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A Benefit to End Hunger, Feast for Famine
Tues. May 6 - Singe Payer Lobby Day and Rally at State Capitol
Come join New Yorkers for Single Payer Universal Health Care on Tuesday May 6th at the State Capitol. We will help educate legislators and state health officials about the merits of single payer health care. We will push the legislature to pass a resolution in support of HR 676 at the federal level and support passage of state legislation for single payer. We will meet at Emmanual Baptist Church, 275 State St., ALbany at 9:40. There will also be a single payer rally at noon on the west side of the Capitol
New York State is presently studying the benefits and costs of the various approaches to universal health care. Once the studies are completed this summer, the Governor will make a recommendation as to the best model. One of the models to be studied must be a single payer system. We want to make sure that legislators understand the study process.
Please contact the Hunger Action Network, 275 State St., Albany NY 12210 to register. 518 434-7371 xt 1#, dunleamark@aol.com.
Lawmakers Reject Welfare Grant Hike for 18th Year in a Row despite More than a Billion in Surplus TANF Funding Groups Criticize Lawmakers for Protecting the Rich over Poor Children and their Families Anti-poverty organizations and faith leaders held a vigil outside of the Senate chambers today to protest lawmakers’ failure to raise the welfare basic grant for the 18th year in a row. A counterprotest was organized by Billionaires for Bruno to celebrate the defeat of the Millionaire's Tax. The Assembly had proposed a 30% increase in the basic grant over 3 years. The basic grant is now $291 a month for a family of 3. The overall welfare grant is less than half the federal poverty level. The failure to raise welfare benefits comes despite the fact that New York has a surplus of more than a billion dollars in welfare funding from the federal government that could be used to pay for the hike. The Senate and Governor also rejected the so called millionaires tax would have raised $1.5 billion in revenues to help resolve the state’s deficit. “While lawmakers cited the state’s financial problems for the lack of action this year on the welfare grant and a host of other issues, the Senate and Governor decided to protect the very rich rather than the poor and the middle class,” noted Mark Dunlea, Executive Director of the Hunger Action Network. more > Anti-Poverty Groups Urge Gov. Paterson to Support Hike in Welfare Grant, Millionaire’s Tax Anti-poverty and faith organizations today urged Governor David Paterson to stand up for low-income New Yorkers in the 2008-09 state budget. The groups called upon the Governor to support the first welfare grant hike in 18 years. Welfare benefits now come to less than 50% of the federal poverty level. The Assembly Democrats have proposed raising the basic welfare grant by 30% over three years. The Senate Democrats have proposed a first year grant hike of 25%. Paterson has indicated support for a welfare grant hike in the past. Groups such as the Hunger Action Network have also been calling upon Paterson to support making wealthy New Yorkers pay their fair share of taxes. The poorest New Yorkers now pay twice as much of their income for state and local taxes as do wealthy New Yorkers like Donald Trump. A new poll by Quinnipiac University shows the public supports the Assembly proposal to raise by 1% the top personal income tax rate on millionaires by 77% to 19%. read >
New York Legislature Urged to Support National Single Payer Universal Health Care Health care advocates today said that a single payer universal health care system is the best approach to providing quality, affordable health care to all Americans while controlling costs. The groups are planning a single payer health care lobby day and rally at the State Capitol on Tuesday May 6th. The New Yorkers for Single Payer Health Care urged the State Assembly to pass Resolution K779 (Felix Ortiz) to support HR 676 (Conyers) in Congress. Several months ago Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried circulated a sign on letter by state legislators urging passage of HR 676. The Governor’s Task Force on Universal Health Care is doing a cost benefit analysis of a state single payer program. The state single bill (A7354 / S 3107) has 85 co-sponsors in the Assembly. read >
It has been 17 years since New York State lawmakers last raised the welfare grant. The basic welfare grant is still $291 a month for a family of 3. The welfare shelter allowance - despite more than 20 years of litigation where the courts have ruled it is illegally low - still falls way below the real cost of housing. We are asking Governor Spitzer to correct this shameful situation by raising the basic welfare grant in the state budget he will release at the end of January 2008. If he restored the basic grant to its purchasing power in 1990, it would come to $475 a month. To draw attention to the problem of low welfare benefits, we are asking state officials and concerned New York residents to take the Public Assistance Challenge - to live on the welfare grant for one week, starting Jan. 1. Click here for more info on the welfare challenge Chick here for a daily report on how Hunger Action Executive Director Mark Dunlea is doing with his challenge.
Can Incrementalism be a Path to Universal Health Care? Governor Spitzer and state lawmakers seek an evidence-based plan that will bring comprehensive health care to all of the people of New York State, a result that almost everyone would like to see. Unfortunately, the Spitzer administration, along with many health care reformers, continually assert, without providing any evidence, that the best way to universal health care is a series of incremental steps that build upon existing programs to bring targeted populations of the uninsured into the “health care” system. The evidence from efforts in other states however show that an incremental approach is likely to fail. However, the experience in the rest of the world shows that a comprehensive single payer system will cover everyone, improve quality and cut costs. read more >
Hunger Action Network has 2 office workspaces (11’ x 6’) available for immediate sublet at W. 36 Street @ 8 Ave. in Manhattan, includes use of small meeting room. $1,000/month plus half of utilities, carting and fees. Click for pictures. (212) 741-8192 ext 1#.
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FACES OF HUNGER ACTION NETWORK:
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To email a letter to your NYS representative, click here >> Sign up to receive free Hunger Alert emails which are sent out every couple of months so you can keep informed about important issues affecting hungry and low-income New Yorkers.
You will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer to read these documents. Acrobat Reader is FREE! Click HERE to download! Spitzer advances Food Stamp Initiative – Spitzer seeks to extend benefits to 100,000 families Hunger Alert – May 2008 In this Issue: Farm Bill Decision Postponed another 2 weeks – Calls Still Needed Tues May 6th single payer lobby day and rally A Benefit to End Hunger, Feast for Famine - Wednesday, May 14, 5:30 to 8 PM, Albany Hunger Doesn’t Take a Summer Vacation: the Summer Food Service Program Healthy Schools Act Stalled Faith and Hunger Network Conferences May 7 Poughkeepsie, May 17th Buffalo HANNYS Adds New CSA in Long Island City; West Harlem CSA starts second year State Senate Action on welfare reforms seems unlikely The Global Food Crisis – At Home and Abroad; State Cuts Emergency Food Funding Albany Conference on Making Food Deserts Bloom; Food Policy Council Listening Sessions
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Craig Murphey, Community Organizer for Cathedral Community Cares (CCC) and West Harlem Action Network Against Poverty (WHANP), was killed by a truck Oct. 18 while riding his bike in Williamsburg (Brooklyn). He was 26 years old. Craig was a remarkable person whom everyone in the hunger field knew and respected. 
