Join us at the capitol on the first day of the 2012 Legislative Session to unite and fight against any attacks or cuts the politicians want to bring forward.
Last year, politicians again tried to hold us responsible for their crisis and budget deficits created by Wall Street and its allies. Rather than tax the wealthy, they told us that the only solution is to enact cuts to poor and working people. They tried to make real deep cuts to health and human service programs. But, by fighting back, we stopped some of the worst bills from becoming law, we stopped not getting cash with our EBT cards, we stopped a $200 per month cut in MFIP to families with a person on SSI and we stopped the total elimination of General Assistance.
But, the politicians made big cuts to education, health care and Emergency Assistance. Worst of all was the huge attacks on people with disabilities.
We need you! United, We can make a difference. The politicians need to see the faces of the people they attack.
This year, they tell us that there is a surplus. We ask, where did this surplus come from? While politicians have helped the rich to amass more and more wealth, they’ve consistently taken away from the poor, including people of color, single mothers, people with disabilities, public school students, immigrants and many others. They attack gay, lesbian, bi-sexual, transgender, queer community by passing a constitutional amendment to restricting the definition of marriage. While they celebrate the surplus, we struggle, as we have for years, with immoral welfare time limits, foreclosures and evictions, underemployment, public school closures, police harassment, and many other hardships – all in one of the most racially unequal states in the country.
We say, give back the surplus you took from poor and working people! Tax the rich! Stop the Cuts! Give us the living wage jobs or income we need to care for our loved ones!

With many families in MN still in the economic crisis which actually started many years ago.

With many families in MN still falling down the economic ladder instead of up.

With the rate of poverty rates going up in MN because of the economic crisis.

With many peoples’ wages falling over the past years due to layoffs, wage freezes, cut hours, and cut benefits.

With many families being thrown out of their homes due to foreclosures.

With many people and families being thrown out of their apartments because of the landlords’ foreclosures.

With many people and families in need of shelter, the homeless shelters are at capacity.

With many people and families being homeless which the majority of homeless are children.

With many poor and working families of MN who still can’t find any living wage jobs.

With many poor families of MN who can’t share the pain anymore because of continuous unemployment and cuts in social programs.

With the number of kids using their school lunches on the rise because without this program, many kids would not be able to get one decent meal during the day.

With many poor and working families of MN having to food shelves because they have no extra income for basic necessities.

With poor and working families aren’t going to be achieve the American Dream or a good quality of life for their families and themselves.

So this is no time to use any public money, creating new taxing, adding onto existing taxes to build a new stadium. The Vikings and their owners should take up the burden of financing their own stadium.

The Welfare Rights Committee continues to reject any use of public money to build a new Vikings’ stadium instead, we demand that any revenue raised needs to go back to the families in need. The state of MN needs to help its people and not just owner with a team.

Demand that Governor Dayton:
– Veto the elimination of General Assistance
– Veto all cuts to welfare (SSI penalty, emergency assistance cuts, etc)
–Veto all cuts to health care!  Veto the elimination of the Medical Assistance Program. Veto cuts to MN Care
– Veto the layoffs & attacks on labor unions and workers
– Veto the anti-immigrant bills
– Veto cuts to programs for people with disabilities
– Veto cuts to education

FFI: welfarerightsmn.wordpress.com  612-822-8020

Friday April 15, 2011
12 noon-1pm
MN State Capitol

At tax time, join others at the State Capitol to tell politicians:

TAX the RICH! Make the RICH PAY!
and
STOP All Attacks on Working and Poor Minnesotans!
– Stop the elimination of General Assistance to poor and disabled people
– Stop the elimination of the Medical Assistance Program for poor children and their caregivers.
– Stop the gutting of affordable health care
– Stop the layoffs. Stop attacks on labor unions and all workers
– Stop the attacks on immigrants
– Stop all cuts to welfare (SSI penalty, emergency assistance cuts, etc)
– Stop cuts to programs for people with disabilities
– Stop cuts to education

Organized by Welfare Rights Committee and MN Coalition for a People’s Bailout

Over the past years of budget deficits, the wealthiest Minnesotans have not paid even one dime out of their gold-lined pockets. Meanwhile working and poor Minnesotans have been forced to pay with our lives, our health, our schools, our jobs, and our blood.

The Republicans are taking their message of hate and loathing of working and poor people to new lows! They are trying to gut the last few benefits that exist for those of us who do not belong to the wealthy class. They are forcing workers, poor people and people with illness or disability to pay for the entire deficit.

The Republicans refuse to raise taxes on those with the ability to pay, and in fact would decrease the rich’s taxes if they could! If the wealthiest in Minnesota paid their share of taxes, and paid back all the wealth they gained through tax breaks and loopholes over the past decade, there would be no deficit in Minnesota — now or for the foreseeable future.

The choice is clear: TAX the RICH, or make the rest of us pay.

