WRC summer update:
Give Aid to All in Need!
COLA the welfare grants!

We will be ready to fight for these issues when the legislature starts in 2019. And, given the current political times, we will be fighting against attacks on our families and our lives. The racist, sexist, poor-bashing elements in the right wing are feeling emboldened, and we call on all to be ready to stomp out their hate.

If you haven’t done so yet, please click the “Join Our Fight” tab and sign our petitions to be ready for the struggle!

WRC testimony in the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee, March 28, against the bill that would impose work requirements in Medical Assistance (HF 3722). Close to 40 other groups and individuals also testified against this bill that night.

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We are opposed to House File 3722, mostly because, obviously, it would make it so people don’t get the health care they need. But also, it will wind up taking money that could go to health care and putting it, instead, towards bureaucracy.

We like to compare it to the federal TANF fund for welfare. Less than 20% of the federal money, which funds the MN family investment plan, actually goes directly to families. The rest goes to the bureaucracy and policing. Meanwhile, our families live in extreme poverty, with no grant increase since 1986 (more than 30 years ago).

On a practical level, this bill has problems, which many have testified to, like when you are in poor health, it is hard to work. When you are ill, you are more likely to lose a job, or not get the hours that this bill requires. Furthermore, most people have worked all their lives, and have been paying taxes for the basic safety net that MA was supposed to provide.

Also putting up more barriers to signing up for help with our medical bills will just make people say “screw it,” and not apply for help, or to stop the process of signing up, once they hear of the possible humiliations in store.

Then, we wait until there is an acute medical need…and it’s off to the emergency room. But that ER bill goes unpaid. It goes to collections. The interest adds up. Our credit ratings get more and more shot. Which makes it harder to get a job, harder to get housing, and harder to get…insurance. This wrecks a person’s economic life now, as well as their health. This puts more strain on our community, and on the state as a whole. We talking about the social services budgets, the budget for corrections, homeless shelters, emergency medical services, and the like. But, don’t forget, besides, these long-term costs, (and we wrote this before we say tonight’s fiscal note) there is still the immediate cost of setting up and maintain the bureaucracy to enforce this in the first place.

House File 3722, and others like it, are billionaires’ dreams. It is the work of those who truly don’t care if we, the people, get the health care we need to in order to live. We are not shocked by this. We have no illusions that the perpetrators of monstrous schemes like this are simply clueless people who are “ignorant” of the effects that this bill would have. They know very well what they are doing, and it seems they will do anything to snarf up more of the budget in order to give tax breaks to the corporations and the rich, by hacking away at this basic safety net.

In conclusion, we are against the deadly lengths that some legislators – and a president – will go to under the lie of “saving money.” It is disturbing to see how far some will go to get in the good graces of a billionaire buffoon. House File 3722 won’t save the state money.

Vote no on House File 3722.

This month, we updated and re-introduced the bills to increase the welfare grants and to Give Aid to All in Need (GAAIN).
Please ask your legislators to sign on to these bills.

GAAIN – Give Aid to All in Need

SF-2912 (Eaton) and HF2828 (Allen)
GAAIN expands state-funded General Assistance to cover
— adults with no income who are looking for work
— families who have hit the 5-year limit on welfare.
The problem:
— There are thousands of people in need who, under this state’s laws, don’t qualify for any cash assistance at all and are homeless, cashless and have to scrounge for handouts.
— Now, Minnesotans can only get General Assistance ($203/mo) if we can prove a disability and have no children.
— The 5-year limit on welfare hits whole families.
— There are people ashamed to admit a disability and won’t even try for General Assistance, so…
Take a burden off low & middle-income families.
— We are losing our rental housing by taking in our homeless, cashless, friends and family.
— Our friends, family (or we ourselves) need help, but can’t even get started…because there is no cash help to provide stability.

COLA the Grants – the cost of living has MORE than doubled!

SF-2729 (Laine) HF-3601 (Clark)
Welfare (MFIP and GA) cash grants have not been increased since 1986 – 32 years ago. Meanwhile the cost of living has more than doubled. See https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl (or search “CPI inflation calculator”). Check out $437 in 1986 vs. 2018 and then really increase the grants, with a Cost-of-Living Increase.

