File spoon-archives/anarchy-list.archive/anarchy-list_2001/anarchy-list.0111, message 359


From: "ARON KAY" <pieman-AT-pieman.org>
Subject: Fw: New Coalition Vows Fight Over Welfare Law
Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2001 03:16:35 -0500



----- Original Message -----
From: "portsideMod" <portsidemod-AT-yahoo.com>
To: "portside" <portside-AT-yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, November 15, 2001 12:21 AM
Subject: New Coalition Vows Fight Over Welfare Law


> New Coalition Vows Fight Over Welfare Law
>
> by Laura Meckler
> November 14, 2001
> Associated Press
>
> WASHINGTON -- A coalition of liberals is vowing to fight
> for changes in federal welfare policy when the landmark
> overhaul is renewed next year. Kicking off their
> campaign, they argue that the popular changes aren't
> working as well as most Americans think.
>
> The newly formed National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support
> <http://www.nationalcampaign.org/>, made up of some 1,000 groups, argues
that
> the 1996 welfare law has left the nation with a tattered safety net that
will
> be unable to support needy Americans if the economic slump deepens.
>
> The 1996 law ended the six-decade federal guarantee of
> cash benefits to the poor, limited welfare to five years
> and imposed strict work requirements. The results were
> dramatic: Caseloads fell by nearly 60 percent, as
> welfare recipients were lured into jobs by the strong
> economy or pushed off the rolls by tough new rules.
>
> At the same time, poverty rates have not fallen as far
> as welfare rolls, with many people leaving welfare for
> jobs that don't pay enough to reach the poverty line.
>
> The new group, which is launching its campaign
> Wednesday, is looking for a host of changes. Among them:
> Allowing people on welfare to satisfy work requirements
> by participating in education or training, stopping the
> clock on the five-year time limit if someone is working
> and restoring welfare, food stamp, health and disability
> benefits to legal immigrants.
>
> Politically, it hopes to be more successful that
> liberals were in 1996, when President Clinton signed the
> GOP-drafted bill, said Deepak Bhargava, director of the
> campaign.
>
> "There was a state of shock that these massive changes
> were being contemplated and disbelief that they could
> occur under a Democratic president's watch," he said.
> "Now people are very clear about the stakes and have
> mobilized."
>
> Conservatives have a much different agenda for next
> year's welfare debate. Most of them are happy with the
> work requirements, but many hope to put a stronger
> emphasis on marriage and reducing the number of children
> born to single parents.
>
> The liberal group, with AFL-CIO President John Sweeney
> on hand, is launching its campaign by arguing that many
> workers who could lose their jobs in an economic
> downturn will not have access to unemployment insurance,
> which does not cover many part-time jobs or workers
> without long job histories.
>
> It released research that suggested the number of people
> in poverty would increase by more than 3.3 million if
> the unemployment rate rises by two percentage points.
>
> The group's research also found that more than 120,000
> families have had their welfare benefits reduced or
> eliminated because of welfare time limits, a finding
> similar to that of an Associated Press survey last
> summer.
>
> And it found that more than 116,000 poor immigrant
> families have incomes that are low enough to qualify for
> welfare or food stamps, but they do not qualify because
> they came to the country after August 1996, when the
> welfare law was signed.
>
> © 2001 The Associated Press
>
>
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