Preparing More Welfare Recipients for Work Act

Preparing More Welfare Recipients for Work Act

This bill amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act with respect to mandatory work requirements to:

• eliminate the requirement that recipients participate in certain core work activities not fewer than 20 hours per week, as well as separate requirements for two-parent families;
• allow states to receive partial credit for certain families participating for less than the minimum hours required for purposes of calculating the monthly participation rate;
• give states the option to apply an alternative work participation rate calculation;
• revise requirements for counting job search as work;
• modify the rule deeming an individual to meet work participation requirements by attending secondary school;
• require a state to meet individuals participating for three months in job readiness assistance and certify whether continued participation is necessary to prepare them for employment;
• replace with job readiness assistance as a separate work activity the currently recognized work activity of providing child care services to a participant in a community service program; and
• increase from 12 to 24 months the maximum period that vocational educational training counts as a work activity.