| Put a Moratorium on the 5-Year Limit! December 8, 2001 1. Economic Crisis/Recession: As the economy worsens, more and more families are falling into poverty, there are more layoffs, and more competition for the same jobs. This means that the number of us needing welfare to survive will increase. In Minnesota, the welfare caseload is already projected to increase at least 5%. The so-called welfare �reforms� were started in a time of economic boom. Many parents got jobs and moved off welfare (at least temporarily) because the job market was at its peak and wages increased. Now with a crisis in the economy, a lot of those families and many more will be suffering unemployment. Finding jobs - especially jobs that pay livable wages - will become much harder. The first who will be laid off are welfare parents who have recently entered the job market. Because of racist discrimination in the job world, immigrants and people of color will suffer the biggest blows. Just as workers need extended unemployment benefits in this current economic crisis, poor families need extended benefits to keep our families alive. 2. Welfare �reforms� wasted 5 years of the lifetime limit, and trapped families in poverty, instead of helping families get ahead. a. Denied Education. In Minnesota, parents were systematically denied the opportunity to get education, even though by law they had a right. The federal govt. allowed up to 30% of caseload to get education, but in Minnesota less than 5% got a chance at education (that 5% includes 6 week training programs). Minnesota�s program pushed families into �work first�, even if it meant low wage jobs. b. Families pushed into low wage, dead-end jobs. The average wage a welfare family got (as reported by the DHS at the 2000 legislature) was $6.86/hour. In 2001, the DHS reported the average wage as $7 per hour. c. Sanctions set families back months and even years from getting ahead. In Minnesota, sanctions (cuts to the welfare grant for supposed �non-compliance�) of 10% and 30% were placed on families repeatedly, arbitrarily and illegally in the majority of cases. These sanctions pushed families into deeper poverty and desperate situations, causing families to lose housing, lose money for food, and piling additional stress on families struggling to get by. Sanctions are counterproductive, because they put up a huge barrier to families getting out of poverty. 3. There is no safety net after the 5-year limit and charities cannot fill the needs of thousands of families and kids who are and will be in desperate need. Emergency services are already overwhelmed; some are closing their doors because they cannot meet the needs that already exist since the welfare changes went into place five years ago. Now Governor Ventura is freezing the grants to non-profits, adding more insult to injury. In any case, charities and non-profits could never meet the needs of the five-year limit casualties. Families being cut are not even tracked to find out what the consequences are. 4. Saving Minnesota families is more important than saving the Twins. No time limit was placed on corporate welfare, only on welfare to the poor. Corporate giveaways and tax breaks are skyrocketing, yet families in poverty are being told to �make it on our own�. If giant corporations can�t �make it� without government handouts, why would anyone expect a family with one income or even two incomes can do it? 5. Poor families did not cause the state �budget crisis�, and should not have to pay the price. There is a big difference between the rich �sacrificing� their past tax cuts, and a poor family losing survival assistance. 6. Putting a moratorium on the time limit gives Minnesota lawmakers time to work on the real issues that push and keep families in poverty. Livable wage jobs. Low cost housing. Low cost childcare. Affordable and accessible health care. Education. These are the things lawmakers should be addressing. MN Welfare Rights Coalition, Stop the 5-Year Limit Coalition 612-822-8020, [email protected] |