wfn.org | Assembly Responds to Welfare Reform

[PCUSA.NEWS@pcusa.org]

19-June-1997  
GA97086 
 
                 Assembly Responds to Welfare Reform 
 
                         by Nancy Rodman 
 
 
SYRACUSE--The 209th General Assembly Wednesday evening approved a 
resolution that addresses the changes in the federal and state welfare 
systems made in 1996.  It offers guidelines for the church and government 
to follow in promoting the general welfare of the poor. 
 
    The Resolution on Welfare and Poverty sets forth principles for both 
the church's ministry and its advocacy with governments.  The principles 
call the church to be an effective advocate for persons in need and affirms 
that the basic necessities of life are essential human rights. 
 
    The resolution calls for states to maintain at least the 1996 level of 
welfare funding for as long as needed in the transition to a work-based 
welfare system, refrain from tightening eligibility requirements, provide 
adequate funding for job training leading to employment at livable wages, 
provide options for the least employable, provide adequate funding for 
child care and transportation, refrain from implementing a "family cap," 
provide adequately for the disabled and for immigrants who may lose 
eligibility, and make contingency plans for meeting increased needs. 
 
    The federal government is called on to invest in job creation programs 
that result in employment at livable wages, beyond what is provided for in 
the 1996 legislation, restore $27 billion cut from the food stamp program, 
and maintain funding of the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families block 
grants to the states beyond 2002. 

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