JEFFERSON CITY - Today, Sens. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, and Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, joined together to oppose new restrictions on the state’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program as written in the conference committee report on Senate Bill 24. On January 1, 2016, this bill will cut an estimated 9,465 people from the TANF rolls, of whom 6,310 are children, by reducing the lifetime limit on TANF benefits from 60 months to 45 months. Senate Bill 24 would also cut benefits to children – a ‘full-family sanction’ – when their parents fail to meet the work activity requirement, meaning both parents and children will lose essential cash assistance.
The senators were both members of the conference committee appointed to develop a compromise position between the House and Senate versions. Due to the dramatic impact to families and children, both Senators refused to sign the conference committee report and both voted against the report on the Senate floor.
Senator Nasheed said, “Imposing a full-family sanction on these low-income Missouri families is a harsh penalty that will harm the poorest kids in our state. We’re punishing children who have no control over their situation. From refusing to expand Medicaid, to reducing unemployment benefits, to slashing the mental health budget, and now this cut to TANF. When will this Republican attack on the poor stop?”
Senator Schupp added, “By reducing the lifetime limit, on January 1 of next year we are cutting more than 6,000 of Missouri’s most vulnerable children from a program which provides a vital lifeline to our state’s poorest families. Our state should be protecting low-income children – not cutting holes in the social safety net and watching the kids fall through.”
The bill will now go to the House for a vote on the Conference Committee Report. |
