Jobs for Success Act would Recognize that all People have Potential

Mar 25, 2019 by AFP

ARLINGTON, Va. – Americans for Prosperity is encouraged by the introduction of the JOBS for SUCCESS Act introduced by Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas).

The proposed legislation will reform the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program (TANF) by refocusing the program on its intended goals of removing barriers to success for individuals in poverty, encouraging Americans to realize their full potential and escape poverty permanently.

Americans for Prosperity Policy Manager Matthew Dickerson recently wrote in The Hill:

“All people have unique talents and skills and are capable of extraordinary things, and it should be the goal of welfare programs to remove barriers for individuals in poverty to begin the process of realizing their full potential.

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Making poverty easier to endure should not be the end goal. We have to make it easier to escape – permanently.

The landmark 1996 welfare reform law represented an important paradigm shift by ending the old Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) that focused on making poverty easier to endure and replacing it with the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, which instead provided necessary aid while promoting work as the best path out of poverty.

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Over the last several years, TANF has been routinely extended in appropriations bills, with little to no debate about how to improve it. With the current TANF authorization expiring at the end of June, Congress should take advantage of the opportunity to innovate and strengthen the program, with a renewed focus on helping those who are in temporary need of assistance begin to transition off of welfare and back into the workforce where they can find meaning and purpose.

That is exactly what the Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services (JOBS) for Success Act, recently introduced by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-Texas) and Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) would do.

The JOBS for Success Act respects the dignity of people and believes in their potential. It would be an important step in the right direction for just one of the nearly 100 federal welfare programs, in reducing poverty to only a temporary situation for individuals and not a life-long sentence.”

Click here to read the full op-ed

For further information or to set up an interview, please send an email to GBraud@afphq.org.

Through broad-based grassroots outreach, Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is driving long-term solutions to the country’s biggest problems. AFP activists engage friends and neighbors on key issues and encourage them to take an active role in building a culture of mutual benefit, where people succeed by helping one another. AFP recruits and unites activists in 35 states behind a common goal of advancing policies that will help people improve their lives. For more information, visit www.americansforprosperity.org

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