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Preamble
Helping Jewish poor as well as those in the general community
achieve self-sufficiency has been a fundamental commitment of
the Jewish people. Jewish tradition and values emphasize the
responsibility of the larger community to provide for the poor
and the near poor in ways that enable them to live independently,
with dignity, and to move from poverty to economic self-sufficiency,
Most welfare recipients are eager to achieve this goal. Blaming
welfare recipients for their own plight, rather than addressing
the inadequacies of the welfare system and of the notion's
economy, is cause for alarm. Instead, a comprehensive approach
should be developed, using a full range of collaborative
programs and realistic measures of accountability on both the
system and the recipient
Conditions which enable families to leave the welfare system
include: jobs that pay enough to allow families to support themselves,
opportunities for affordable housing, child care, and other social
services that meet bask needs. The NJCRAC will support measures
which provide families with realistic work opportunities and adequate
financial and other supports, especially for the children in such
families. While such reforms may require meaningful financial
investment in the short term, they save money in the long-term
by constituting a worthwhile investment in people, effectively
enabling them to move from welfare to work and ensuring the well-being
of children.
Principles
The NJCRAC has therefore set forth the following principles as
a basis for developing a comprehensive and humane welfare reform
policy:
- Welfare reform is part of an overall commitment and strategy
to reduce poverty and promote economic independence and
social well being among the poor. A wide range of policies
and programs, including job creation, health care for all,
childcare, and other support services, must be developed
to enable the working poor, as well as those dependent on
public assistance, to become self-supporting. A commitment
to adequate funding is necessary to ensure that these goals
are met.
- The federal government has a primary responsibility for
alleviating poverty by providing the necessary programs
to enable individuals and families to progress from poverty
to economic self-sufficiency.
- The federal government should ensure a basic minimum
level of support to provide a decent living standard for
the poor. The level of government funding for welfare benefits
should be brought, as quickly as possible, to the federally
defined poverty line, with regional adjustments for differentials
in living costs. Any action which would further reduce net
benefits to individuals, such as taxing welfare dollars,
should be rejected.
- Government policy should recognize the diversity of those
who are poor and include programs which respond to the heterogeneous
needs of this population. One group requiring targeted services
is the long-term poor, who face the greatest barriers to
employment. Another key target group, requiring special
attention by government, educational and community institutions,
is children who have children. Preventing pregnancies among
teenagers could have a substantial impact on breaking the
cycle of welfare dependence. Children who become parents,
or who may potentially become parents, both fathers and
mothers, require the following specialized services: targeted
education and employment programs; inducements to remain
in school; child care and health care counseling, to include
programs and social service supports which reduce pregnancy
rates and encourage parent responsibility.
- Training, education, and job creation programs should
be funded at levels that enable such programs to be effective
in moving clients from welfare to employment and sustainable
self-sufficiency. Federal funding for the Job Opportunities
and Basic Skills (JOBS) program -- or any successor program
-- should be increased to expand education and training
opportunities. Adequate funding must be provided also for
job development strategies, as well as for job search assistance.
Matching state funding requirements should be reduced, and
application procedures simplified, so that administrative
and fiscal constraints no longer prevent states from accessing
their full allocation from these programs.
- Welfare reform should not be funded at the expense of
established government benefit programs which currently
serve welfare, low-income, and immigrant populations, the
working poor, the disabled, and other needy groups.
- Government policy should provide for comprehensive support
services for welfare recipients enrolled in job training,
education, and placement programs and for recipients in
transition from welfare to work. Services should include
health care, childcare, housing transportation, legal services,
and other social service supports.
- Any mandatory employment, whether in the private or public
sector, to which welfare recipients are assigned must not
displace current workers and jobs, must provide pay and
benefits equal to those of other workers doing the same
work, and should not at any time pay wages below the minimum
wage.
- If fixed limits are established, such as time limits
in programs associated with training and job placement,
they should be contingent upon individual circumstances
(including provision of waivers for people with disabilities
or other needs), the capacity of the federal government
to guarantee adequate education and training services within
the given time frame, the ability of the economy to generate
sufficient numbers of permanent jobs within reasonable geographic
access, the needs of dependent children, and the government's
capacity to provide the necessary support services.
- Government policy should be flexible in assigning operational
responsibility for the design and implementation
of non-cash welfare programs, such as job training and child
care, enabling participation by a range of state and local
government and non-governmental agencies experienced in
developing effective, localized service delivery programs.
The policy, however, must be based upon an adequate level
of government funding for service provision and clearly
established government standards of accountability.
- Welfare programs should emphasize incentives over penalties.
Family cap provisions and other punitive restrictions endanger
the welfare of children and families and do not promote
self-sufficiency.
- Welfare programs should facilitate family stability by
removing bars to participation by two parent families, and
by not penalizing impoverished families in which both parents
are employed. Reforms should make it easier to combine some
paid work with welfare benefits, particularly in cases where
only part-time and low wage work is available, without loss
of health care, child care, and other support services,
and to allow recipients to retain more of their earnings
in order to save for future needs.
- Preferred remedies to poverty are those which support
families, promote self-sufficiency, and reward work,
such as the earned income tax credit (EITC). The recent
expansion of the EITC means that families with one member
working full-time in a minimum wage job will be able to
live above the poverty line. To ensure use of the EITC,
including awareness of advance payment availability, outreach
efforts, to both recipients and employers, should be enhanced.
All welfare recipients, upon application for and departure
from welfare programs, should be notified in writing of
the availability of the EITC. Employers should be required
to inform new employees of the option of having advance
EITC payments available through their payroll. At the same
time, the federal government should continue to explore
ways of establishing a more effective and efficient advance
payment system.
- Given that child support enforcement services are critical
to preventing poverty, child support by absent parents should
be enforced more vigorously through mechanisms such as:
establishment of paternity as soon as possible following
birth; periodic update of guidelines for appropriate support
payment levels; interstate coordination of central registries
for collections and disbursements; and a federal child support
enforcement clearinghouse, and other federal assistance
wherever possible. However, failure of efforts to establish
paternity should not result in disqualification for welfare
eligibility. A safety net of assured minimum child support
must be provided regardless of parents' employment status.
Conclusion
The NJCRAC is committed to coiling to the attention of
the Jewish and general community the problems associated with
poverty, and to advocating support for those programs that will
move individuals and families out of poverty toward self-sufficiency.
The NJCRAC recognizes federal, state, local, private, and individual
responsibility in working to develop a coordinated program of
support for welfare recipients and their families.
The NJCRAC urges local and national Jewish organizations to
join in coalition with other civic, religious, and advocacy organizations,
and together to disseminate this or similar welfare reform position
papers in their states and communities, and to express these positions
as preferred public policy to government officials, newspaper
and magazine editorial boards, and candidates for office in this
election year.
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