wfn.org | NCCCUSA/JOAN CAMPBELL'S STATEMENT ON WELFARE LEGISLATION

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
Contact: Carol J. Fouke, NCC, 212-870-2252
Internet: carol_fouke.parti@ecunet.org

NCC7/18/96                  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

STATEMENT ON WELFARE REFORM LEGISLATION
BY THE REV. DR. JOAN BROWN CAMPBELL, GENERAL SECRETARY
NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE CHURCHES OF CHRIST IN THE U.S.A.

July 18, 1996
U.S. Capitol Grounds
Washington, D.C.

We are gathered here today to call on the American public, the Congress,
and the President to join forces to enact welfare reform legislation that
will protect the well-being of the nation's children and families.  We are
convinced that the welfare reform legislation now being considered in
Congress fails that test because it would take away from our poorest
residents much of the meager safety net that now supports them.  Abandoning
the poor is not the way of an America we want.

The people of this land are fair and caring people who, when they know the
facts, will call on their legislators and leaders to enact just
legislation.  Consequently, we have encouraged people in our constituency
to learn what is at stake in welfare reform and to communicate their
concern to their Members of Congress and to the President.

This legislation would make very deep cuts in the Food Stamp Program and
other federal nutrition programs that have proven value in improving the
health of children and adults -- many of whom are on welfare, but many more
of whom are elderly, handicapped, seeking employment, or working at
low-paying jobs.  The nutrition cuts fall especially heavily on legal
immigrants who have not yet become US citizens.  We feel it is unjust to
discriminate in this way against any group of legal residents in this
country.

We believe that it would be extremely short-sighted to establish an
arbitrary lifetime limit on eligibility for Aid to Families with Dependent
Children.  Although we know that most AFDC families now leave welfare long
before the five years which would be the limit established in this
legislation, we also know that some people simply cannot -- for a variety
of reasons -- become self-supporting in that period of time.

Especially in times of a rapidly changing economy, where people often lose
jobs through no fault of their own, it might be necessary for mothers of
young children to cycle on and off welfare several times before they become
independent.  We oppose arbitrarily terminating a family's benefits simply
because the mother has reached a five year total -- or less, if the states
wish.

We would advocate instead providing teen-aged and adult recipients with
education, job training, employment counseling, and job placement services.
The legislation requires recipients to go to school or work but provides no
employment training and creates no jobs, in this economy which requires a
trained and educated work force.

We are, of course, deeply concerned about the well-being of the children in
these families whose nutrition assistance is cut and who ultimately lose
their cash benefits altogether.  Especially, we deplore the decision to
deny all benefits to children who have the misfortune to be conceived after
their mother goes on welfare.  However their families came to be in
poverty, the children are innocent victims of a system that fails to
provide for the basic needs of all its people.  This legislation is certain
to increase -- perhaps by over a million people -- the poverty of women and
children in this country.

Our spiritual heritage charges us to care for all, especially those caught
in poverty.  The role of government is meant not to assault or punish them,
but to make for them a way out.  The moral vision that claims us has led us
to craft a society committed to providing for and protecting the poor, the
vulnerable, the children, the elderly, the strangers in our midst.  In such
a vision, our nation is more than the sum of its states or the variety of
its nationalities, races, age groups, and religions.  It is a common life
touching all for the common good.  It is a covenant of Americans with one
another of which our national government is both guardian and agent.  In
fulfilling that mandate, we must at least maintain minimal national
standards for the safety of all children, regardless of the state of life
or the family circumstance in which they chance to be born; and we must
uphold fair and just opportunities for the life of every child to be happy,
productive and good.  Such a commitment lies at the heart of a
compassionate and responsible society.

With these concerns in mind, we call on Congress to reject this legislation
which would plunge hundreds of thousands -- perhaps millions -- of people
into poverty.  If it is passed by Congress, we urge the President to veto
this measure.