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<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Hunger Action Network of
NYS</FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"><A title=http://www.hungeractionnys.org/
href="http://www.hungeractionnys.org/">www.hungeractionnys.org</A><BR>Media
Release<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">For Release: August 18,
2008</FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">For More Info: Mark Dunlea, 518 434-7371 xt
1#<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Rev. Jim Reisner, Westminster Presbyterian
Churcn 518 436-8544<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Patti Jo Newell, NYS Coalition Against
Domestic Violence, 518-482-5465<BR><BR>Hunger Action Network Calls on State
Lawmakers to Pledge to End Poverty in New York
State<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">The Hunger Action Network of New York State
announced today a campaign to get state legislative candidates to sign a Poverty
to Prosperity Pledge. The Pledge highlights seven key economic security issues:
raising the welfare grant after 18 years; raising the state minimum wage to $10
an hour; supporting job creation, including a massive home energy conservation
initiative; single payer universal health care; affordable housing; state
funding for the Home Energy Assistance Program; and tax
reform.<BR><BR>Speakers included Mark Dunlea and Bill Peltz of Hunger
Action Network, Patti Jo Newell of the NYS Coalition Against Domestic Violence,
and Rev. James Reisner of the Albany Presbytery. The Presbyterian Hunger Program
has been a long time funder of Hunger Action.<BR><BR>As former New York Governor
Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, "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." By this measure, New York is
failing.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">”Poverty, homelessness, and hunger are
significant problems in New York, a shameful situation in the richest nation in
the world. New York has the greatest income inequality between the poor and rich
in the country. Poverty is seldom discussed in the State Capitol, and is
generally treated as an insolvable problem. It is time for lawmakers to not only
make ending poverty a state priority but to be held accountable for their
success in doing so,” stated Mark Dunlea, Executive Director of Hunger Action
Network of New York State.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Dunlea noted that there were only a handful
of food pantries and soup kitchens in NYS prior to the 1981 federal budget cuts
under President Reagan. There are now more than 3,000, feeding more than 2
million New Yorkers annually. “New Yorkers shouldn’t have to rely on emergency
food programs to feed themselves. It is time that state lawmakers make a
commitment to shut these programs down by ensuring that all New Yorkers have the
resources to support their families. We need to provide economic security not
just for the poor but for all New Yorkers,” added
Dunlea.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; COLOR: black; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA"><BR
style="PAGE-BREAK-BEFORE: always" clear=all></SPAN>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">"Survivors of domestic violence keenly feel
economic pressures, and challenges associated with housing, employment, public
assistance, health care and child care are typically identified among as the
primary reasons for remaining with batterers. Economic independence is a
prerequisite to independence from batterers. Leaving is not in itself
sufficient. Survivors are routinely driven back to batterers because of economic
pressures, even after using emergency shelter and other services. This is an
unnecessary tragedy in New York's response to domestic violence," said Patti Jo
Newell, deputy director at the NYS Coalition Against Domestic
Violence.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">For the last nine years more than 200 human
services, faith and labor groups have promoted the Empire State Economic
Security Campaign (ES2) which has included the issues in the Poverty to
Prosperity Pledge. Last year Governor Spitzer announced the creation of an
Economic Security cabinet for the state, which recently completed a series of
Town Hall meetings to get input from
residents.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">In addition to the pledge, ES2 will be
holding town hall meetings with state legislative candidates on economic
security and poverty in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Albany, Buffalo, Rochester, and
Westchester in October.<BR><BR>A similar campaign is being launched at the
national level to cut poverty in half in the next decade by the Center for
American Progress. Thirty-seven million Americans live below the official
poverty line. Millions more struggle each month to pay for basic necessities, or
run out of savings when they lose their jobs or face health emergencies. Poverty
imposes enormous costs on society. Persistent childhood poverty is estimated to
cost our nation $500 billion each year, or about four percent of the nation’s
gross domestic product. <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><BR><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">More than 2.6
million New Yorkers are living in poverty – one in five children (858,000) and
one in ten families (575,000) had incomes below the official federal poverty
thresholds in 2006.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Over one
million of these New Yorkers had incomes below half the official poverty
threshold -- or less than about $10,000 a year for a family of four. New York
State and New York City still have the highest measures of income inequality in
the nation, and New York is the only state that is considered both a high income
state and a high poverty state. <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Poverty is particularly severe in the
state's cities.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>New York City's
poverty rate was 19 percent but poverty rates in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse
exceeded 30 percent.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Child poverty
rates were greater than 40 percent in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany
and more than 10 percent of the residents of these four cities had incomes below
50 percent of poverty.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">A family of four is considered poor if the
family’s income is below $19,971—a bar far below what most people believe a
family needs to get by. All economists agree that the official poverty
measurement is inaccurate – they just can’t agree on how to fix it. The poverty
measure also doesn’t reflect regional variations in cost. NYC recent revision of
the poverty measurement raised the poverty threshold for a family of two adults
and two children in New York City to $26,138 annually compared to the official
level of $20,444, raising the percentage of poor city residents from 19% to
23%.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">A recent report by the Fiscal Policy
Institute found that the median “hardship” gap in New York is a staggering
$1,079 a month – the second worst in the country. The hardship gap is the
difference between the basic family budget (for food, housing, energy, health
care, etc.) and their monthly income.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Poverty in the United States is far higher
than in many other developed nations. At the turn of the 21st century, the
United States ranked 24th among 25 countries when measuring the share of the
population below 50 percent of median
income.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">The groups are especially upset that the
state’s basic welfare grant has not been raised in over 18 years. Children have
been the prime victims of this inaction.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>In 1975 public assistance for a three-person family was equal to 110% of
the Federal Poverty Level. Today it has fallen to less than 50% of the poverty
level. Within the past two years, there has been a modest, inadequate, increase
in the shelter portion of the public assistance grant, but the basic allowance
for all other expenses has been unchanged for 16 years. To keep pace with the
rising cost of living, the $291 a family of three received in the non-shelter
portion of its public assistance grant in 1990 would today have to be increased
by 55% to $450. <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">“One key issue in reducing poverty is to end
the high rate of income inequality in America – the highest of any industrial
country. This means both raising the wages of workers at the bottom and to
reverse a regressive system of state and local taxes where the poorest 20% of
New Yorkers pay twice as much of their income in state and local taxes as the
richest 1%, those making more than $500,000 a year,” added Bill
Peltz.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Nationally, the top one percent of
households received 21.8 percent of all pre-tax income in 2005, more than double
what that figure was in the 1970s. (The top one percent's share of total income
bottomed out at 8.9 percent in 1976.) This is the greatest concentration of
income since 1928, when 23.9 percent of all income went to the richest one
percent. Between 1979 and 2005, the top five percent of American families saw
their real incomes increase 81 percent. Over the same period, the lowest-income
fifth saw their real incomes decline 1 percent. The situation is even worse in
NY, which consistently ranks as the worst state in income inequality between the
rich and the poor, and among the worse in income inequality between the rich and
the middle class.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">The richest one percent of U.S. households
now owns 34.3 percent of the nation's private wealth, more than the combined
wealth of the bottom 90 percent.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">“The state budget is about our choices,”
added Dunlea. “Lawmakers have chosen for too long to keep poor children and
their families in abject poverty, balancing the state budget on the backs of the
poorest and most vulnerable. We hear from state budget officials that they face
a revenue shortfall, so they can’t make needed investments. But revenue
shortfalls are a political decision, not an act of God or nature. New York has a
particularly unfair system of state and local taxes, where the poor pay more as
a percent of their income than the wealthy. The state budgetary needs should be
met through tax fairness that restores the principle that those who can most
afford it bear a greater share of the
burden.”<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN style="COLOR: black"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">The Poverty Pledge incorporates the national
Let Justice Roll campaign by faith, community and labor groups which is calling
for a hike in the minimum wage to $10 in 2010. Even after the federal minimum
wage rises to $7.25 in July 2009, it will be far below the minimum wage of 1968,
which is worth $9.86 now. The groups support the raise because
<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<UL type=disc>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; COLOR: black; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">The present minimum wage is a poverty
wage instead of an anti-poverty wage. <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; COLOR: black; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">$10 in 2010 is necessary to make up
the ground lost in real wages since 1968. <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT>
<LI class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; COLOR: black; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list .5in"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">$10 in 2010 will bring us closer to the
goal of the “minimum standard of living necessary for health, efficiency and
general well-being of workers” articulated by the Fair Labor Standards Act,
which established the minimum wage 70 years ago.
