|
HOUSE
DEBATES GIVING TO THE RICH WHILE TAKING FROM THE POOR - ALERT!
This week there was a great deal of discussion about a bill that would
allow three members of the Governor's administration to hand out unlimited
grants to try to entice businesses to create new jobs in North Carolina.
Known as the NC Economic Stimulus and Job Creation Act (House Bill 1734),
this bill is intended to help the economy and in turn, North Carolina's
workers, by creating new jobs. The unfortunate thing is that the bill
does this with few guidelines to guarantee the wanted results. In addition,
during this time of budget cuts and $2 billion deficits, the program
has no cap on the amount of money spent. The legislative process has
improved the bill somewhat, but significant problems still remain. Several
amendments were passed that now ensure five people make the decision
of when, how much and to whom to provide incentives, instead of the
original three. (The two added members are not appointmented by the
Governor, unlike the original three.) There is now also a requirement
that a company receiving a financial incentive must report on how many
jobs are created and make some showing that those jobs did not exist
before. It is noteworthy that these companies can get millions of state
dollars while proving little, but a poor mom with two kids must fill
out multi-page applications, sign a contract, and verify numerous personal
details of her life just to get $272 per month. In addition, the program
will go on for 12 years and all amendments to include a cap on the amount
of money that can be spent each year have thus far failed. This bill
passed second reading on Thursday and will come back for more discussion,
amendments and third reading on Monday night. Most disturbing is that
unlimited millions of tax dollars will be handed out to corporations
by only five people, at the same time that $1 billion is being cut from
hundreds of critical programs serving poor and vulnerable North Carolinians.
While nearly every House member has publicly debated how best to give
state tax dollars to corporations, there has been no public discussion
of the budget (Senate Bill 1115). House and Senate leaders are now entering
negotiations on how to cut at least $1 billion from the state budget.
Before they can even begin the budget negotiations in earnest, they
must agree on how and how much money to raise. These negotiations are
not happening in public thus far. Rumors indicate, however, that the
Senate is refusing to agree to close a business tax loophole contained
in the House's Revenue package. In addition, the Governor has told House
and Senate members that they cannot use any money from the Hurricane
Floyd Relief fund, even though it was recently reveiled that over $100
million in Hurricane funds that were set aside last year to deal with
the budget deficit have not been spent. Unless House and Senate leaders
can agree on how to raise at least $1 billion, the amount of budget
cuts is going to increase.
Then comes the issue of what to cut. The items cut vary greatly between
the House and Senate budgets. For example, the House cuts $102 million
less in Health and Human Services programming than the Senate. The House
budget also fully funds kindergarten and first grade class size reduction
and the Governor's More-At-Four program. The Senate does not fund these
programs. The House does not fund the Clean Water Trust Fund to the
same extent as the Senate and it make nearly triple the cut to local
school systems. It appears the end is not near.
SEND
AN ALERT! TO STATE BUDGET NEGOTIATORS
LEGISLATORS NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU ABOUT RAISING REVENUE AND FUNDING
CRITICAL PROGRAMS.
BE
A CYBERLOBBYIST AND VISIT THE COVENANT WITH NORTH CAROLINA'S CHILDREN
CYBER LOBBYING SITE. THIS WILL HELP YOU SEND YOUR MESSAGE ABOUT THE
BUDGET TO ALL OF THE BUDGET NEGOTIATORS. Click
here to go to the Cyberlobby site.
(TOP)
|
|
ON WELFARE REFORM ANNIVERSARY, FEDERAL WELFARE REAUTHORIZATION AT RISK
Thursday August 22 was the sixth anniversary of the day then-President
Bill Clinton signed the sweeping federal welfare reform bill into law.
Since then all fifty states, including North Carolina, have overhauled
their welfare systems. That federal law, known as the Personal Responsibility
and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA) is set to expire
on September 30. When the US House and Senate return from summer break
on September 3, there will be little time left for them to complete
legislation that reauthorizes the funding and the law of the PRWORA.
