Bush’s Welfare Plan Places Undue Financial Stress on States & Ignores Poverty

Senators Clinton & Schumer need to speak out!

The welfare proposal announced by President Bush on January 14, 2003 is wholly inadequate in dealing with poverty, especially given the weak economy and the states’ current fiscal crises.

President Bush’s proposal mirrors the House of Rpresentatives’ welfare bill passed last year, and would require states to have 70 percent of people receiving welfare working 40 hours a week (six hours more than the national average for all women with young children). Bush based his plan on the notion that welfare reform to date has been an unmitigated success, without addressing federal government data showing that many who have left welfare remain mired in poverty. The plan provides little access to education and job training, which are proven routes out of poverty. With unemployment approaching record highs, this proposal will force mothers into workfare and low-wage dead-end jobs, if jobs can be found at all.

Compounding the problem, the Administration’s welfare plan freezes funding for welfare programs and child care. Right now in New York State, only 18.6% of all eligible children receive child care assistance. With the New York State budget gap at $2.5 billion this current fiscal year and at least $10 billion the next fiscal year, services are likely to be reduced and poor children and families will be placed at risk.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?
Put Pressure On Our New York Senators

Call, Fax & Email Senator Hillary Clinton
Tel: 202.224.4451 Fax: 202.228.0282 Email: catherine_brown@clinton.senate.gov

Call, Fax & Email Senator Charles Schumer
Tel: 202.224.6542 Fax: 202.228.3027 Email: christine_parker@schumer.senate.gov

Message: "I am calling on Senator Schumer/Clinton to ensure that any TANF bill includes:
- No increases to the current 30 hour a week work requirement;
- Education and job training must count as work;
- Increased child care funding to $11.25 billion per year; and
- Expansion and enhancement of child care protections to ensure that no mother is forced to leave her child without quality care."

January 21, 2003