This week: Two days of events at the Capitol to “Raise the Welfare Grants!”

Hi all,
We are plugging away with our effort to substantially increase the welfare grants in the state of Minnesota. We are getting signers on our bill to “Double the Grants” (18 House members have signed on so far), and it will be introduced soon in the House and the Senate. Governor Dayton did not include a grant increase in his budget proposal, so we have to count on the House and the Senate to do the right thing after 27 years without an increase to the welfare grants.
This week, we have 3 public actions. Please read below for more info, and try to attend as many as you can!

1. Wednesday, Jan. 30, 8:30 a.m. – Public Testimony on Gov. Dayton’s budget in the Senate

Senate Health and Human Services Finance Division
State Capitol Building, ++Room changed to 123
Gov. Dayton’s budget did not include a welfare grant increase. Nor did it undo any of the cuts to welfare that families have been suffering under for the past several years. The Senate Health and Human will be taking public testimony on the governor’s budget proposal on Wednesday morning. The Welfare Rights Committee will be testifying. If you are interested in testifying on Governor Dayton’s Health and Human Services budget in the Senate HHS Finance Division, here is what you have to do: “If you would like to testify, please email your name, organization, and the topic area for your testimony to stacie.weeks@senate.mn by 5pm on Tuesday, January 29th.”

2. Wednesday, Jan. 30, 10:00 a.m. – Public Hearing on Gov. Dayton’s budget in the House

House Health and Human Services Finance Committee
State Office Building, Room 200
Please join us to let the Reps know what we think of the Governor’s budget proposal! ++update Jan. 29 – testimony will be next week.

3. Thursday, Jan. 31, 2:45 p.m. -$437 Challenge/Raise the Grants action outside the House Chambers at the Capitol

We will know of any changes to this on Monday night. We’ll let the list know if it changes.
Join us in our final push to get more Representatives to sign on to our bill to “Double the Grants.” Also, we will be asking Reps to take part in our $437 Challenge – seeing who could live on $437 per month. We will hold a press conference at 2:45. As the Representatives enter the chamber, we will give them information and ask them to sign our bill. This is a great opportunity to hold a sign, learn the process and take a stand!