pharmaceutical manufacturer who has milked Medicaid and Medicare for millions of dollars.

Earlier this week, we heard from TANF administrators across the country, Republicans and Democrats, questioning this provision, and we know that it is also the subject of a study by the Government Accountability Office. I think that we need to ensure no dollars are wasted here, and I certainly wouldn't let this newly added provision slow up a must-pass piece of legislation to assure that the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program is continued to next September.

With that, I reserve the balance of my time.

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Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, in closing, I would just yield myself such time as I may consume to say that I am pleased that we are moving forward to extend this program, at least until the end of next September. But there remains much work to do.

Many of our neighbors are in great need at the present time. Many are supported by churches, community nonprofits, and the like. It is a valuable service at a time of charity at Christmas when we all care about those who are the least among us.

But just caring in that fashion is not sufficient, given the extent of the problem. We need a stronger safety net with reference to health care, child care, the support that is offered through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and to help those--yes, pull them up by their boots; but for those who lack bootstraps, assist them as well. That should be the goal of our vision as we address the needs of the many impoverished people in this country.

Unfortunately, poor people have the least voice in this Congress. Their voice is not heard to the extent that some of those who have vested interests here in limousines and lobbyists are heard. But we need to speak up for them. And this is one of those rare opportunities to be able to do so and to say that this Congress has acted; but it's acted in a modest, limited, incomplete, and inadequate way. We would not hold up that little bit of help, but there is so much more that needs to be done.

I yield back the balance of my time.

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