On Friday, May 12, Governor Dayton vetoed the Health and Human Services omnibus finance bill. On May 22, the session ends. There is one week left for politicians to negotiate a new bill. So, let’s tell them to do the right thing: Double the grants. Give Aid to All in Need (GAAIN). People are homeless and suffering – this must end now!

Political background:
Budget negations stalled last week, so the Republicans (who hold the majority in both the House and Senate) came to a quick, dark-of-the-night agreement on Monday night (May 8) on the budget bills. The HHS bill (which has the welfare provisions), passed the full House and Senate on Tuesday, May 9. Governor Dayton vetoed the bill on Friday.

The provision to Give Aid to All in Need (GAAIN) was not included. GAAIN passed a Senate HHS finance committee for possible inclusion into the omnibus bill Feb. 27, but it wasn’t included the March Senate HHS proposal. But, clearly, the bills that passed the floor last month don’t really matter, as was shown by the inclusion, then the exclusion, then the inclusion again, of the paltry $13 per month MFIP increase and the “marriage incentive” (see previous post).

Take action:
So, now that everything is up for grabs in new negotiations, tell MN politicians to double the grants and pass the GAAIN bill (SF791/HF379)!

Sample text for your call: “While the HHS budget is being re-negotiated, I am asking that you include the bill to Give Aid to All in Need – the GAAIN bill – in the final budget proposals. Also, please double the MFIP [em-fip] and General Assistance grants. They have not had an across-the-board increase since 1986 – since then, the cost of living as more than doubled. Please double the grants and pass the common-sense proposal to Give Aid to All in Need. People are homeless and suffering – this has to end now!”

Some phone numbers:
Governor Mark Dayton: 651-201-3400
Senate Majority Leader (Republican) Paul Gazelka: 651-296-4875
Senate Minority Leader (Democrat) Tom Bakk: 651-296-8881
House Majority Leader (Republican) Joyce Peppin: 651-296-7806
House Minority Leader (Democrat) Melissa Hortman: 651-296-4280

To see more numbers that you could call, click to see the HHS conference committee members. Scroll down to April 18th and April 20. We are not sure if the conferees will be the same in the upcoming week’s re-negotiation.

 

This week, a Senate Finance Division approved a bill to increase the welfare grants by $13 per month. This is an insult. The grants should be doubled.

The welfare (MFIP) grants have not gone up in 31 years – since 1986. At this point in time, the grants should be more than doubled to keep up with cost of living.

In 2017, the Welfare Rights Committee tried to revive their bill to double the grants (which would be an increase of $532 per month for a family of two). There was also a bill this year to increase the grants by $100 per month. Neither of these proposals survived.

Selling out poor families…
Instead of calling for doubling the grants, or even pushing for their own bill for a $100 MFIP increase, politicians (both Republican and Democrat), and some of the “advocates” for poor families quickly sold out. Some collaborated with right-wing politicians to amend their own (already inadequate) $100 increase and/or their ‘marriage bill’ to be a pathetic $10 to $13 per month increase. Their $13 increase amendment passed in the senate committee process.

Progressives speak out.
In both the House and the Senate, many progressive DFL members denounced the small increases as an insult. Starting back in 2013, many legislators have put themselves on the line for the bills to match MFIP grants to the cost of living. They went on a 24-hour hunger strike, tried (and failed at) the $437 challenge, and spoke out against the fact that grants are at 60% below the poverty level. They instituted a state task force to see how the federal TANF money was being stolen from poor kids. And this year, they rightly spoke out against the paltry proposals for $10 and $13 grant increases

Stop stealing poor people’s money.
MFIP is Minnesota’s welfare program for families with children. It is about half-funded by a federal block grant called TANF. For years, MN politicians have been stealing federal TANF funds for programs that were once state-funded. The $13 per month bill takes TANF funds from two programs, but does not commit to backfilling them with state funding – this is a bad precedent.

TANF funds should go to TANF families. Right now, less than 30% of federal TANF money goes into the pockets of families in need. The rest goes to programs that should be funded by state dollars. We say, all TANF money should go to TANF families.