WE say it is time to TAX the RICH! Join us on April 15th

Welfare Rights Committee and MN Coalition for a People’s Bailout
PO Box 7266, Mpls, MN 55407 | 612-822-8020 | WelfareRightsMN@yahoo.com
http://welfarerightsmn.wordpress.com

First, we are against section 21, which uses disabled people’s federal SSI funds as a bludgeon against their impoverished family members.

Section 21 would deduct $150 per month from the family’s MFIP grant if that family is coping with a disabled family member on SSI. Look at a family of 3. Say one of the three is disabled and on SSI. The MFIP grant for the other two is $437 per month. If section 21 became law, the family’s MFIP grant would be $287 in cash to live on for whole month, for two people. Besides that, this family has to care for a disabled family member. And to top it off, the disabled person has to see their whole family suffer, because of him or her.

A cut such as this has never been carried out in any other state in the country. Also, it basically forces parents to break federal law by using the federal SSI grant for living expenses for the entire family rather than for the disabled family member as intended.

Second, we are against the 90-residency requirement. It’s unconstitutional. At least half of the MFIP grant is federal money and if we’re eligible, we’re eligible. When we are that broke and desperate, we don’t move to other states for “fun” or for “great benefits.” We move because we have concrete hopes and plans to make a better life. In this time of economic crisis, everyone in this country should have equal rights at survival.

Third, we are against the essential elimination of General Assistance and and emergency programs, by folding them into a county block grant. General Assistance is not a supplement to other income, it all people have; it’s GA or zilch. These programs are  there to keep disabled people alive based on clear need.

We would like to remind you that a family of 3 on MFIP gets only $532 per month – far below the federal poverty level. A disabled person on GA gets a whopping $203 to live on. When we are forced onto assistance, life is already a miserable struggle, 24-7. We don’t need any more hate-driven laws to make things even worse.

This budget bill is full of attacks on the poorest in this state. Here are just a few reasons why this bill HF927 should be voted down in its entirety.

– First, the part that makes it illegal for MFIP families and people on General assistance to withdraw most of the cash from the cash portion of the grant. In fact, it essentially makes it illegal for poor people to possess more than $20 in cash or coin at any given time.

This bill calls for all MFIP and GA business to be transacted via a state-issued debit card, which is so impractical it’s ridiculous. The cost and hassle to landlords and businesses to add EBT terminals across the state would be huge. But the burden placed on the poorest in this state would be worse. How would we pay our utilities? You can’t use an EBT to buy postage, do laundry, ride the bus, set up a checking account, pay children’s school fees, pay medical co-pays or many, many other things. In short, this is part of the bill would be laughable — if it weren’t so mean-spirited and insulting.

– The part of the bill that makes it illegal to withdraw MFIP benefits out of state puts burdens on families who are forced to leave MN to attend funerals, sick relatives, visit family members in the military, hunt for jobs and all the other things we have to leave home for. It is a restriction on our constitutional right to travel from state to state.

– The part of the bill that says “others” can’t use the EBT card is bad for disabled people who need to have a friend, relative or personal care attendant go to the store for them. Also consider the head of household might be working or ill and need to send an older child to do household errands. Under the first part of the bill, it’s not like we can give them cash to make the purchases.

– The proposed restrictions on General Assistance (which has benefits of $203 per month) are just strange. This bill blatantly cuts disabled people, minors, caregivers of severely disabled people and many others from the program. General Assistance is not a supplement to other income, it all people have; it’s GA or zilch. These cuts are outrageous.

– We are against the 90-residency requirement; it’s unconstitutional. At least half of the MFIP grant is federal money and if we’re eligible, we’re eligible. When we are that broke and desperate, we don’t move to other states for “fun” or for “great benefits.” We move because we have concrete hopes and plans to make a better life. In this time of economic crisis, everyone in this country should have equal rights at survival.

It is not right to punish a whole group because of the supposed actions of a few. Would you like it if used a few examples of bad behavior on the part of some legislators to impose rules on all rest of you?

You must know that a family of 3 on MFIP gets only $532 per month – far below the federal poverty level. A disabled person on GA gets a whopping $203 to live on. When we are forced onto assistance, life is already a miserable struggle, 24-7. We don’t need any more idiotic, hate-driven laws to make things even worse.

The Welfare Rights Committee would like to state that this Bill – House File 171 – is not based in any common sense or fiscal responsibility. It is appears to be based on knee-jerk, ignorant, bias and a desire to stigmatize the poor.

First we would like to address the provision that makes it illegal for MFIP families to withdraw cash from the cash portion of the MFIP grant – and in fact, appears to make it illegal for MFIP families to have any type of money at all in their pockets. How do you expect people to take care of business like paying bills such as lights, gas, water, trash and phone?  Not every place we shop at takes the EBT card and that is why it is necessary for us to be able to pull cash out the teller machine.

The cost to small businesses and landlords all across the state of having to get an EBT hook-up would be huge. The burden on families would be worse. You can’t pay a parking meter, buy postage stamps, do laundry, ride the bus, set up bank account or pay your medical co-pays without cash. Considering that MFIP families are already living 60% below the poverty level and need to scramble every day for survival, this provision is not just ridiculous, it is cruel.

