Elected Officials, Organizations Decry Proposal for Asset Test on SNAP Recipients

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 26, 2012 — State Sen. Shirley Kitchen, along with elected officials including U.S. Rep. Robert Brady, joined various organizations in Philadelphia today to discuss the devastating impact of the Corbett administration’s plan to implement an asset test on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients.

Sen. Kitchen calls the governor's proposal a "disgrace."

The officials made their comments at Self-Help and Resource Exchange (SHARE) Food Program at 2901 W. Hunting Park Ave., an organization that allows individuals to exchange volunteer time for the opportunity to buy affordable food.
“The Corbett administration’s efforts to undermine our most vulnerable citizens is a disgrace,” said Kitchen (D-3rd dist.), who is the Democratic chair of the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee. “His proposal only demoralizes families who are trying to survive and punishes those who are trying to save precious dollars for a better life.”
Under the administration’s plan, any SNAP recipient under the age of 60 who has more than $2,000 in savings and assets, including cash, stocks, bonds and money in checking and savings accounts, would no longer qualify. Individuals who are over 60 or disabled who have $3,250 in savings and assets would no longer qualify.
Approximately 460,000 Philadelphians rely on SNAP.
This proposal bucks a national trend in SNAP eligibility. Today, 35 states have abolished their asset tests because of pervasive long-term unemployment. Pennsylvania at one time had asset tests but dissolved them in 2008.
Pennsylvania has a solid record on accountability, with a SNAP error rate of less than 4 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
“The Department of Public Welfare claims to be rooting out fraud and waste. I’d like to see the numbers detailing the actual amount of so-called fraud and waste,” Kitchen said. “The federal government recognizes that we are ensuring that folks are receiving proper benefits. The Corbett administration should focus on helping people, rather than finding ways to keep them in the cycle of poverty.”

Sen. Hughes calls asset tests "cruel" and "unnecessary."

State Sen. Vincent Hughes said Hughes the federal government already mandates income limits for SNAP enrollment, so asset test are a waste of time and administrative costs.“This is a misguided policy that does a disservice to the needs of Pennsylvania citizens,” said Hughes (D-7th dist.). “Punishing low- and middle-income individuals for trying to lift themselves out of poverty is not only cruel, but also completely unnecessary.”
Nationally, nearly 75 percent of SNAP participants are in families with children and more than a quarter of participants are in households with seniors or people with disabilities, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Nearly one-third of SNAP recipients work, according to the USDA.
The administration’s proposal would not only hurt the individuals who rely on SNAP, but also the industries that supply SNAP recipients with their groceries, like Pennsylvania farmers and supermarkets, according to John Weidman, deputy executive director of the Food Trust, a Philadelphia-based nonprofit working to provide access to affordable, nutritious food.
“This proposed regulation will kill jobs and hurt businesses across the Commonwealth,” Weidman said. “SNAP is a vital part of the progress Pennsylvania has made to increase the number of farmers’ markets and supermarkets in underserved areas. These asset tests will hurt those efforts.”
The officials also discussed the issues with the Department of Public Welfare’s (DPW) recent purge of individuals from Medical Assistance, which provides health care services for 2 million eligible Pennsylvanians, the majority of whom are elderly or disabled.
The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Dec. 15, 2011 that 150,000 people —including 43,000 children — had been cut from Medical Assistance since August 2011.
The 2011-12 state budget mandated that DPW make more than $470 million in cuts.
“Again, DPW maintains that it is working to ‘root out fraud and waste,’ yet it has yet to produce solid numbers on any fraud and waste in DPW programs,” Kitchen said. “Meanwhile, children, the elderly and disabled individuals and their loved ones are enduring the agony of losing their lifeline and scrambling to re-apply. It’s shameful.”
Pennsylvania’s Medicaid error rate in 2009 was 4.07 percent, compared to a national average of 8.98 percent, according to an analysis by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Kitchen said she will call for public hearings to investigate the Pennsylvania Department of Welfare’s process for cutting costs and eliminating fraud and waste.
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PLBC calls for help for Chester Upland schools

	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
State Rep. Ronald Waters D-Delaware/Phila. www.pahouse.com/waters

PLBC calls for help for Chester Upland schools

HARRISBURG, Jan. 25 – State Rep. Ronald G. Waters, D-Phila./Delaware, chairman of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, and other members of the PLBC at a Capitol news conference on Tuesday called on the governor to release funds to keep Chester Upland School District in operation through the remainder of the school year.

The school district was decimated when state funding in last year’s budget was cut by $1,144 dollars per student. The district has slashed programs and reduced staff, and most recently, teachers have continued to work in the classrooms without being paid.

State Sen. Vincent Hughes,D-Phila/Montgomery, Democratic chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, pointed out that Chester Upland has one of the highest percentages of students enrolled in charter schools in the state. That money is removed from the public school to the charter school. “The state’s charter school reimbursement policy is killing Chester Upland,” Hughes said.

Rep. Thaddeus Kirkland, D-Delaware, who represents the school district, expressed outrage at the situation which is crushing Chester. “Here we are, programs cut, educators gone, students walking around bookless, and that’s unfortunate,” Kirkland said.

He compared the state’s funding for schools to that which is spent on prisons.

“We don’t cut funding for correctional facilities. We continue to build more and more facilities. We don’t call them failed,” Kirkland said. “If we don’t help provide a proper funding stream and source for our children, all you will do is increase the funding for correctional facilities.”

Waters concluded the event with a call for more equitable revenue funding system and the value of a quality education for employers. “As stewards of tax revenue and as lawmakers, we cannot cut services to our most vulnerable citizens and leave available sources of revenue untapped, and force other Pennsylvanians to do without. The only way you will prepare people for jobs, jobs, jobs is through education, education, education,” he said.

