For some time now, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has urged an extension of a provision of the stimulus bill that allowed welfare funds to fully or partially subsidize the wages of low-income workers who are newly hired by private employers. The fund, known as the TANF Emergency Fund, is set to expire Sept. 30. That may jeopardize the jobs of many workers and employers in the states that used the fund to spur hiring among employers who wouldn't hire otherwise, and get jobs for low-income workers who might not have otherwise gotten one.
A provision to extend it was included in a $14 billion small business relief bill that the House debated Tuesday and will hopefully vote on soon. The center made the case for why extending the fund is so important:
The fund's expiration would also pose problems for small businesses. If firms participating in the program have not recovered enough to afford the wage costs, they will have to reduce staffing, and the individuals they hired with the help of the subsidy will again be unemployed. This would be a setback both for the economic recovery and for small firms participating in the program.
There are other things in the bill, including tax breaks and an extension of a bond program for state and local governments. It's not just good for business, says The Wall Street Journal:
In keeping with new congressional budgetary rules, the roughly $14 billion cost of the bill would be fully offset by changes elsewhere to the tax code. According to the nonpartisan Joint Tax Committee, the bill would result in a slight surplus over a 10-year period.
Representatives and senators get to throw around a lot of catch-phrases with this bill -- like Main Street vs. Wall Street and Build America. And this isn't the first bill that's extended the stimulus without having to call it a stimulus. If the original stimulus isn't big enough, it's hard to see how such small bills scattered here and there will really help. But they can't hurt, especially when they're aimed at low-income workers who need help most.
-- Monica Potts
