By Crystal Swann and Tenickia Polk, Legislative Assistant, The Barton Group
August 5, 2002

On July 21-23 the United States Conference of City Human Services Officials met in Washington to discuss a variety of social service issues that impact cities and communities throughout the nation. During the three-day meeting, the dialogue included discussions on the Reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (TANF), childcare, nutrition programs, and prescription drug legislation.

TANF Reauthorization

The Senate Finance Committee passed the Work, Opportunity, and Responsibility for Kids (WORK) Act, on June 26, a bipartisan bill that restores full block grant funding, provides five-year funding for the TANF Supplemental Grants program, and adds seven states to those eligible for the supplemental. Total funding for the supplemental grants would be $441 million and the bill also increases child care funding to states by $5.5 billion. In May, the House passed its bill (H.R. 4737) which closely mirrored the President's proposal for reauthorization.

On hand to discuss the administration's position on TANF reauthorization, the officials heard from Andrew Bush, Director of the Office of Family Services of the Department of Health and Human Services who expressed President Bush's strong commitment to signing a new welfare law. He states that the administration's proposal is reflected in the House bill passed in May.

The bill's major issues of contention include the president's increased workweek requirement (up from 30 hours to 40 hours), the decision to maintain childcare funding, the president's focus on marriage and family formation and inclusion of the "superwaiver." Bush also expressed his support for the House's TANF bill which closely resembles the administration's proposal.

Representatives from the Brookings Institute, Children's Defense Fund, Alliance for Children and Families as well as the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLSP) joined in the discussion on TANF, lending their overall support to the TANF legislation passed in the Senate Finance Committee. The Senate legislation authorizes a $5.5 billion increase in childcare funding (over the next 5 years), maintains the current hourly workweek requirement at 30h/week and allows states to support legal immigrants.

Agency representatives challenged popular perceptions of the 5-year welfare reform success (supported by the drop in welfare rolls) and suggested that we redefine the concept of self'sufficiency, a notion the Administration seems to equate with work. The panelist presented numerous examples to support the contention that self'sufficiency is more complicated than just "working" especially when the average job makes on $7-8/hour; only 1 of 7 children is eligible to receive childcare support are actually receiving it, and many of those on the rolls have barriers such as lack of skills, experience, illnesses which decreases both their chances of obtaining sustainable employment as well as their earning potential.

Faith-Based Discussions

Expanding the role that faith-based organizations play in providing human services in our communities was the focus of the committee's discussion with Bobby Polito, director of the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives in the Department of Health and Human Services. Polito emphasized the ability faith-based organizations have to identify and access individuals who governments may miss, thus explaining the need for increased communication between governments and faith-based organizations.

Polito used the Compassion Capitol Fund (CCF) to exemplify the Administration's commitment to this cause. CCF aims to alert faith-based organizations to federal resources available that assist faith-based organizations in their human services efforts by providing funds to intermediary organizations (organizations that do not run faith based-organizations but provide services to faith-based organizations) as well as funds to establish a national resource.

Childcare Crisis

The proposed Bush budget which maintains Childcare and Development Funds at $4.8 billion ($2.1 billion in discretionary funds and $2.7 billion in mandatory funds) was outlined by Mike Ambrose, Associate Commissioner of the Child Care Bureau in HHS. Ambrose noted that the House's TANF bill proposed an increase of $1 billion for child care, saying that the Administration supports it. Ambrose brought to the attention of city representatives, the presence of inadequate research in the childcare arena, expressing a need for those interested in testing childcare subsidy policy possibly through demonstration projects.

Mary Bourdette of the Children's Defense fund as well as John Sciamanna from the Child Welfare League of America challenged the Administration's childcare budget. Both expressed their support for the Senate Finance Committee's bill, which provides a $5.5 billion increase for childcare (over the next 5 years). Additionally, Bourdette predicted that the unmet need for childcare would increase if the Administration's proposal for increased work requirements for TANF recipients is approved. She emphasized the significance of the amount of funding approved for childcare, since this amount will be "locked in" to fund whatever childcare issues may arise within the next 5 years.

Issues Regarding Nutrition

Nutritional needs also topped the agenda as the human services officials and others discussed how the increase the availability of nutrition programs in our cities. Patrick Waldron of the Food and Nutrition Services division of the Department of Agriculture discussed recent food stamp policy. He described the Administrations aim to achieve a balance between food stamp payment accuracy and access to the food stamp program.

Regarding services for women, infants and children, Lelia Richardson of the National WIC Association spoke about the Association's plans to introduce fruits and vegetables into the "outdated" WIC package. The WIC package currently contains foods such as milk, peanut butter and eggs; foods which create a high-fat diet and foods that are not culturally sensitive. In addition, Nicole Woo from the Food Research and Action Center provided representatives with insight on how to get funding for summer lunch programs through the Summer Food Service Program for Children.

The United States Conference of City Human Services Officials (USCCHSO) was created in 1981 by city human services professionals, in recognition of the growing number of city governments with an individual or agency responsible for human services. It is the national organization of individuals in city government who are responsible for assisting their city in meeting the human services needs of its residents. USCCHSO is not separately incorporated; rather, it is an affiliate of the Conference of Mayors.