Vincent Thompson
Philadelphia Tribune, The
01-27-1995
Pa. House passes welfare law.
By Vincent Thompson
Tribune Staff
Local welfare advocates say the welfare changes overwhelmingly approved 157-42 by the Pennsylvania House yesterday will mean the lives of Pennsylvania families and children are in jeopardy.
'It's just more of the Republican meanness and conservative meanness of the poor,' said John Dodds, director of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, a group that helps the poor.
'It's this whole concept of blaming the poor for being poor and there's clearly not enough jobs and opportunities for the people they are going to start punishing,' he said. 'They're going to hurt children with these proposals.'
The Republican-controlled State House easily approved House Bill Two, which is expected to save an estimated $73 million over the next two years by cutting aid to ablebodied people 18 to 25 years old and by ending additional aid to welfare mothers who have more kids.
The bill would also fingerprint welfare recipients statewide to fight fraud, and cut some medical assistance by moving recipients to a private health insurance voucher system.
Gov. Tom Ridge isn't in complete agreement with all the changes to welfare contained in the House bill. The State Senate isn't expected to deal with welfare issues until spring.
Dodds said there is a 'good chance' the Republican-controlled Senate will pass a welfare reform bill, but it will possibly be altered somewhat after the Senate leadership consults with Ridge.
State Rep. John Perzel (R-Phila), through his spokesman, said the welfare cuts are necessary. He is the Republican leader of the House.
'The issue of providing assistance to Pennsylvanians is an issue of the fact that welfare was never intended to be a way of life,' Perzel said. 'It's intended to be a bridge to help someone become independent productive citizens contributing to society.'
The welfare cuts are 'an issue of determining very carefully where to invest the taxpayers' money,' according to Stephen Drachler, Perzel's spokesman.
South Philadelphia State Rep. Harold James, chairman of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, said earlier this week the trying to 'microwave and Newt (Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives) us and poor people in the nation.'
Philadelphia State Rep. David Richardson said the welfare reform bill is 'a vague, ill-conceived and hastily prepared so-called welfare reform package' that means the lives of Pennsylvania families and children are in serious danger.
'This bill places grave danger to the health and welfare of newborn babies,' he said. '...If this legislation becomes law, people will do whatever is necessary in order to survive.'
Richardson called the fingerprinting of those on welfare an invasion of privacy that singles out poor people. He stressed that the cutting of 18- to 25-year-olds off welfare will have 'tragic consequences' for the state. And he criticized the slashing of additional aid to mothers who have more children, saying women don't bear more children just to receive a small increase in public assistance.
On the complaint by welfare advocates about Republicans ending additional aid to welfare mothers who have more kids, Perzel responded that voters have indicated they want the funding cut.
'A person who is not receiving public assistance benefits but who is working does not receive extra income when she has a child,' he said. 'Should society automatically provide additional money to a woman who has a child and receives assistance benefits? The taxpayers are telling us very loudly and very clearly 'no.''
About the welfare reform package, House Democratic Whip Ivan Itkin of Pittsburgh said, 'It's damn cruel. We shouldn't allow them (Republicans) to hide behind their Contract With America and 'mandate from the people' talk.'
Other opposed Democratic House members say the cuts are anti-family, that people will die, and more people will commit crime statewide to survive.
Drachler said talk by opponents that crime will increase in Pennsylvania because of passage of the welfare cuts is '. . . rhetoric that inflames and scares people.'
Attempts to get comment from the Philadelphia Welfare Rights Organization before Tribune deadline were unsuccessful.
The Republican-controlled House's Health and Human Services Committee passed the welfare reform bill out of Committee Jan. 23 by party line vote. The bill was approved during the Committee's first meeting this year and was approved so fast that there wasn't even a written copy of the bill available, according to Richardson, the ranking Democrat on the Committee.
He said the Committee approved the bill without having public hearings on the bill and studies done to determine the impact the bill will have on Pennsylvanians. House Democrats tried unsuccessfully Wednesday (Jan. 24) to get the bill sent back to Committee.
Dozens of amendments were offered by Democrats to the bill on Wednesday, but they failed. The few amendments that were approved in the House were mostly minor and the major provision of the bill was left intact.
Dodds said the House's welfare bill is going to hurt Pennsylvanians but the 'real cutting' of welfare will be with Republicans in Congress.
Congressional Republicans are proposing legislation that would denying increased welfare funding to people who have more children while collecting Aid For Families with Dependent Children. The GOP also wants to cut spending on welfare overall and require that people would only be able to collected welfare for two years maximum and would have to work while collecting benefits.
'They're trying to take us back to the 1920s where the churches take care of charity,' Dodds said. 'It's a step away from a humane society to more of a cutthroat society. Those that have (will) have and those that don't will fall by the wayside and they will end up freezing and dying.'
Ethnic NewsWatch SoftLine Information, Inc., Stamford, CT
Philadelphia Tribune, The
01-27-1995
Pa. House passes welfare law.
