On Saturday, Progressive Needham, Progressive Newton, and the Wellesley and Needham Democratic Town Committees sponsored a screening of Robert Reich’s Inequality For All, which explores how the middle class and working poor are being systematically squeezed by an economic system ruled by privileged elites and corporations, and abetted by politics corrupted by money.

Over 80 people came to watch the film, and participate in dialogue afterward with Mac D’Alessandro, about the scale of the problem and how we start mobilizing to make changes. (take a look at the Storify of the event!)

What a mess.  

As our friend and ally Hester Prynne reports:

Some of the people getting food stamps do not have their photo on file already at the Registry of Motor Vehicles, so they have to come in to have their pictures taken. Then, during picture-taking time, there was a sewage backup at the Framingham welfare office, forcing that building to close. And then the state’s EBT card vendor, the Xerox Corporation, mistakenly “deactivated” hundreds of cards last week, leaving those card holders (on the weekend before a snowstorm) with carts full of groceries but no way to get them out of the store.

Clearly, bad policy - policy rejected by Governor Mitt Romney - has unintended consequences. As the Grace Team in Worcester states:

“DTA rushed implementing these regulations and the outcome for families is illegal, immoral and unethical disaster on DTA’s part” 

Late Breaking News

Interesting in helping avert another disaster this January.  Help us stop bad welfare reform in Conference Committee.  We need Letters to the Editor in local papers.  Sample language can be found here.

Yesterday, at the State House, a determined and united group of progressive legislators and advocates, bolstered by thousands of petitions, letters, post cards and calls from constituents, made a disastrous welfare reform bill much better than it started out.

And you were a part of that remarkable effort.

We still have some substantial work to do – in conference committee – but many are committed to continuing the fight.

Dozens of legislators signed on to Amendment #74 – designed to address key bad provisions.

Advocates remained in the building from early morning until debate concluded after 9 pm – providing key input and even draft language.

Many legislators made impassioned speeches on the floor of the house – calling out Republicans for their mean-spiritedness.

A core group spent the day negotiating with leadership – and winning many of the changes we wanted.

We have a long way to go yet as a Progressive movement – and yesterday we were on defense with what is still a disappointing welfare bill.  But we are also a long way – in spirit, determination and unity – from the defeat on revenue.

It’s time to build on this momentum and go on offense – with minimum wage, earned sick time, single payor health care, free secondary education – and yes, eventually, new revenue.  When I suggested that we would eventually be there to “An Act to Invest” co-sponsor Representative Jim O’Day, he smiled and gave me (us) the thumbs up.

What Contributed to this Success? 

11/7/13 update: final results of the vote and summary of your efforts -- click here

Thanks to Marjorie Decker and other intrepid progressive leaders, we have an amendment for the "so-called" welfare reform bill - Amendment #74 - that addresses most of our concerns about the restrictive provisions contained in HB 3737 - now called HB1806. You can read about the amendment here.

BELOW -- an on-going list of State Reps have agreed to co-sponsor the amendment.  Is your rep on the list?

No? -call them.  Tell them to support the amendment and, if the amendment doesn't pass, vote NO on whole bill.

Yes? - call to thank them.  They need your support.

THERE ARE LOTS OF MOVING PARTS, and, we hope, new Reps coming on board all day. So let us know if you talk to your Rep's office and learn they will SUPPORT or won't Amendment 74. 

ON RECORD AS SUPPORTING AMENDMENT 74 -- THANK THEM (and Rep. Decker too!)

Isn’t this a progressive state?  The bluest of the blue.  

So why are we attacking the poor?

Why would the State House push a so-called welfare reform bill that undermines access to the critical supports that are a lifeline for low-income families, at moments when they have nowhere else to turn?  

These "reform" provisions are counterproductive and will cost the Commonwealth in the long run.  They push struggling people off the rolls, just as we are coming out of the worst recession in a decade.

Among the worst ideas:

Job search for applicants.  Requiring applicants to verify job search before benefits are approved -- without providing transportation, childcare, or any help with that search.  Parents in crisis will not be able to meet this requirement, especially without the necessary supports. A similar provision in Pennsylvania raised the assistance denial rate to 80%, turning away people in need.  

