[Faith & Hunger] Sign on letter to Gov Spiter re budget amend and welfare grant

[Dunleamark at aol.com]

Dear Friends: 
 
We hope you will sign on to following letter to Governor Spitzer asking him  
to include an increase in the public assistance basic grant during his 21 day  
budget amendment. This would mark the 18th year in a row that lawmakers 
failed  to raise the welfare grant as children and their families fall deeper into  
poverty.
 
We plan to deliver the letter to the Governor at the end of the day on  
Monday February 4, since the 21 day amendment period is up the following week.  If 
your organization is willing to sign on to the letter, please email or fax  
the information to:dunleamark at aol.com or 518 434-7390. Please let how you want  
to be identified on the letter
 
Thanks
 
Mark

 
 
Governor  Spitzer 
State  Capitol 
Albany, NY 12224 

Increase Welfare Grant in 21-Day  Amendments! 
Dear Governor  Spitzer, 
We are deeply disappointed that you did not include an increase in the  
welfare grant in the SFY 2008-09 Executive Budget.  While we realize that the State 
faces a  $4.4 billion budget gap, those who must face the worst consequences 
of downward  economic trends are those who remain trapped in poverty.  
Families receiving welfare have been  living on the SAME benefit level for over 18 
years!  At this point, the value of these  benefits has fallen to only 50% of 
the Federal Poverty Level, or about $8,800  per year for a family of three.     
The reduced value of public assistance  has led to increased homelessness and 
poverty, unsafe living conditions, hunger  and malnourishment in children, 
and loss of workforce productivity.  When families cannot meet their basic  
needs for shelter, energy, transportation, food, and clothing, their lives are  in 
constant turmoil.  Families  cannot make progress toward economic security 
when they are always unsure about  their housing situation and worry about 
whether they will be able to feed and  clothe their children. 
Due to large welfare caseload reductions  since the Temporary Assistance for 
Needy Families (TANF) program was created in  1996, New York  now spends more 
than $1 billion a year out of its total federal TANF block grant  for purposes 
other than funding direct public assistance to needy families.  Unlike many 
other states, New York has failed to  use this funding to raise our menial 
welfare grant levels.  While a broad-based Earned Income Tax  Credit (EITC) for 
low-income working families is important, it shouldn’t  substitute for providing 
basic assistance to those who need it most.   
We see a terrible loss of hope among  those who depend on the State for the 
necessities of life. We see the despair of  families pressed to the limits of 
endurance. New York's inadequate support for the poor and  the marginalized has 
developed into a social crisis. The Jewish, Christian and  Islamic traditions 
all speak for the dignity of people in poverty, that it is  society’s 
responsibility to address and alleviate such inequities. We as a state  are failing.  
 
Clearly, you made a priority to negotiate  substantial pay raises for judges, 
who currently earn over $130,000 per  year.  If you are also going to 
consider raises for State legislators, we  ask that you support an increase in 
essential benefits for welfare recipients,  who need the assistance now more than 
ever. Former New York Governor President  Franklin Delano Roosevelt once 
remarked, "The test of our progress is not  whether we add more to the abundance of 
those who have much; it is whether we  provide enough for those who have too  
little."  
Despite New  York’s reputation for widely enjoyed prosperity and generosity 
to  the poor, our State in fact has some of the worst child poverty rates in 
the  U.S. (see attached table). According  to recent Census data, 888,000 (20%) 
of our State’s children are living in  poverty.  New  York ranks 36th in the 
country on child poverty rates –  not far from states like Alabama, Kentucky, 
and West Virginia.  Our Northeastern neighbors are far ahead  of New York,  
because they have realized that the critical years of early childhood  
development should not be spent in poverty.  Furthermore, in many areas of New York 
State, the overall poverty rate is far  above the national and statewide averages. 
 In 2006, New York  City’s poverty rate was 19.1%, and upstate cities fared  
even worse.  In fact, Buffalo and Syracuse are  listed among those with the 
lowest income levels and highest poverty rates in  the country, and a 
significant number of families in New York’s cities are  deemed “extremely poor.”  
Five times the State’s courts have ruled  that welfare benefits are illegally 
low – yet no action is taken.  Welfare recipients are NOT receiving a  “
hand-out,” since they are required to work as a condition of eligibility.  In 
fact, many are helping to sustain the  economy during these uncertain times as 
low-paid laborers. Struggling to make  ends meet on below poverty wages, they 
turn to the welfare system only as a  means of making up the difference. 
Governor, we are asking for your  leadership on this imperative legal and 
moral issue.  The fact that 888,000 children are  living in poverty in the “
Empire State” is unacceptable.  As it states in Article 17 of the State  
Constitution, “the aid, care, and support of the needy are public concerns and  shall be 
provided by the state.”  Given your responsibility to uphold this fundamental 
obligation, we hope  that in the 21-day amendments you will make the most 
important amendment needed  in the SFY 2008-09 Executive Budget.     
Sincerely, 
ES2 Campaign Members: 
Mark Dunlea, Hunger Action Network of  NYS 
Bich Ha Pham, Federation of Protestant  Welfare Agencies 
Jill Poklemba, Federation of Protestant  Welfare Agencies 




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