<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></LI></UL>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">The state minimum
wage in NY is presently $7.15 an hour.</FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; mso-margin-top-alt: auto; mso-margin-bottom-alt: auto"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black"><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>The group is also pushing for a single payer universal health care system
like most of the industrial world has. A single payer system, such a Medicare,
has one entity pay all bills, thus eliminating the costly and negative role that
private health insurance plays, draining as much as a third of each dollar to
pay for their profits, overhead and bureaucracy. Last year, Hunger Action
Network and others convinced state lawmakers to fund studies on how New York
could best provide health care to all residents. The studies have been delayed,
with their completion expected this fall. </FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>Groups have raised concerned that the group hired by the State Health
Department to do the studies, Urban Institute, appears biased against single
payer. In addition, even though Governor Paterson was a sponsor of single payer
legislation while a member of the State Senate, the health care team left over
from the Spitzer administration appears to be pushing an incremental approach
based on the Massachusetts model of mandating that individuals purchase health
insurance if they don’t get if from their employer or qualify for a government
funded program. Critics argue that such approaches invariably fail, largely
because they don’t control the costs and power involved with private health
insurance.</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3></FONT> </P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-ALIGN: center"
align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 20pt; COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">2008 Poverty to Prosperity Pledge for State Legislative
Candidates<o:p></o:p></FONT></SPAN></B></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">Poverty, homelessness, and hunger are
significant problems in our state, a shameful situation in the richest nation in
the world. More than two million New Yorkers utilize emergency food programs.
New York has the greatest income inequality between the poor and rich in
the country. As former New York Governor Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, "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." As an elected official, I pledge to make ending poverty,
hunger and homelessness a significant priority in our state. In particular, I
pledge to support the following:<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">1. Raise the welfare grant. Immediately
Restore the basic welfare grant to its purchasing power of 1990 and
establish commission to determine how to further raise it to a reasonable level
and then index to inflation. Welfare benefits have fallen to less than half of
the federal poverty level.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>2. NYS must invest in creating sustainable,
living wage green jobs. We must enact a state fund to support a massive campaign
of weatherization and energy conservation for homes. </FONT><A
title="http://www.centerforworkingfamilies.info/cleanenergygreenjobs/NYS RRF Proposal.doc"
href="http://www.centerforworkingfamilies.info/cleanenergygreenjobs/NYS%20RRF%20Proposal.doc"
target=_blank><SPAN style="COLOR: purple"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>http://www.centerforworkingfamilies.info/cleanenergygreenjobs/NYS%20RRF%20Proposal.doc</FONT></SPAN></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>4. Make work provide a living wage by raising the
minimum wage to $10 an hour by 2010 and index it to inflation.. </FONT><A
title=http://www.letjusticeroll.org/ href="http://www.letjusticeroll.org/"
target=_blank><SPAN style="COLOR: purple"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>http://www.letjusticeroll.org/</FONT></SPAN></A><FONT size=3><FONT
face="Times New Roman">. Raise other workers support such as unemployment
benefits and Earned Income Tax Credit.<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">5. Increase state funding for the Home
Energy Assistance Plan (HEAP)
(e.g., A11590)<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>6. Stop making the poorest New Yorkers pay twice
as much of their income in State and local taxes as the wealthy. Increase the
income tax for wealthiest New Yorkers. Raise the Property Tax Circuit Breaker,
including for renters. </FONT><A title=http://www.abetterchoiceforny.org/
href="http://www.abetterchoiceforny.org/" target=_blank><SPAN
style="COLOR: purple"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>http://www.abetterchoiceforny.org/</FONT></SPAN></A><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman">6. Recognize the right of all people to
quality, affordable health care. Support a single payer “Medicare for All” type
program that eliminates commercial for-profit health insurance. <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>(A7354 / S3107)
<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><o:p><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3> </FONT></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
size=3>7. Support affordable housing initiatives for NYS, starting with
</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 11.5pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial">$13
billion over the next ten years to create and preserve 220,000 units of
affordable housing</SPAN><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><SPAN
style="COLOR: black; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-fareast-language: EN-US"><FONT
size=3><FONT face="Times New Roman"> <o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>Name
______________________________________</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>Signature
__________________________________</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>District
___________________________________</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>Address
________________________________________________________________</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>Phone ____________________<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Email
____________________________</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%"><FONT
face="Times New Roman" size=3>(If can’t pledge to support all, pledge to support
numbers ____________)</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><o:p><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3> </FONT></o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"><FONT face="Times New Roman"
size=3>Return by: October 5, 2008 to Hunger Action Network, 275 State St.,
Albany NY 12210 or 260 W. 36<SUP>th</SUP> St., #504, NY NY 10018; fax 518
434-7390– For info, 518 434-7371 xt 1#</FONT></P>
<P class=MsoNormal
style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> </P></DIV></DIV><BR></DIV></DIV></FONT><BR><BR><BR><DIV><FONT style="color: black; font: normal 10pt ARIAL, SAN-SERIF;"><HR style="MARGIN-TOP: 10px">Looking for a car that's sporty, fun and fits in your budget? <A title="http://autos.aol.com/cars-Volkswagen-Jetta-2009/expert-review?ncid=aolaut00030000000007" href="http://autos.aol.com/cars-Volkswagen-Jetta-2009/expert-review?ncid=aolaut00030000000007" target="_blank">Read reviews on AOL Autos</A>.</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>