Fw: [NOW-action-list] Tell Your Senators: Improve Women's Chances!

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Martha Murdock, DirectorNational Silicone Implant Foundation | Dallas Headquarters"Supporting Survivors of Medical Implant Devices"4416 Willow LaneDallas, TX 75244-7537

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Sent: Wednesday, April 30, 2003 3:32 PM

Subject: [NOW-action-list] Tell Your Senators: Improve Women's Chances!

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April 30, 2003

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Action Needed

Background

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More on Welfare Issues

Tell Your Senators: Improve Women's Chances!

Help women safely raise their children, finish schooland prepare for jobs that keep their families out of poverty

Action Needed:

Call, fax or e-mail your Senators and ask them to work for and endorse a welfare policy that aims to eliminate poverty—not just to reduce the welfare rolls. An important emphasis should be on the expansion of education and training opportunities for poor women. Send an e-mail now.

There is a model letter at the end of this alert that you can copy and fax to each of your senators' local or national offices—don't use the U.S. mail because it takes too long to arrive. Add your own story or tell them about your community's local success stories—where staying in school and attending job training courses improved the chances for women to leave welfare and provide for their families.

In the coming weeks and months, Senators will be discussing and voting on judicial nominations and a tax bill, but they will also be preparing to discuss the reauthorization of the welfare law, officially known as the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program. Congress failed last year to pass a reauthorization of the 1996 welfare law that both the House and Senate could agree on and instead has kept the program running and funded at FY 2003 levels by extending current law through June 30. We have a chance to influence this debate during this time period.

The National Organization for Women has worked for decades on welfare policy, advocating improvements that would reduce poverty, not just limit the number of families receiving public assistance. This is a critical time for our activists and other anti-poverty advocates to make their voices heard to help poor women become economically self-sufficient. A number of key senators who will decide the substance of the legislation are strong supporters of education and training. This is very good news and we must we add our voices to this debate as it comes down to the wire. The economic health and well-being of millions of impoverished families rests in the hands of the Senators who must be encouraged to understand that a "leg up" works better than a "boot out" for struggling women and children.

Background:

The welfare reauthorization debate is on the agenda for the U.S. Senate for sometime during May or June. First, Congress has to pass (some would say "railroad through") a tax cut bill based on conflicting instructions from the recently passed budget resolution for fiscal year 2004. In anticipation of the debate on welfare, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Grassley (R-Iowa) is drafting a bipartisan proposal that will not be as strict or punitive as the House bill but will build upon current law. The main sticking points, similar to last year's debate, revolve around the number of work hours required for receipt of benefits, the amount of funding for childcare, access to education and job training opportunities, marriage promotion and fatherhood initiatives funded with precious TANF funds, and access to benefits by legal immigrants.

The House, in February of this year, passed their version of a welfare reauthorization bill, H.R. 4, that echoes the President's January, 2003 proposal and dittoes the harsh House bill they passed last year. House Republican leaders simply took last year's failed Bush plan and railroaded it through the House without a single hearing or input from the two key committees of jurisdiction, the House Ways and Means Committee and Education and Workforce Committee.

Not only does H.R. 4 leave out many immigrant families, it also ignores or pays lip service to the educational, training, child care, rehabilitation, counseling and anti-violence needs of the millions of women who apply for or receive welfare and family benefits.

In the Senate Finance Committee there is currently bipartisan agreement to increase childcare funds and require fewer work hours than the House-passed 40 hours a week. There is also sentiment, encouraged by Senator Olympia Snowe (R-Maine), to make improvements in education and job training.

We must not miss this important opportunity to influence the outcome of the Senate welfare bill. At the minimum we must insist that the welfare bill:

Increase child care funding and acknowledge caregiving as work Provide access for education and training Prevent states from being required to fund government marriage promotion Help states address domestic violence and other employment barriers Ensure equal access for legal immigrants For more information: Background on TANF Reauthorization: Education, Training Absolutely Essential

Recent press clips:

The I.R.S. Goes After the Poor

Cutbacks Imperil Health Coverage for States' Poor

For further information, review the in-depth analyses done by our coalition partners, CLASP and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Your Message:

The Senate is expected to begin debate on the reauthorization of the 1996 welfare law sometime in May or June. I hope that you will support legislation that provides flexibility for TANF recipients to complete high school or college degrees or to obtain necessary vocational and job training. Enhancing poor women's ability to gain jobs that pay sufficient wages so that they can pull their families out of poverty is a central and proven solution to "ending poverty as we know it."

The welfare reauthorization should reflect knowledge gained in recent years' experience with TANF programs, showing that better access to education and training really pays. One recent Illinois study demonstrates that welfare recipients who were training program graduates made 180% of the hourly wages of their counterparts who didn't have additional training. Building in flexibility for states to allow sufficient time and opportunity for poor women's education and job readiness is essential. The House-passed welfare bill, H.R. 4, is woefully inadequate in this regard. Please advocate for these important improvements in the Senate welfare bill.

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