A Republican-led effort to reform welfare cleared an important hurdle Thursday, advancing out of the House Ways and Means Committee.

The Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services (JOBS) for Success Act would push states to provide greater job assistance to people receiving cash welfare. It would refocus money currently spent on the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program to more squarely target the poorest residents — those making 200 percent of the federal poverty line or less.

And the bill would give states more flexibility to meet those goals but require spending to be more transparent.

“The economy, we know, is as strong as it has been in years,” Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) told reporters on a conference call following the committee vote. “The unemployment rate is at its lowest level since the turn of the century. The number of job openings has soared to more than 6.6 million, and the number of folks receiving unemployment benefits has fallen to the lowest level since 1969.

“Meanwhile, we have millions of Americans who are not in the workforce and have found themselves on the sidelines of our economy,” he added.

Smith, chairman of the Human Resources Subcommittee, said the bill is the product of seven hearings and 19 witnesses.

“What we heard loud and clear is that our economy has finally turned around, and there are millions of job opportunities across the country,” he said.

The 22-14 vote broke down along party lines, with no Democrats supporting it.

Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) argued that the bill does not do enough to help the two-thirds of TANF beneficiaries who are children.

“Unfortunately, this Republican bill does not address some of the key problems facing poor children in Illinois,” he said. “The basic assistance level of TANF in Illinois is 25 percent of the federal poverty level. This is especially shameful when we realize that 50 percent of the federal poverty level is the definition of extreme poverty.”

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Democrats also complain the bill shorts child care assistance. Republicans voted down an amendment by Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) that would have eliminated the 50 percent cap on federal welfare funds that could be transferred to the child care and development block grant. It also would have defined chid care as a “core purpose” of the welfare program.

Chu said single mothers head 92 percent of TANF households. She said fewer than 15 percent of income-eligible California families have access to taxpayer-funded child care and that 400,000 children are on a waiting list.

“If we are serious about helping families become work-ready, then we must put more pressure on states to invest TANF dollars in quality child care spending instead of diverting funds to other programs,” she said.

Republicans countered that the bill already increases the amount of money that can be devoted to child care by raising the current cap, which is 35 percent. But they argued that they do not want to take too much funding away from initiatives to help welfare recipients find and keep jobs — and, ultimately, become self-sufficient.

Smith (pictured above) told reporters that Republicans want to build better measurements to determine if states actually are achieving the ultimate goal of moving welfare recipients to work.

“There’s flexibility, but there’s also accountability,” he said.

To actually become the law, the bill — even if it passes the full House — must find 60 votes in the Senate to avoid a filibuster.

Related: Welfare Reform Part II: House to Make First Effort Since 1996 Law

Notwithstanding the party-line vote in committee, Smith expressed optimism.

“Yes, the ultimate vote was partisan in committee,” he said. “But when you look at the discussion and even some comments from my Democratic colleagues on the committee, they appreciate the overall structure of the bill and the overall objective of the bill to target dollars to the needy.

“We have found that states have used TANF dollars to plug budget gaps,” he added. “And I know it’s tough to balance state budgets, too, but I think that targeting these dollars and then expecting states to be effective with the dollars, that’s a win-win scenario regardless of party.”

PoliZette senior writer Brendan Kirby can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter.