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WASHINGTON—At a U.S. House Ways and Means Sub-Committee hearing today, Congressman Ron Estes (R-Kansas) discussed recent efforts in Kansas to bypass state law regarding work requirements to receive assistance through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. Last month, it was reported that Kansas Governor Laura Kelly’s administration intends to issue exemptions allowing people who have not followed mandated work requirements to continue receiving assistance.

As the sub-committee discussed welfare reform and initiatives to encourage fatherhood, Rep. Estes discussed successful state welfare reforms included in the Kansas HOPE Act including a measure to increase child support cooperation.

“In my home state of Kansas, we have had success in reaching fathers when mothers apply for child care and food stamps through reforms to increase child support cooperation,” said Rep. Estes. “Six months after this reform was enacted in Kansas, the households that had originally not cooperated received an increase of almost 39 percent in child support — a total of nearly $665,000. That’s money that helps that family be more stable to help that child in their development.”

Rep. Estes continued, “Unfortunately, Kansas currently has an administration seeking to rollback some of the successful reforms enacted for assistance programs like TANF by allowing people who haven’t followed mandated work requirements to continue receiving assistance. Not only does this ignore our law, but reforms aimed at encouraging work and child support cooperation support families and should not be ignored.”

View the remarks here.