Work requirements for parents with disabilities.  Allowing DTA to impose work requirements on 4,500 disabled parents, resulting in loss of benefits for the parents and their children, too.

No benefits for people who go off assistance and then reapply, unless they can show they complied with a plan that was done before they went off (perhaps years earlier).  Yet the bill provides no resources or assistance to help them complete the plan.

Attending a four year college would no longer count as a work activity. Federal law allows college to count for 12 months and longer if combined with another activity. Data show that a college degree is one of the most reliable predictors of financial stability. If a parent is in college at a time her family needs assistance, she should not be required to drop out.

Does not increase funding for education or training, which has been cut by 80% since 2002.

Only allows families to set aside $5,000 in an asset account for allowable purposes and doesn't permit families to own a reliable car, making it harder for families to become financially stable.

The good news is that a group of legislators is working to make the bill better via the amendment process. Their amendment would ease some of the most restrictive provisions that would be imposed on those turning to welfare as their family’s last resort.

Read the facts about this vital amendment.         

Find your State Rep and them right now.  

Tell them to SUPPORT REPRESENTATIVE Marjorie Decker's AMENDMENT 74 to the welfare reform bill

If the AMENDMENT DOESN’T PASS, tell them to VOTE NO on the whole bill 

Stand up for the children of the Commonwealth.  Preserve the safety net for struggling families.

The welfare coalition - a diverse, state-wide group of human service providers and advocates, including Progressive Massachusetts just released this statement about the Welfare Reform bill reported out of House Ways and Means today, Friday, November 1.

Today, the House of Representatives released “An Act to Foster Economic Independence, their response to welfare reform initiated by the Senate in June.  Our diverse, state-wide coalition of human services and advocacy organizations is deeply disappointed in this bill.  It undermines access to the critical supports that serve as a lifeline for low-income families when they have nowhere else to turn.   While there are limited positive provisions in the bill, they are far outweighed by the negative.  In particular, the upfront job search before applicants can get any help, work requirements for thousands of disabled parents, and other restrictive provisions would impose onerous and unnecessary restrictions on those turning to TAFDC as their family’s last resort.  These provisions are counterproductive and will cost the commonwealth in the long run.

We will continue to work with elected officials to address the harm these provisions would cause and to support and defend the public systems that help low-income families attain financial stability and security.

Day in and day out, the Boston Herald denounces the poor - trumpeting "massive abuse and fraud".  We've already called their claims - and the State Auditor's into question but the coverage is relentless.  And legislators are paying attention to this poor-blaming din. In conversation after conversation in the State House, our elected officials claim "they are hearing from their constituents."

Well, now they are hearing from progressives, as well.

More than 15,00 people signed our petition - responding to our call to "Stop the Assault on the Poor." You told Beacon Hill:

Please support real reform which includes education, training and help with transportation. Please also support initiatives that lift people out of poverty.

Don’t create more stigma or put more road blocks in the way of people who need assistance.

And your petitions are being delivered to every legislator this week - along with hundreds of post cards and letters from providers, clients and concerned citizens.  We believe in the sentiment voiced by Hubert Humphrey in his last public speech – “the moral test of government is how that government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; those who are in the shadows of life; the sick, the needy and the handicapped.”

But this fight is far from over:   

- We don't know when a bill might be reported out of House Ways and Means.

- We don't know what the bill will include.

Get ready to take action when we have a bill:

Educate yourself on what a good bill looks like

Understand what's bad about the Senate bill

Progressive Mass volunteers have been leading the charge on behalf of economic justice for working people (part of that work is working with Raise Up Massachusetts to put minimum wage and earned sick time benefits on the ballot; sign up here to help), but we cannot forget that we are still fighting for basic dignity and support for those on Transitional Assistance.

Get Up to Speed --

• Overview: Preserving the Safety Net

• Recent History: the fight we lost in the Senate

• Why a favorite conservative talking point -- that “welfare pays” -- is dead wrong: the great progressive, former Northampton Mayor Clare Higgins, takes on the Cato Institute, and the likes Rep. Shauna O'Connell (R. Taunton) and the Boston Herald who’ve been parroting that line.

• Other posts on our blog about the Assault on the Poor

WHAT'S NEXT?