Next, the part of the bill that makes it illegal to withdraw MFIP benefits out of state. This puts burdens on families who are forced to leave MN to attend funerals, sick relatives, visit family members in the military, hunt for jobs and all the other things we have to leave home for. It is a restriction on our constitutional right to travel from state to state.

Section two, requiring the use of a photo ID for EBT purchases is also misguided. It hurts families that have to send their Personal Care attendants or children to the store to get food, either because the parent is disabled and unable to walk, or if the parent is working and the latchkey kids help out by going to the store and doing shopping for the house.

We are angry that this bill would even be considered. We see the hate-mongering in so called “news” reports in the media and the bumper stickers. This bill appears to come from there, since it doesn’t come from a human or fiscally responsible standpoint.

We’ll leave you with this. It is not right to punish a whole group because of the supposed actions of a few. You in this room could have a pretty rough time if that was the case. It is not right to stigmatize and dehumanize women living the hard, horrible life of trying to raise children while living 60% below the poverty level. It is not right to use racist, bumper-sticker hate to inflict human misery for political gain.

The Welfare Rights Committee is an organization of parents and families who are current or former welfare recipients, who are living in poverty, are low income or working poor. We would like to remind this committee that families who have no other choice but to receive welfare are forced to live at over 60% below the federal poverty level. Poor families in Minnesota have not seen an increase in the welfare grants in 25 years. That means that a family of three who received a mere $6384 dollars per year to live in 1986 is still receiving $6384 dollars a year in 2011. That is $532 per month. $532 does not even come near to covering rent. So for years, this legislature has been condemning families with children to homelessness. We also would like to remind this committee that we are still in an economic crisis, the last ones hired but the first ones laid off.

We are glad to see that the governor’s budget does not steal more money from the MFIP grants. But the reality is, millions have been stolen from the TANF fund in previous years, and those millions could have gone to undoing huge suffering in this state. This means that our families can no longer tolerate having the budget balanced on our backs.

We would like to speak against some of cuts to low income and working people in the Governor’s proposed budget.

•          The cut in consolidated funds to counties could result in more counties eliminating emergency assistance for the poor. When the so-called “consolidated fund” was created, it was to hide a huge cut to the poor. Reducing the consolidated fund means more cuts that will hurt workers and poor families.

•          The cuts in MNCARE mean that over 7,200 will no longer have health care.

•          The merging of Emergency General Assistance and Emergency MSA will have the effect of creating more homelessness, since those funds are used as we are forced to bounce around apartments at the very bottom of the housing market.

•          We would like to speak against taking $14 million per year from the TANF fund to go into the childcare and working family tax credit. If this state really respected the idea of helping to provide childcare and the Working Family Credit for low-income working families, it would ante up from the General Fund, not take money that is meant for the poorest of the poor.

We say that not one dime of cuts should come out of programs for poor and working people. We have borne the brunt of the budget deficits for years and our programs have been shaved to the bone.

We also urge you all not to pass any bills that will hurt our families economically, not to pass any bills that would criminalize poor families, not to pass any bills that eliminate or make it even harder to receive the services that we need to survive during this economic crisis.

On the other hand, we applaud the Governor’s proposal to tax the rich. While we have paid for the budget deficits with our blood for many years, the wealthiest in Minnesota have not paid even one dime. In fact they have gotten richer and richer at the expense of poor and working Minnesotans. While we applaud the Governor’s tax increases, we say it is not nearly enough. Look at the facts: if the governor’s proposal to raise taxes on 5% of the population with the most income results in over $3 billion, this signifies just how much the State of Minnesota has been losing in tax income, year after year after year because the rich have not paid their fair share and because of the massive tax breaks they have benefitted from. This is incredible. It also means that the richest have amassed billions of dollars in extra income year after year while the rest of the people in the state have been living in desperate times.

We feel the rich should actually PAY BACK the wealth they have gained at our expense, and, in this time of budget crisis this state should be prioritizing the survival needs of the families and individuals in who are coping with disabilities and unemployment in this time of overall economic crisis.

State of the State
Wednesday, February 9
11:15 a.m.
State Capitol Building, 2nd floor (outside the House Chambers)
Saint Paul, MN

The State of the State speech starts at noon – we want all the politicians to see our message as they go into the chamber.

For more info, email welfarerightsmn@yahoo.com. We especially need help from people who can drive people there and/or back!

Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011
12:00 noon
State Capitol Building

Because of the election, right-wing Republicans have control of the Minnesota State House and Minnesota State Senate. In the past several years, we have seen them come up with crazy ideas – based on poor-bashing, racism and greed.  They have tried to take away the programs and services that we need to survive, especially now, in these times.

We are in the worst economic crisis since the 1930s. Besides fighting against these sick attacks, we have to demand:
• Jobs or Income Now
• Housing, Healthcare and Education as Human Rights
• Tax the Rich and use the Money to Help Poor and Working People

Organized by:
Welfare Rights Committee and the MN Coalition for a People’s Bailout 612-822-8020