What to do now?
There are still at least two months to go in this session. There is a possibility that Governor Dayton will veto the whole HHS bill. Then the process starts all over again. Besides the need to increase the grants, the Welfare Rights Committee also has the GAAIN bill – to Give Aid to All in Need. If Dayton vetoes the big HHS bill, we can keep up the fight for both.

Give Aid to All in Need!
Double the Grants!

Calls needed: Friday, Saturday AND Sunday, March 24-26

On Monday morning (March 27), the senators in charge of health and human services will present their budget proposal. We need the GAAIN bill to be part of that proposal. So, we have to call Friday and over the weekend.

Tell them to include the GAAIN bill (SF791) in the Health and Human Services budget bill. If you can make only one call, please contact Senator Jim Abeler (R-Anoka).

Jim Abeler: 651-296-3733 – (Dist. 35 Anoka, R), sen.jim.abeler@senate.mn
Message to Chair Abler: “Thank you for signing on to – and granting a hearing to – the bill to ‘Give Aid to All in Need’ – the GAAIN bill – in your committee last month. Please push for the GAAIN bill – Senate File 791 – to be included in the Senate Health and Human Services finance bill. Right now, people across the state of Minnesota – who have been paying taxes for years – can’t get even a basic survival income if we fall on hard times. The GAAIN bill offers hope and dignity to people in need.”

Jim Abeler is the Senate Human Services Reform Finance and Policy Committee Chair. He signed on to GAAIN bill and granted it a hearing on Feb. 27. As of Mar. 23, his committee is combined with the overall HHS committee, co-chaired by Senators Abeler and Benson.

Other Senators on the HHS committee – please call as many as you can.
Message to other committee members: “Please push for the GAAIN bill – Senate File 791 – to be included in the Senate Health and Human Services finance bill. Right now, people across the state of Minnesota – who have been paying taxes for years – can’t get even a basic survival income if we fall on hard times. The GAAIN bill offers hope and dignity to people in need.”

Co-Chair: Michelle R. Benson (31, R), 651-296-3219, sen.michelle.benson@senate.mn
Jeff Hayden (62, DFL), 651-296-4261
Tony Lourey (11, DFL), 651-296-0293, sen.tony.lourey@senate.mn
Chris A. Eaton (40, DFL), 651-296-8869
Michelle L. Fischbach (13, R), 651-296-2084, sen.michelle.fischbach@senate.mn
John A. Hoffman (36, DFL), 651-296-4154
Jason Isaacson (42, DFL), 651-296-5537
Scott M. Jensen (47, R), 651-296-4837
Mary Kiffmeyer (30, R), 651-296-5655, sen.mary.kiffmeyer@senate.mn
Matt D. Klein (52, DFL), 651-296-4370
John Marty (66, DFL), 651-296-5645
Andrew Mathews (15, R), 651-296-8075
Carla J. Nelson (26, R), 651-296-4848, sen.carla.nelson@senate.mn
Jerry Relph (14, R), 651-296-6455
Julie A. Rosen (23, R), 651-296-5713, sen.julie.rosen@senate.mn
Paul J. Utke (02, R), 651-296-9651
Melissa H. Wiklund (50, DFL), 651-297-8061, sen.melissa.wiklund@senate.mn

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Monday Hearing Notice:
Monday, March 27, 2017
Committee on Health and Human Services
Chairs: Sen. Michelle R. Benson and Sen. Jim Abeler
9:00 AM – Room 1200 Minnesota Senate Bldg.
A delete all amendment and spreadsheet will be posted as soon as it is available.
Spreadsheet and presentation of the HHS omnibus bill will start at 9 am, then the committee will recess at 10:55 for session. Committee will reconvene at noon and take public testimony. Please email Matt.Spellman@Senate.MN to testify. Please limit testimony to 2 1/2 min and one person per organization to allow the committee to hear from all who want to testify.

And call… Governor Dayton: 651-201-3400
“I am disappointed that you did not include the GAAIN bill in your supplemental budget. Please support it in the upcoming budget negotiations. It is Senate File 791, House File 357. Right now, people across the state of Minnesota – who have been paying taxes for years – can’t get even a basic survival income if we fall on hard times. The GAAIN bill offers hope and dignity to people in need.”

