Groups Call on Lawmakers to Create Jobs, Protect the Safety Net and
Adopt Fairer Revenue Alternatives
Main Street Needs Some Help From Wall Street
Hundreds of anti-poverty advocates, low-income New Yorkers, faith leaders and union members marched on the State Capitol on Tuesday, March 9th in support of a $100 million Good Jobs Now program and to urge lawmakers to adopt a range of progressive revenue options being promoted by the Better Choice Budget Campaign, including the soda tax, Stock Transfer tax and higher taxes on millionaires.
The Empire State Economic Security Campaign (ES2) also urged lawmakers to keep their pledge to finally raise the state basic welfare grant after 18 years of inaction.
Earlier in the day the group presented an award to Assembly Social Services Committee chair Keith Wright for championing the three year, 30% hike in the basic state welfare grant that lawmakers approved last year. Governor Paterson has proposed phasing the last 20% over four years rather than 2, even thought the state will receive an extra $638 million in federal funding for welfare initiatives from the economic stimulus program.
"The Governor has promised New Yorkers that he will put the state on better fiscal footing with this budget. But many of his choices are just digging the hole deeper. The three things we should be sure we invest in are jobs, jobs, and jobs. The federal government has done its part by sending stimulus dollars to pursue this goal, now the Legislature should correct the Governor's choices and use that money for job creation and training, especially for those suffering the most from our Great Recession," said Andreas Kriefall, Upstate Director of the Hunger Action Network of New York State.
The groups want at least $100 million of the extra federal welfare dollars to be spent on job programs, which are eligible for a 4 (federal) to 1 (state) match if targeted to welfare participants and others under 200% of poverty. The state legislature provided $70 million last year for such job initiatives; the Governor has proposed cutting it back to $18 million.
The Hunger Action Network of NYS and the Empire State Economic Security Campaign are also seeking to expand access to education and job training programs for low-income New Yorkers as well as a hike in the state minimum wage and unemployment benefits. The groups feel that in light of the greatest economic downtown since the Great Depression, the state should be strengthening, not weakening, the safety net. More than four hundred people attended the event, with buses from Buffalo, Rochester, New York City, and Westchester in addition to Capital District residents.
Speaking in favor of the Better Choice Budget Campaign revenue alternatives, Ron Deutsch, Executive Director of New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness noted that “Main Street is suffering and could use a returned helping hand from Wall Street. It was not long ago that Main Street bailed out Wall Street—delivering a miraculous recovery that includes record profits and large bonuses. Wall Street has a vested interest in a healthy New York State economy and a temporary reduction in their generous rebate would not be too much to ask.”
