EMPOWER Act of 2016

Enhancing and Modernizing Pathways to Opportunity through Work, Education, and Responsibility Act of 2016 or the EMPOWER Act of 2016

This bill amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title IV of the Social Security Act (SSAct) to reauthorize through FY2021: (1) state family assistance grants, (2) tribal family assistance grants, and (3) child care entitlement grants.

The purposes of the TANF program are amended to include: (1) reduction of child poverty, including the incidence of children living in families with incomes of less than 50% of the poverty line; and (2) encouragement of employment entry, retention, retention, and advancement.

The bill repeals the separate and higher participation rate for two-parent families (marriage penalty).

The bill renames individual responsibility plans as individualized employment plans (IDPs), and revises their requirements.

The bill revises mandatory work requirements to:

• limit the use of the caseload reduction credit in the formula for calculating a state's work participation rate,
• allow states to include subsidized employment in calculating participation rates,
• reformulate the penalty for failure to satisfy minimum participation rates,
• eliminate the distinction between core and non-core work activities,
• allow states to receive partial credit for families participating for less than the minimum hours required for work activities,
• allow states to request an alternative work participation rate calculation,
• count as a work activity certain job search activities,
• replace child care assistance to a community service participant as a separate work activity with job readiness assistance,
• eliminate the age 20 cap on participation in secondary school attendance,
• eliminate the limitation on the number of persons who may be treated as engaged in work because of participation in education activities,
• limit to six months (unless the IDP specifies otherwise) the period in which an individual shall be considered engaged in work because of participation in a job readiness activity, and
• count certain disabled individuals as engaged in work if participating in work activities according to the IDP.

A state shall not use federal TANF funds for families with income greater than 200% of the federal poverty line.

The bill establishes a minimum spending requirement on TANF core activities along with an associated penalty.

The bill replaces current pre-reauthorization state-by-state reports on engagement in additional work activities and expenditures for other benefits and services with requirements that each state:

• establish robust performance indicators and targets, and
• report annually on outcomes achieved.

In determining eligibility for TANF assistance or any other state program funded with qualified state expenditures, a state to which a family assistance grant is made shall exclude from:

• a family's financial resources the value of any funds in a qualified tuition program or a Coverdell account; and
• a family's income and assets any income or resources of a dependent child receiving benefits under SSAct title XVI (Supplemental Security Income).

Written by the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service. All summary versions on Congress.gov