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| 1 | HOUSE RESOLUTION
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| 2 | WHEREAS, In 1996 President Bill Clinton signed bipartisan | ||||||
| 3 | welfare reforms which sought to reduce welfare dependence by | ||||||
| 4 | encouraging welfare recipients to move from welfare to work; | ||||||
| 5 | and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, The 1996 reform created the Temporary Assistance | ||||||
| 7 | for Needy Families (TANF) program which made promoting work a | ||||||
| 8 | central focus of each state's efforts to assist low-income | ||||||
| 9 | parents in achieving self-sufficiency; and
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| 10 | WHEREAS, The 1996 reform resulted in a reduction in child | ||||||
| 11 | poverty, a reduction in welfare dependency, and an increase in | ||||||
| 12 | the employment and earnings of single mothers; and
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| 13 | WHEREAS, On July 12, 2012 the U. S. Department of Health | ||||||
| 14 | and Human Services announced that it is willing to waive | ||||||
| 15 | federal work requirements for recipients of aid under the TANF | ||||||
| 16 | program; and
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| 17 | WHEREAS, The decision to offer states waiver opportunities | ||||||
| 18 | was made without any prior Obama Administration legislative | ||||||
| 19 | proposal or consultation with Congress; and
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| 20 | WHEREAS, Legislation has been introduced in Congress to | ||||||
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| 1 | repeal the actions by the U.S. Department of Health and Human | ||||||
| 2 | Services and to make it clear that states do not have the | ||||||
| 3 | authority to seek, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human | ||||||
| 4 | Services does not have the authority to grant, waivers of work | ||||||
| 5 | requirements under the TANF program; and
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| 6 | WHEREAS, Illinois law requires the Department of Human | ||||||
| 7 | Services to advise every applicant for and recipient of aid | ||||||
| 8 | under the TANF program of the requirement that all recipients | ||||||
| 9 | move toward self-sufficiency and the value and benefits of | ||||||
| 10 | employment; and
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| 11 | WHEREAS, The Illinois Administrative Code establishes | ||||||
| 12 | specific work requirements for TANF recipients; therefore, be | ||||||
| 13 | it | ||||||
| 14 | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE | ||||||
| 15 | NINETY-SEVENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | ||||||
| 16 | we oppose any efforts to weaken the TANF work requirements; and | ||||||
| 17 | be it further
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| 18 | RESOLVED, That we urge the Governor and the Secretary of | ||||||
| 19 | the Department of Human Services to not seek a waiver of the | ||||||
| 20 | TANF work requirements from the U.S. Department of Health and | ||||||
| 21 | Human Services; and be it further
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| 1 | RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be | ||||||
| 2 | delivered to the Governor and the Secretary of the Department | ||||||
| 3 | of Human Services.
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