Apr 1972May 1972
June 1972| Apr 1972 |
Home
Newsletters
May 1972 | June 1972 |
Welfare StrategyIt looks as though the welfare battle is about to come to a head, and the national League Board decided at the March meeting to continue our effort to win passage of the Ribicoff package and/or other amendments which would improve HR-1. Because the Ribicoff amendment as a package will probably be defeated on an early vote, League strategy (in coordination with other groups) will then be to gain passage of amendments to HR 1 on an issue-by-issue basis. Why we support the Ribicoff amendment; It has a legislative requirement for staged increase of the basic minimum to the poverty, level, with cost-of-living increases and regional differences taken into account; it requires states to supplement to assure that recipients will get no less in cash maintenance, including the cost of food stamps, than applied in January 1971; it establishes a federal minimum floor under income at $3000 rather than $2400; it federalizes the entire cost over a five-year period, and requires federal minimum wage for all people required to work, with no double wage standard; it requires day care as a prerequisite to a work requirement for mothers and standards up to federal interagency requirements; the work incentive is better than that in HR 1 -- with an allowance of 40% earnings being discounted in determining the amount of assistance due. We want and will fight for the entire package. Failing that, we will fight for types of amendments indicated below. Amendments we must haves cover areas of state supplementation to protect benefit payments, federal administration, coverage for the working poor, federal minimum wage, and eligibility determination. The Administration is adamantly opposed to most of the amendments we want, so the outcome is not very hopeful.
|
| Apr 1972 | Top Home Newsletters | June 1972 |