By Vincent Thompson
Tribune Staff
Local welfare advocates say the welfare changes overwhelmingly approved 157-42 by the Pennsylvania House yesterday will mean the lives of Pennsylvania families and children are in jeopardy.
'It's just more of the Republican meanness and conservative meanness of the poor,' said John Dodds, director of the Philadelphia Unemployment Project, a group that helps the poor.
'It's this whole concept of blaming the poor for being poor and there's clearly not enough jobs and opportunities for the people they are going to start punishing,' he said. 'They're going to hurt children with these proposals.'
The Republican-controlled State House easily approved House Bill Two, which is expected to save an estimated $73 million over the next two years by cutting aid to ablebodied people 18 to 25 years old and by ending additional aid to welfare mothers who have more kids.
The bill would also fingerprint welfare recipients statewide to fight fraud, and cut some medical assistance by moving recipients to a private health insurance voucher system.
Gov. Tom Ridge isn't in complete agreement with all the changes to welfare contained in the House bill. The State Senate isn't expected to deal with welfare issues until spring.
Dodds said there is a 'good chance' the Republican-controlled Senate will pass a welfare reform bill, but it will possibly be altered somewhat after the Senate leadership consults with Ridge.
State Rep. John Perzel (R-Phila), through his spokesman, said the welfare cuts are necessary. He is the Republican leader of the House.
'The issue of providing assistance to Pennsylvanians is an issue of the fact that welfare was never intended to be a way of life,' Perzel said. 'It's intended to be a bridge to help someone become independent productive citizens contributing to society.'
The welfare cuts are 'an issue of determining very carefully where to invest the taxpayers' money,' according to Stephen Drachler, Perzel's spokesman.
South Philadelphia State Rep. Harold James, chairman of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, said earlier this week the trying to 'microwave and Newt (Gingrich, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives) us and poor people in the nation.'
Philadelphia State Rep. David Richardson said the welfare reform bill is 'a vague, ill-conceived and hastily prepared so-called welfare reform package' that means the lives of Pennsylvania families and children are in serious danger.
'This bill places grave danger to the health and welfare of newborn babies,' he said. '...If this legislation becomes law, people will do whatever is necessary in order to survive.'
Richardson called the fingerprinting of those on welfare an invasion of privacy that singles out poor people. He stressed that the cutting of 18- to 25-year-olds off welfare will have 'tragic consequences' for the state. And he criticized the slashing of additional aid to mothers who have more children, saying women don't bear more children just to receive a small increase in public assistance.
On the complaint by welfare advocates about Republicans ending additional aid to welfare mothers who have more kids, Perzel responded that voters have indicated they want the funding cut.
'A person who is not receiving public assistance benefits but who is working does not receive extra income when she has a child,' he said. 'Should society automatically provide additional money to a woman who has a child and receives assistance benefits? The taxpayers are telling us very loudly and very clearly 'no.''
About the welfare reform package, House Democratic Whip Ivan Itkin of Pittsburgh said, 'It's damn cruel. We shouldn't allow them (Republicans) to hide behind their Contract With America and 'mandate from the people' talk.'
Other opposed Democratic House members say the cuts are anti-family, that people will die, and more people will commit crime statewide to survive.
Drachler said talk by opponents that crime will increase in Pennsylvania because of passage of the welfare cuts is '. . . rhetoric that inflames and scares people.'
Attempts to get comment from the Philadelphia Welfare Rights Organization before Tribune deadline were unsuccessful.
The Republican-controlled House's Health and Human Services Committee passed the welfare reform bill out of Committee Jan. 23 by party line vote. The bill was approved during the Committee's first meeting this year and was approved so fast that there wasn't even a written copy of the bill available, according to Richardson, the ranking Democrat on the Committee.
He said the Committee approved the bill without having public hearings on the bill and studies done to determine the impact the bill will have on Pennsylvanians. House Democrats tried unsuccessfully Wednesday (Jan. 24) to get the bill sent back to Committee.
Dozens of amendments were offered by Democrats to the bill on Wednesday, but they failed. The few amendments that were approved in the House were mostly minor and the major provision of the bill was left intact.
Dodds said the House's welfare bill is going to hurt Pennsylvanians but the 'real cutting' of welfare will be with Republicans in Congress.
Congressional Republicans are proposing legislation that would denying increased welfare funding to people who have more children while collecting Aid For Families with Dependent Children. The GOP also wants to cut spending on welfare overall and require that people would only be able to collected welfare for two years maximum and would have to work while collecting benefits.
'They're trying to take us back to the 1920s where the churches take care of charity,' Dodds said. 'It's a step away from a humane society to more of a cutthroat society. Those that have (will) have and those that don't will fall by the wayside and they will end up freezing and dying.'
Ethnic NewsWatch SoftLine Information, Inc., Stamford, CT
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