Human Services & Welfare Committee Information Alert
October 3, 2003
TANF EXTENSION: DOWN TO THE WIRE, BUT SIX MONTH EXTENSION BILL SIGNED INTO LAW
With no time to spare, the House cleared legislation (H.R. 3146) on the night of September 30, 2003, extending the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant and related programs for six months and giving federal lawmakers additional time to reauthorize the 1996 welfare law. The President signed the legislation into law the following morning as P.L.108-89. Without action, legislative authorization for TANF and related programs would have expired with the end of the federal fiscal year. The House had passed H.R. 3146 on September 24, but the extension was delayed in the Senate as the House and Senate worked out differences on provisions unrelated to TANF. Ultimately, after much behind the scenes negotiation, the Senate amended H.R. 3146 and sent it back to the House, which approved it by voice vote. The bill is a "clean" extension of TANF, making no policy changes and continuing funding at the FY 02 level for these programs. States now have budgetary and policy certainty for the welfare programs through March 31, 2004. There have been four previous temporary extensions of these programs since September, 2002, the date TANF should have reauthorized by. NCSL has been a strong advocate of Congressional action that would provide states with more budget certainty on TANF and maintain state flexibility.
In addition to the $16.5 billion TANF block grant, the extension covers TANF funding to territories, TANF supplemental grants to states, TANF contingency fund, the Child Care and Development Block Grant, Transitional Medical Assistance under Medicaid, the Abstinence Education program, and various bonuses. It also includes the extension of current child welfare demonstrations and child welfare waiver authority. There were no provisions regarding state TANF waivers.
H.R. 3146 contains an extension of Medicaid's Qualifying Individual-1 (QI-1) eligibility category. Under this category, Medicaid covers the full cost of Medicare Part B premiums for individuals with incomes between 120% and 135% of the federal poverty level. States are allocated a fixed amount of federal funds each year to provide this benefit and no state match is required. The Senate added an amendment to the House bill providing for a six month extension of provision equalizing urban and rural standardized payment amounts under Medicare Inpatient Hospital Prospective Payment System. Like the TANF program, these payments for rural hospitals would have expired September 30. The bill also contains provisions that would extend U.S. Customs user fees until March 31, 2004, as well as minor tax provisions.
Senate and House lawmakers are still far from agreeing on welfare reform reauthorization legislation, with work requirements and child care spending among key issues remaining to be resolved. In February, the House passed their welfare reauthorization bill, H.R. 4. On September 10th, the Senate Finance Committee passed its version of H.R. 4, but the full Senate has yet to act on reauthorization legislation. We anticipate that Senators will use the time during this extension to see if an agreement can be reached on welfare reauthorization. It appears that a potential obstacle would be leadership perception that reauthorization will take up too much floor time. An agreement with fewer amendments would make it more likely that a bill will be brought to the Senate floor.
For additional information, contact Sheri Steisel or Lee Posey at fedhumserv-info@ncsl.org or call NCSL's Washington, D.C. office at 202.624.5400.
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