[Faith & Hunger] Call Sen. Golden today to raise the welfare grant

[Dunleamark at aol.com]

Please call Sen. Golden's office today and say: We want the welfare grant  
included in this year's budget. It is has been 18 years since it was last  
increased, and it is wrong to have allowed welfare benefits to have fallen to  less 
than half of the federal poverty level. 518 455-2730
 
Dear Friends:
 
Budget negotiations are moving into high gear, with the announcement last  
evening of a tentative budget agreement. Usually three such announcements are  
needed before we have a budget deal (so we have at least two to go), and most 
of  the details, especially on the spending side, still needs to be  negotiated.
 
This is the most critical time for you to be calling state legislators,  
budget officials, etc. to urge them to raise the welfare grant. Both supporters  
and opponents need phone calls. Legislators who support raising the welfare  
grant, such as Assembly Social Services Chair Keith Wright (518 455-5793)  need 
to hear that advocates are still working on this issue and that we  appreciate 
his leadership. Wright is facing a difficult task in the next week  and he 
needs to be inspired by us.
 
Senator Golden, the Senate head of the budget conference committee handling  
welfare, especially needs to hear from us (518 455-2730). Senator Golden 
blocked  the grant increase last year and will oppose it again this year, primarily 
 because the amount of "money" that his conference committee is given to  
"resolve" is too small to accommodate the welfare grant hike. The best we could  
hope for is that Wright fights hard enough on the issue that they agree to 
send  it to the leadership to deal with. It is expected that the budget 
conference  committees will begin to meet on Friday.
 
Lt. Governor Paterson had told me earlier this year that he would try to  
help get the welfare grant included in the state budget during the last hours of  
the budget negotiations. Of course his role has changed greatly as Governor 
and  he has different financial considerations than before. But our job is to 
try to  keep the welfare grant on the table as long as possible so that the 
Governor has  the opportunity to weigh in with the Senate. The Senate is never 
going to  support the welfare grant hike. But in the last hours, each side 
begins to say  here are the things I need, what do you need. We have to try our 
best to get the  welfare grant on both the Assembly's and Governor's final list.
 
Below is the list of the entire budget conference committee, in order of  
rank (authority, power). Please contact any and all of them, especially those  
you have a connection with. They should be called in their Albany office - and  
right now it looks like they will be here over the weekend.
 
You can reach anyone in the Assembly by calling 518 455-4100; anyone in the  
Senate by call 518 455-2800.
 
You may want to reach out to the Governor's staff as well, such as Dennis  
Whalen, Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services, at 518 408-2500.
 
It is absolutely critical that we make our voices as loud and persistent as  
possible over the next few days. Call early, call often, call every day.
 
Up and out of poverty.
 
Mark Dunlea
Hunger Action Network
518 434-7371 xt 1#
_dunleamark at aol.com_ (mailto:dunleamark at aol.com) 
 
* means they are an alternative (Minority Parties are listed last)
      
Assembly  Senate  
Susan John, Co-Chair  Martin Golden, Co-Chair  Keith Wright  Joseph Robach  
Peter Abbate  George Maziarz  William Scarborough  Catharine Young  Steven 
Cymbrowitz *  Joseph Griffo *  Robert Oaks  Velmanette Montgomery  Marc Molinaro * 
 Ruth Hassell-Thompson *



**************Create a Home Theater Like the Pros. Watch the video on AOL 
Home.      
(http://home.aol.com/diy/home-improvement-eric-stromer?video=15&ncid=aolhom00030000000001)
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://hungeractionnys.org/pipermail/faithhunger_hungeractionnys.org/attachments/20080328/3e756b01/attachment.html