COLUMN	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
State Rep. Ronald Waters D-Delaware/Phila. www.pahouse.com/waters

Waters: Occupy illegal guns

As a Pennsylvania lawmaker and concerned resident, I, along with the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus Vice Chairwoman Vanessa Lowery Brown, am writing in response to a disturbing political cartoon recently published in the Philadelphia Daily News.

The image depicts five hooded individuals with smoking guns protruding from the hoods in place of faces. The words "Occupying Black Philadelphia" accompanied the cartoon.

Gun violence in the Philadelphia area is a serious problem and no laughing matter.

It is time to move forward in this effort and attack the larger problem: the proliferation of illegal guns.

The No. 1 priority of government is to protect its citizens. Too many innocent lives have been lost in the crosshairs of gun violence. It is a sad fact that within the city of Philadelphia the majority of homicides are committed with hand guns and by minors, as well as offenders with previous criminal backgrounds.

Easy access to guns has cost us hundreds and hundreds of lives and replaced safety with fear. It's time we reclaim the streets of the Philadelphia area and replace fear with determination. As legislators, we need to collaborate with each other to bring about tangible solutions to this problem.

I have been calling on Gov. Tom Corbett and the General Assembly to create a task force on gun violence and trafficking in the Commonwealth. The task force should be composed of law enforcement officials, including the Pennsylvania State Police, as they are equipped with surveillance capabilities and the manpower to handle the influx of illegal weapons in the neighborhoods within our state.

The task force would be charged with investigating the use and transport of illegal guns and assault weapons across the state and how to take them off the street and out of the hands of people with bad intentions who will use them to commit crimes. By creating such a task force, Pennsylvania can be turned into a leader on crime reduction.

I also am requesting for a special session known as a Committee of the Whole to invite the entire General Assembly to meet in a bipartisan fashion to address the concerns of public safety. How do we show our constituencies across the state that we are working together under the common goal of increasing public safety? We must be tough on crime, but also right on crime.

We also need to invest in programs with proven track records of reducing violence and the number of repeat offenders, such as Weed and Seed. Funding for the program was eliminated under the Republican-controlled budget and I am also calling on the governor to reinstate it.

The Weed and Seed program is a law enforcement/community revitalization effort targeting medium-sized communities whose inner cities are plagued by crime, violence and social deterioration. It is a great example of the state doing right by citizens who live in inner cities, as it has been responsible for reducing crime and delinquency, and has enabled police to work with the community, the private sector and social service agencies to revitalize communities.

The program prepares people for jobs, and gives them the real-world skills they need to succeed through training classes and mentoring.

Simply building more prisons is not the answer and neither is cutting a program as a short-term solution to a long-term problem. We cannot simply build our way out of this problem. It is too costly; the state budget reveals that the amount of money allocated to the criminal justice system has increased, yet do our streets feel any safer? We cannot simply arrest our way out of this problem, but we can with the proper evidence-based resources create an environment conducive to building stronger lives.

We will work to build stronger lives by creating opportunities that will add value and purpose to the lives of all of our citizens. Creating these opportunities within our educational system and sustaining real job creation are fundamentals that, when in place, create strong neighborhoods. Investing in early childhood education programs is a proven way to get young people started on the right educational path. Those early educational experiences can lead to positive gains within the job market later in life.

We should increase the number of recreational and enrichment programs to keep our children focused. As a result of their participation in such programming, they stand to become better prepared to be productive contributors to society. We are not undermining the role of parents in our society, but as policymakers, we must best direct our available resources to ensure our children’s long-term success.

Currently I believe we are placing too much emphasis on the stick and not the carrot; we are way too strict on punishment and not on prevention. It is clear that these guns are not in our neighborhoods by mistake. Many of the people who use these guns use them to commit crimes within the inner city against their neighbors and other community members. Let’s become more proactive on crime rather than reactive. We should be mindful that creating safer neighborhoods should be the true public safety goal. When resources are drained from neighborhoods where unemployment and poverty levels are high, the opportunities to gain a valuable education are low. Making the statement of “Occupy Black Philadelphia” with a negative image depicting hooded individuals and guns is speaking to a symptom, but does not address the cause.

Unfortunately, the state can’t legislate an end to violence, but we certainly can create measures to get illegal guns off the streets, make our neighborhoods safer and occupy the real problem of gun violence.

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Waters represents the 191^st Legislative District in the House of Representatives and serves as the chairman of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus.

Brown represents the 190^th Legislative District in the House of Representatives and serves as vice chairwoman of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus.

2012 PLBC Scholarship Program Information

	FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
State Rep. Ronald Waters D-Delaware/Phila. www.pahouse.com/waters

Waters: 2012 PLBC scholarship program opens

HARRISBURG, Dec. 20 – State Rep. Ronald G. Waters, D-Phila./Delaware, chairman of the Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus, announced the applications for the 2012 PLBC scholarship program are now being accepted through Feb. 17.

The PLBC will award five $1,000 scholarships to graduating high school seniors who currently attend school in either the Harrisburg, Philadelphia, or Pittsburgh school districts, or the Chester Upland school district, are classified as a minority, and plan to enroll in an accredited two- or four- year college in Pennsylvania.

“Higher education is the best way to develop a career with long-term financial security,” Waters said. “We are proud to be able to continue to offer these scholarships to give some students a helping hand on that road.”

Scholarship applicants will be evaluated on grades, with a minimum 3.0 grade-point average required, a statement of career and educational goals, school and community participation, work experience, family income and any unusual personal or family circumstances. Applications are available from the PLBC website, www.pahouse.com/plbc but only the first 250 applicants will be considered.

Scholarship recipients also will participate in a scheduled mock check presentation ceremony in the state Capitol on May 1.