May 30, 2019
The Honorable Mitch McConnell
Majority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Chuck Schumer
Minority Leader
United States Senate
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Nancy Pelosi
Speaker of the House
United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20510
The Honorable Kevin McCarthy
Minority Leader United States House of Representatives
Washington, D.C. 20510
Dear Majority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, and Minority Leader McCarthy:
We write to urge you to support and pass H.R. 2940, introduced by Chairman Davis and Ranking Member Walorski of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support, which would extend the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program through September 30, 2019. As you know, the program funding is currently slated to expire on June 30, 2019.
TANF is a critical program for states and served 3.1 million recipients, including 1.2 million families in 2018. TANF provides vital cash assistance, job training, child care, and other critical services for families and children. The program provided a total of $16.5 billion in 2018 in federal dollars for these services for the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the territories, and American Indian tribes. States also are required to contribute at least $10.3 billion in state funds per year under the maintenance-of-effort requirement.
We ask that Congress act quickly and pass H.R. 2940, a clean TANF extension, and send it to the President for signature in order to avoid any lapse in funding for states and to mitigate any adverse impacts to American families. While continued short-term extensions make it challenging for states to allocate resources strategically, we look forward to working with you on a long-term reauthorization bill in the near future.
Sincerely,
Governor Kate Brown (Oregon), Chair
Governor Charlie Baker (Massachusetts), Vice Chair
National Governors Association
Health and Human Services Committee
