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Show ACTION URGENTLY NEEDED What You Can Do · 1. Contact your Senators. Write your Senators, outlining the problems of S. 1511 and encouraging them to help strengthen the bill bv making the changes outlined in this action alert. If either of your Senators is on the Finance Committee or is a cosponsor of S. 1511, you should emphasize the special opportunity and responsibility they have to improve S. 1511. Enclosed you will find a list of the members of the Finance Committee and a list of the cosponsors of S. 1511. 2. Send a letter-to-the-editor. Alert your community to the debate in the Senate by writing your version of the enclosed sample letter-to-the-editor to your local newspaper. 3. Visit your Senators. Set up appointments with your Senators this Spring to discuss S. 1511. The 1988 schedule allows Senators to be in their home state one week each month. Take advantage of their presence to arrange a visit to discuss League concerns about S. 1511 and the results of the MBHN study. 4. Use your Meeting Basic Human Needs study results whenever possible. The results of the MBHN study done in your state or community should be used in your lobbying. Contact local press to release the study findings if your League has not already done so. Check the Leader's Guide for the second year of the study for suggestions on how to do so. BACKGROUND In December 1987, the House of Representatives considered and passed by a vote of 230-194, progressive League-supported welfare legislation. This legislation, H.R. 1720, would replace the current Aid to Families With Dependent Children program (AFDC) with the National Education, Training, and Work Program (NETWORK) to provide job training and employment opportunities for welfare recipients. The legislation places heavy emphasis on support services, including child care and health care for recipients who participate in training programs. In addition, it would extend AFDC coverage to two-parent families where both parents are unemployed. The League supported R.R. 1720 as a step in the direction of welfare reform. However, we do not feel this to be the case with S. 1511 as it currently stands. There are a number of changes that have to be made to this legislation, including the elimination of the waiver provision; increased funding of the program; strengthened education, employment and training programs; better child care; and stronger programs for transitional support services, including child care and health care. If these change are not made, the resulting bill has the potential to place many recipients in a worse situation than they are today. Salt Lake Voter - 11 - May 1988 |
