Worker & Family Support

The Worker & Family Support  Subcommittee authorizes and oversees a range of critical supports for workers, children, and families. Specifically, the Subcommittee oversees

• the federal-state unemployment insurance program, which provides earned benefits to workers who lose their jobs through no fault of their own;
• the child support enforcement program, which collects support for children from non-custodial parents;
• the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides flexible funds to states for the purpose of providing income support and other assistance to move parents from welfare to work;
• the Child Care Entitlement, which provides part of the federal support for child care assistance;
• the Social Services Block Grant, which provides $1.7 billion a year in flexible funds for a wide range of state-provided social services ranging from child care to Meals on Wheels, and is the largest source of federal funding for child and adult protective services;
• foster care and other services provided to help abused or neglected children become safe at home or move into permanent families via adoption or guardianship;
• the Supplemental Security Income program (SSI), which provides modest income support to very poor seniors and severely disabled children and adults; and
• the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting program (MIECHV), which funds evidence based home visiting services to improve maternal and child health and development.