(Download) "Prospects for TANF Reauthorization (Column)" by Policy & Practice # eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free

eBook details

Title: Prospects for TANF Reauthorization (Column)
Author : Policy & Practice
Release Date : January 01, 2011
Genre: Business & Personal Finance,Books,Professional & Technical,Law,
Pages : * pages
Size : 53 KB

Description

President John F. Kennedy once said, "Any system of government will work when everything is going well. It's the system that functions in the pinches that survives." In 2011, the 112th Congress will be expected to continue the work of rebuilding a national economy battered by a recession whose lingering effects have left many experts still attempting to completely assess the damage. With the national unemployment rate still hovering close to double digits--9.8 percent at the point when voters turned to the polls last November--the balance of power in the House and the Senate was rocked by a wave of anti-incumbent sentiment that resulted in major gains for Republicans. Throughout the 2010 holiday season Beltway politicians claimed that fiscal discipline would be the order for the day in Washington, come January. So the question remains: how to rebuild a house after a hurricane--without spending any more money? The real pinch, at least in terms of the pocket-book, is on its way. The growing concern over the deficit could not have come at a more complicated time for state health and human service agencies. Washington did complete its work on sweeping changes to America's health care system, legislation that will have major impact on all state services for low-income residents. However, Congress failed to pass long-term reauthorizations of a number of human service programs, including one of the most flexible programs in a countercyclical economy, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families state block grant. The block grant was scheduled to be reauthorized in 2010 but as the debate over the Affordable Care Act dragged on, the legislative calendar grew shorter, leaving the program with one short-term extension through December 2010 followed by a longer extension through Sept. 30, 2011.