Democrats are expected to introduce legislation in the House of Representatives today, aimed at changing the 1996 welfare law---under which a five-year cap is placed on monetary assistance to families and states receive welfare funds in a lump sum that is not linked to unemployment levels---into a weapon against poverty. Under the new proposal, funding for childcare assistance for low-income families would double over the next five years, and states that reduce child-poverty would receive $150 million a year bonuses. The proposal also calls for extending the basic structure of the 1996 law for another five years after it expires at the end of September, and would not count any month during which a welfare recipient had earnings from a paid job against the five-year limit on cash payments.
See "House Democrats Propose Making the '96 Welfare Law an Antipoverty Weapon", ROBERT PEAR, The New York Times, January 23, 2002