Our partners in the welfare reform coalition have worked hard to develop a good bill -- one that helps people truly transition from poverty back to the self-sufficiency and the workforce. It creates REAL welfare reform which includes education, training and assistance with transportation. We have been advocating with lawmakers to include vital provisions noted below.

Unfortunately, in our assessment, legislators appear unlikely to follow our lead -- they are too anxious about the Shauna Show and the despicable lie that welfare recipients are lazy, cheating bums who are taking taxpayers for a ride.

DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH IT

Help change the narrative on social media and the blogosphere, using the #AssaultonPoor and #MApoli hashtags. Talk to your networks and bring them up to speed. And -- tell legislators:

We see what you’re doing, and it’s time to Stop the Assault on the Poor.

It’s time to enact meaningful reform -- the kind that truly assists people in making the transition to a more secure future.

Stop stigmatizing poverty; don’t put more roadblocks in the way of returning our most vulnerable neighbors back to economic stability and self-sufficiency.

WHAT A GOOD BILL WOULD LOOK LIKE:

The Problem

Today, more than 800,000 residents of Massachusetts, primarily children, disabled people and seniors, receive transitional assistance of some kind. These individuals struggle to make ends meet and desperately need our help to ensure their well-being. Thousands more who are eligible for benefits do not even apply -- out of lack of knowledge about the programs, fear of being stigmatized or difficulty in accessing these benefits they need.

There has been significant hype – and, unfortunately, legislative grandstanding – around welfare fraud and abuse.

Let’s get clear about the facts:

• Currently, cash assistance for recipients who can work is limited to two years. Recipients know from the beginning that they have to find work.

• Over 41% of the parents receiving cash assistance did not complete high school or a GED.  Over 32% have a high school diploma and no more.  11% have a GED and no more.

• And yet, the state has cut job training and education for transitional assistance recipients over the past 10 years by 80%.

• Nearly two-thirds of transitional assistance recipients in Massachusetts are children.

• The average monthly welfare benefit is $456 and it has lost almost half its value to inflation since 1988.  The average SNAP benefit provides another $125.   More than half of recipients don’t get a housing subsidy and struggle to pay private rent. No one on benefits lives a princely life.

• The audit report that attacked the Department of Transitional Assistance actually confirms the agency’s success at ensuring program integrity-- over 99.99% of the funds issued by DTA were spent properly, and 99.98% of the recipients were eligible to receive benefits.

You can read more about Transitional Assistance here in Massachusetts here.

Over the past two years, we have seen a series of votes in the State Legislature that can only be called an assault on the poor. Over and over again, one chamber or the other has taken a vote that makes it more difficult for low income people to receive the benefits to which they are entitled: Photo ID requirements for EBT cards; imposing work requirements on severely disabled parents; requiring destitute applicants to prove they have looked for work before getting benefits; raising the work requirement age from 60 to 66; forcing pregnant women in their last  trimester to look for work.

Many particularly onerous conditions are part of the Senate’s “Comprehensive Welfare Reform” bill (SB 1805).  Our colleagues at the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute have completed a thorough analysis that can be read here

Now the House takes up the issue of welfare reform.  Photo ID for EBT cards – useless in the face of fraud – is already a matter of law so won’t be addressed.  But other, equally onerous, provisions of the Senate bill will certainly be taken up.

Clare Higgins, Executive Director, Community Action of the Franklin Hampshire and Quabbin Regions; MassBudget Board Member

First published in the Daily Hampshire Gazette, Friday, August 23, 2013.

A recent headline splashed across the front page of the Boston Herald — “Study: Welfare Pays Better” — highlights fundamental misconceptions and inaccuracies about the millions of families struggling to get by in Massachusetts and around the nation.

The article discussed a study purporting to show that high welfare benefits are a disincentive for recipients to go to work. The study was done by the Cato Institute, a conservative think tank that includes David Koch (the nation’s sixth-richest person).

The newspaper stated that “Massachusetts ranks third nationally with $42,515 in welfare benefits handed out to the ‘typical recipient,’ behind Hawaii at $49,175, and Washington, D.C., at $43,099.” The number is startling — $42,515.

If only it was accurate.

A closer look at the numbers illustrates how misleading this study actually is.