Background information on the GAAIN bill.

Give Aid to All In Need! The Welfare Rights Committee’s GAAIN Bill – House File 357 and Senate File 791 is still alive this legislative session.

In an unexpected victory on Feb. 27, the GAAIN bill was heard in the Senate Human Services Reform Finance and Policy, and passed on for possible inclusion in the budget bill.

The GAAIN bill extends state-funded General Assistance to people who have NO INCOME, but can’t get any cash assistance at all. These us, are our families, friends and neighbors who can’t get cash from unemployment benefits, disability, welfare, or any other program, under current law. They are unemployed and looking for work. But they have no cash to live on… or even to couch surf with a bit of dignity.

The GAAIN bill includes families who have been cut off because of the 5-year limit on MFIP (welfare for families with children). Right now, it is up the “discrimination” of individual counties to decide if families that have hit the time limit can get an extension. If not, the families – including the children – get no cash.

Passing the GAAIN would help families and individuals statewide. In greater Minnesota, the seasonal and/or boom-and-bust economy leaves many people with nothing during hard times. If we are renters, we risk losing our housing by taking in destitute family members and friends. Small towns and poor neighborhoods will directly benefit from the GAAIN bill, as residents give back to the local economy. And, because of historical racist policies, MN people of color face one of the largest income disparities in the nation.

There is a reason that Trump won. Regular working and poor people have been feeling ripped off and ignored for a long time, by both parties. But we know that Trump, and the billionaires he speaks for, are bad for all of us. So let’s turn this ship around. Tell politicians to do something that will really help the people in need.

GAAIN is our assault on the Trump agenda.
The GAAIN bill is a concrete way to say no to the billionaires’ agenda. Despite Trump’s campaign rhetoric, we all know that his plans mean cuts to programs for regular poor and working people nationwide. We have been here before. Trump’s plans to dismantle Medicaid are almost a mirror image of the Clinton 1996 welfare “reform” – block grants to the states, combined with cuts to health care eligibility and work requirements. In the long run, plans like this cost state taxpayers a lot of money and human beings a lot suffering.
Pass the GAAIN bill! Make your calls now!

GAAIN bill introduced – Senate Hearing on Feb. 27

Give Aid to All In Need! The Welfare Rights Committee’s GAAIN bill has been introduced in the MN state legislature – House File 357 and Senate File 791.

It is scheduled for a Senate hearing on
Monday, Feb. 27, at 3:00 p.m.
MN Senate Building Room 1200.

We are calling on all supporters to join us at the hearing . Due to the Trump whiplash, there are many great protests and events in the upcoming days, but this hearing is a concrete way to stand up to the billionaires’ agenda of pushing down poor and working people.

The GAAIN bill extends state-funded General Assistance to people who have NO INCOME, but can’t get any cash assistance at all. These are our families, friends and neighbors who can’t get cash from unemployment benefits, disability, welfare, or any other program, under current law. They are unemployed an looking for work. But they have no cash to live on… or even to couch surf with a bit of dignity.

Even if GAAIN passes, we declare that General Assistance in itself is not enough. It pays only $203 per month – but it is better than nothing. The Welfare Rights Committee is also looking for sponsor for our bill to more than double the welfare grants – which have not been increased since 1986.

The GAAIN bill would also give money to families who have been cut off because of the 5-year limit on MFIP (welfare for families with children). Right now, it is up the “discrimination” of individual counties to decide if families that have hit the time limit can get an extension. If not, the families – including the children – get no cash.

Passing the GAAIN would help families and individuals statewide. In greater Minnesota, the seasonal and/or boom-and-bust economy leaves many people with nothing during hard times. If we are renters, we risk losing our housing by taking in destitute family members and friends. Small towns and poor neighborhoods will directly benefit from the GAAIN bill, as residents give back to the local economy.

There is a reason that Trump won. Regular working and poor people have been feeling ripped off and ignored for a long time, by both parties. But we know that Trump, and the billionaires he speaks for, are bad for all of us. So let’s turn this ship around. Tell politicians to do something that will really help the people in need.

