What Works to Move Welfare Recipients into Jobs Act
This bill amends part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) of title VI of the Social Security Act to revise requirements for research by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on the benefits, effects, and costs of operating different state programs funded under part A and any other state program funded with qualified state expenditures.
(Sec. 2) Such research shall focus on the effect of these programs as well as of healthy marriage promotion and responsible fatherhood grants on employment, self-sufficiency, child well-being, unmarried births, marriage, poverty, economic mobility, and other factors determined by HHS.
A state's contribution to the cost of a state-initiated evaluation of its program, from non-federal sources, shall increase from at least 10% to at least 25% of the cost of the proposed evaluation.
The Bureau of the Census shall implement or enhance household surveys of program participation to allow for assessment of the outcomes of continued welfare reform on the economic and child well-being of low-income families with children, including those who received assistance or services from a state program funded under TANF or any other state program funded with qualified state expenditures.
Research and evaluation designed to determine the effects of a program or policy (other than Census Bureau research) shall use experimental designs using random assignment or other reliable, evidence-based research methodologies that allow for the strongest possible casual inferences when random assignment is not feasible.
HHS shall develop a database of the projects that used a proven or a promising approach in moving welfare recipients into work, which shall be called the What Works Clearinghouse of Proven and Promising Projects to Move Welfare Recipients into Work.