The problems preventing Congress from completing a bill in time are
several. The Senate passed a bill out of its Finance committee but it
has not yet come to the Senate floor for a vote. Issues of national
security and CEO fraud have pushed welfare reauthorization to the side.
Many Senate Leaders have also expressed concern about the Finance Committee's
bill. Most notably they say it does not include enough funding for child
care subsidies. The House, for its part, passed a very restrictive Reauthorization
bill with no more money for anything except marriage promotion. While
the Senate says the House bill restricts states' flexibility but does
not increase state accountability, the House has issued a list of "the
top 101 ways" the Senate Welfare Reauthorization bill "undermines
welfare reform." This is not helpful.
Congress or the President can take action to keep the welfare law going
as it is currently funded and configured for a few more months or even
one more year. State legislators and many state Governors worry that
continuing the current program will stop all new and creative efforts
at the state level due to the uncertainty of the future of the program.
More pressing will be the reality that there is no additional money
for yet another year, in spite of six years of inflation since the state
allocations were made, and the large increase in the number of unemployed
and needy families needing assistance.
IT IS TIME TO CONTACT YOUR CONGRESSIONAL
REPRESENTATIVES AND TELL THEM WE NEED WELFARE TO BE REAUTHORIZED NOW
AND SIGNIFICANTLY MORE MONEY TO BE ALLOCATED FOR CHILD CARE SUBSIDIES.
BE
A CYBERLOBBYIST AND VISIT THE COVENANT WITH NORTH CAROLINA'S CHILDREN
CYBER LOBBYING SITE. THIS WILL HELP YOU SEND YOUR MESSAGE TO YOUR
CONGRESSIONAL REPRESENTATIVES. Click
here to go to this alert.
(TOP)
|
|
800,000
NORTH CAROLINIANS UNCERTAIN OF THEIR NEXT MEAL DURING 1998 - 2000
The Center on Hunger and Poverty at Brandeis University just released
a report comparing hunger and food insecurity in the fifty states from
1998-2000. Based on census data from the Current Population Survey Food
Security Survey, this data and that of the previous three years, is
much improved over the national data available in earlier years. This
survey determines how many households and individuals have limited or
uncertain access to sufficient food due to inadeqate resources or are
"food insecure" in each state. It also determines how many
are food insecure to such an extent that they experience serious hunger.
North Carolina had neither the lowest nor the highest food insecurity
in the country. 9.77 percent of North Carolina households experienced
food insecurity between 1998-2000, ranking North Carolina 30th among
the states. First was New Mexico with 15.9% of households being food
insecure and last was New Hampshire with 7.5% food insecurity. The national
rate for this period was 10.8%.
Lest our lower than national average makes you feel good, this rate
means that 518,000 adults and 284,000 children lived in food insecure
households in North Carolina during the period 1998-2000. 195,000 of
them experienced serious hunger. This data is of particular concern
given that 1998-2000 was the culmination of the biggest economic boom
the state has ever experienced. (It was after that period that the current
recession began.)
Programs currently available such as Food Stamps and the Women, Infants
and Children (WIC) nutrition program have been proven to effectively
address hunger. Limitations on their availability, such as artificially
low income and asset eligibility rules, prevent many food insecure people
for using these resources. Participation in North Carolina's food stamp
program has been decreasing steadily since 1996 in spite of fairly stable
poverty levels. Efforts to let households know they are eligible, plus
easier and more accessible application process could help more of these
families get the nutritional help they need. Individuals can apply for
Food Stamps at their county Department of Social Services. People with
too much income to qualify for Work First cash assistance may still
be able to get Food Stamps. Some legal immigrants who are not U.S. citizens
also qualify for food stamp assistance.
To learn
about your county Department of Social Services call the care line
at 1-800-662-7030 (Spanish and English) or go to their web
site and read the pdf file.
For the
entire report and more information on the effects of food insecurity
see http://www.centeronhunger.org/
or call 781-736-8885.
(TOP)
|