Pass the GAAIN bill!

Tell politicians, Stop the War on the Poor!
Protest
Tuesday, January 3
12:00 noon
MN State Capitol
100 MLK Drive, by the capitol bus stop – look for our bright green signs

After a short outdoor rally, we will march in formation to every legislators’ office and deliver our messages.

On Tuesday, January 3, 2017, the politicians start back at the MN State Capitol in St. Paul. Let’s be there when they walk in the door. We are sick our people being homeless and suffering, with next to nothing to live on. Lots of us in need can’t get any help at all.  We are sick of government “Of the Rich, By the Rich and For the Rich.” The Welfare Rights Committee will push for our idea for new state laws to ,”Give Aid to All in Need. Double the Welfare Grants.”

To hell with Trump’s agenda.
The Welfare Rights Committee is ready to fight against every racist, sexist and disrespectful attack on our families. We know that some backward idiots are all hyped by Trump’s election. The Welfare Rights Committee will stand up to fiercely to each and every attack that these right wing jerks try to throw at us. This is a time of reckoning!

Fight Cuts to Poor and Working People!
Facebook event
Download the flier

flier-1-3-2017b

Fundraiser for the Welfare Rights Committee
Friday, Nov 18
6:30 pm – 9:30 pm

At the home of Sarah Martin
622 8th Ave SE, Minneapolis

Thousands of dollars are spent on tax breaks for the rich and corporations. Every year the US spends billions of dollars on war and occupations around the world. Meanwhile, 70,000 children in Minnesota live in extreme poverty. The Welfare Rights Committee (WRC) is one of very few voices advocating for money to be spend on those who need it, poor and working poor families.

The Welfare Rights Committee is the only group fighting to get more money those who need it – we have bills at the capitol to “Double the Welfare Grants” and to “Give Aid to All in Need.” Our fight has gotten real money in the pockets of poor Minnesotans in the past, and we need your support so we can keep up the fight for more.

This is where you can help make a difference in the lives of poor Minnesotans. Your financial contributions will help ensure that we can continue to organize, continue to have a hot meal and childcare at our meetings to eliminate barriers to getting involved, continue to keep an office and phone.

If you can’t attend the fundraiser, you can mail a donation to Welfare Rights Committee at 4200 Cedar Ave, Ste 4, Minneapolis, MN, 55407.

We are working with PayPal for an online payment solution, which should happen soon!

Save the date – Monday, Aug. 22, 9 a.m. – the 20th anniversary of Clinton’s welfare ‘reform.’ On Aug. 22, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed “Welfare Reform” into law. Hillary did not speak out against it then, and isn’t now. Join with Welfare Rights Committee members as we say, “Clinton’s welfare reform is (still) a disaster!”

Press Conference and Protest against welfare ‘reform’
Monday, Aug. 22nd, 2016
9:00 a.m.
Minneapolis Federal Building
300 S 4th Street, downtown Mpls.

Facebook event. Click for flier.

Background info:

Clinton’s Welfare ‘Reform’. 20 years later…
STILL a Disaster

20 years ago, on August 22, 1996, President Bill Clinton signed the racist, sexist, anti-child, welfare reform into law. Since then we have been suffering. We demand Hillary Clinton pledge to overturn Bill Clinton’s Welfare Reform!

• 5-year lifetime limit on welfare – even for kids.
  Family cap that punished babies for being born. (The Welfare Rights Committee overturned this in Minnesota!)
  Work requirements and workfare, but not real jobs with living wages.
  Sanctions. Drug tests. Cuts to immigrants.
  Cuts to food stamps. 3-month limit in a 3-year period for most adults.
  No entitlement. It used to be, if your income was low, you could get help. Now it’s up to the “discrimination” of the county.
  Money going to agencies, instead of to our families.

The Welfare Rights Committee has been fighting, and sometimes winning, in forcing the state of MN to stop some of the worst parts of Clinton’s Welfare Reform. But we still say it is bad for children and families and must be undone.

We demand Hillary Clinton pledge to overturn the Clinton Welfare Reform!