Good Morning Chairman Thomas, Ranking Member Rangel, Distinguished Committee Members and Fellow Panelists. On behalf of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), a church of 5 million members and 10,000 congregations, we are truly grateful for the opportunity to testify about the implications of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation or “Welfare Reform” Act of 1996. I am Roy Riley, Bishop of the New Jersey Synod of the ELCA, and Chair of the ELCA Conference of Bishops, our national governing board of 65 Bishops.

1. The Welfare Reform Act of 1996 marked a fundamental shift in the way our government addresses anti-poverty spending and seeks to help the millions of Americans living in poverty. Among its stated aims were the strengthening of American families through various initiatives and the promotion of a work-first culture- a reminder that the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) block grant is indeed a temporary means of support for people moving from welfare caseloads.

As a national church with ministries including advocacy, education, grant-making and social service, the question for the ELCA in 1996 was not about the necessity of reform nor in 2006 about maintaining a culture of reform. We can in principle support an emphasis on healthy family relations and the personal value of meaningful work and did so in our 1994 document “Working Principles for Welfare Reform”. Instead, our concern was then and is now for welfare reform that truly operates to strengthen American family life and create meaningful work opportunities; that resulting policies truly improve the economy and move people from poverty to opportunity, from mere existence in forgotten alleys and shelters into meaningful and productive life together.

The spirit of this testimony, therefore, unfortunately can not be a celebration of unqualified success but an acknowledgement of important commitments set down but not yet realized.

2. The Scriptural witness on which the Lutheran tradition stands declares thematically God’s concern for the poor and oppressed and God’s call to speak for them. The Bible describes the ministry of Jesus as “good news for the poor” and details the content of biblical judgment as our awareness and treatment of “the least among us.” It bears noting that this well-known passage about judgment found in Matthew refers precisely to a gathering of nations, not individuals, and bears out Jesus’ sense of concern that political and economic powers keep in mind the interests of those struggling to be heard.

In addition, the long development of Lutheran theology envisions government structures as God’s own potential good gift and instrument for ordered societies when it works from the broad interests of the common good. From our perspective therefore, public programs and government structures can be means to the greater ends of economic and social opportunity- particularly for the poor and oppressed whom God favors.

From this biblical perspective, we can support welfare reform policies that aim to give families more meaningful time together and that seek to define work opportunities as valuable for the human experience. Our document “Working Principles for Welfare Reform” affirms that “human beings have been created with moral agency and freedom and a power to act responsibly in light of particular circumstances.” It also outlines the importance of work for human dignity and well-being. However, from this same Christian perspective, we can neither support nor celebrate welfare policy that maintains and expands a perpetual working underclass in our nation- that is, a significant part of American society pushed into jobs that keep families vulnerable and in low-income conditions, often below the poverty line itself.

We are also in long-standing alliance with Lutheran Services in America, a health and human services network of almost 300 members providing services throughout all 50 states and the Caribbean. Its members deliver over $8 billion in services annually. A significant part of their important work is funded with public dollars and these are used efficiently and effectively to transform lives. However, even their courageous effort is not enough to stem the increasing tide of hungry, poor and uninsured people in our society.

3. According to recent Census figures, the number of Americans living below the poverty line has increased every year since 2000 from 11.3% in 2000 to 12.7 % in 2004. This now represents 37 million Americans. More particularly, this number includes about 13 million children representing about 18% of all children in the U.S. We also saw a 13% increase in requests for emergency food assistance, 54% of which came from families and 40% of which came from people with jobs. The Catholic Campaign for Human Development reports that in 2003, the middle year of the current poverty increase, more than two-thirds of all poor families with children included one or more individuals who worked. These individuals typically worked for combined family totals of 46 weeks per year.

Yet our Lutheran state policy offices report dramatic reductions in state caseloads. In this context, it is difficult to herald caseload reduction as a measure of success. People are leaving welfare caseloads in dramatic numbers- so much is true. But where are they going? That question should haunt us and propel us forward toward better solutions.

4. Helpful ways forward should relate to the current network of work supports to make work more meaningful and truly strengthen families of all shapes and sizes by giving them meaningful time together.

Real wage values for low-wage workers have been stagnant at best and have fallen slightly since 2001 after a significant increase 1996-2000. An emphasis on the importance of work therefore would be helped by raising the real value of the minimum wage on which most people cycling off of welfare rely. Currently, the national minimum wage of $5.15 is about 68% of the poverty line, a $4,000 annual shortfall, for a single parent with two children. Even states with a higher minimum wage could do more to reward work with an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).

In this same period, programs providing money for child care (CCDBG), social services (SSBG), and job-training (WIA) have lost value while the federal government has continued to impose restrictions- most recently work participation guidelines- that will squeeze state budgets further. We were pleased to see an increase for child care this year but note that this will not even meet present levels of service plus inflation. The new work participation guidelines for states are a strange development given the touted catalyst of state empowerment for the 1996 TANF law. In addition to those reductions mentioned, our annual budget process has further decreased benefits making it harder for TANF itself to make work work and support family life.

5. In summary, welfare reform principles represent the best of our common purpose as Americans- supporting those who need help, emphasizing the dignity and importance of work, and attempting to strengthen family life. The ELCA affirms these principles and would like to testify to their manifestation among us. Unfortunately the economic reality in 2006 undermines broad claims at success. Families are stretched to the breaking point while working full-time for wages that keep them in a low-income status. There are an increasing number of poor, hungry, and uninsured Americans. Family and work are not well-served by these policies and we can do better by our fellow citizens.

The ELCA is grateful for the opportunity to testify this morning among these distinguished panelists. Our faith compels us to speak about social policy to civic leaders in terms of their own instrumental purpose and power. More specifically, however, we are compelled as Christians by Jesus who first publicly defined his own ministry in the words of the prophet Isaiah, “I have been anointed to bring good news to the poor…” Let’s work to reshape welfare reform policy toward its own best intentions so that the poor among us also might see it as good news.