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Senate Heeds CWA's Call for Child Care Funds
The Senate voted overwhelmingly March 30 to add $6 billion in child care funds to the welfare reauthorization bill being debated, an issue that CWA activists attending the Legislative-Political Conference fought for on Capitol Hill.
Preceding the vote, New Jersey Senator Jon Corzine joined CWA at a rally where members said child care aid is essential for parents who will be forced by changes in welfare law to work longer hours.
Speakers also called for lawmakers to support Corzine's amendment to ensure that welfare benefit jobs remain in the United States. Presently 40 states contract with companies that have outsourced welfare and food stamp phone center jobs, primarily to Mexico and India.
"The goal of our federal welfare programs is to help Americans get back on the path to self-sufficiency," Corzine said. "This includes helping them find good jobs. The idea that we are using taxpayer dollars to pay workers in foreign countries to provide services to the unemployed in our own country is unconscionable. It is simply unethical and this practice must be stopped."
CWA Vice President Brooks Sunkett told the crowd how then-Gov. George W. Bush tried to privatize 17,000 social service jobs in Texas. Pushed by CWA, the Clinton administration refused to give Bush the necessary waivers to allow him to send jobs and citizens' confidential information to phone centers in other states and countries.
"Now he's looking to privatize 100,000 jobs," said Sunkett, head of CWA's Public, Health Care and Education Workers sector. "We stopped him before and we'll stop him now."
CWA Local 1084 executive board member George Jackson, a social service worker in Camden, N.J., said members aren't just fighting for their jobs. "If we're out of jobs, the people we serve will be left behind, and those are the people who don't have a voice," he said.
On the child care amendment, the Senate voted 78-20 in favor in spite of opposition from the Bush administration. Even Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist (D-Tenn.) joined the majority of his party in supporting the extra funds. The only Democrat to vote "no" was Zell Miller of Georgia.CWA members are also fighting changes in the welfare bill that would weaken Congressional authority over TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds. Under the plan, states could use federal funds authorized for specific TANF programs for other purposes.
"Faced with grave budget problems, some states are already cutting social service benefits for the poor," CWA President Morton Bahr said. "Allowing states to redirect federal welfare dollars away from TANF programs is contrary to the will of Congress, and will make life for vulnerable families that much more dire."
Preceding the vote, New Jersey Senator Jon Corzine joined CWA at a rally where members said child care aid is essential for parents who will be forced by changes in welfare law to work longer hours.
Speakers also called for lawmakers to support Corzine's amendment to ensure that welfare benefit jobs remain in the United States. Presently 40 states contract with companies that have outsourced welfare and food stamp phone center jobs, primarily to Mexico and India.
"The goal of our federal welfare programs is to help Americans get back on the path to self-sufficiency," Corzine said. "This includes helping them find good jobs. The idea that we are using taxpayer dollars to pay workers in foreign countries to provide services to the unemployed in our own country is unconscionable. It is simply unethical and this practice must be stopped."
CWA Vice President Brooks Sunkett told the crowd how then-Gov. George W. Bush tried to privatize 17,000 social service jobs in Texas. Pushed by CWA, the Clinton administration refused to give Bush the necessary waivers to allow him to send jobs and citizens' confidential information to phone centers in other states and countries.
"Now he's looking to privatize 100,000 jobs," said Sunkett, head of CWA's Public, Health Care and Education Workers sector. "We stopped him before and we'll stop him now."
CWA Local 1084 executive board member George Jackson, a social service worker in Camden, N.J., said members aren't just fighting for their jobs. "If we're out of jobs, the people we serve will be left behind, and those are the people who don't have a voice," he said.
On the child care amendment, the Senate voted 78-20 in favor in spite of opposition from the Bush administration. Even Senate Republican Leader Bill Frist (D-Tenn.) joined the majority of his party in supporting the extra funds. The only Democrat to vote "no" was Zell Miller of Georgia.CWA members are also fighting changes in the welfare bill that would weaken Congressional authority over TANF (Temporary Assistance to Needy Families) funds. Under the plan, states could use federal funds authorized for specific TANF programs for other purposes.
"Faced with grave budget problems, some states are already cutting social service benefits for the poor," CWA President Morton Bahr said. "Allowing states to redirect federal welfare dollars away from TANF programs is contrary to the will of Congress, and will make life for vulnerable families that much more dire."