State’s Poor Children

Re “Lawmakers Face Off on Benefits for State’s Poor,” June 29: Your article neglects a few key points:

* The new state welfare reform law imposes time limits of 60 months and strict work requirements of 32 hours per week on able-bodied parents of needy children. Parents who “play by the rules” deserve to be able to feed, clothe and house their children better than they can with a monthly payment that has lost more than one-third of its value.

* Nearly 100,000 CalWORKS families contain an aged, blind or disabled family member receiving SSI. Many others have disabled members who may have temporary disabilities. Children in these families should not be continually punished because of the contempt some lawmakers have for “able-bodied” parents who need help.

* The scheduled increases in aid were part of last year’s welfare reform compromise, recognizing that the budgetary crises which caused the cuts have ended. The governor needs a change in that law to deny the modest boost to needy families.

* According to the legislative analyst, the poor contributed $17 billion in cuts in aid, while the rich contributed only $3 billion in an upper-income tax bracket increase, to cope with the state budget deficits of the 1990s.

It’s good that the aged, blind and disabled will get a modest cost-of-living increase this year. But needy children deserve a break, too.

CASEY McKEEVER

Western Center on Law & Poverty

Sacramento