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Life Choices

Will we allow our state legislators to dismantle a medical program described as the final safety net for the poorest of Ohio's poor? How important are the lives of countless casualties of the next biennium budget? Such is one of the life and death decisions before us!

Isn't it time to declare a "cease-fire" on the war of words among politicized and polarized people of faith?

Followers of Jesus are being recruited as Christian soldiers on opposing sides in today's most divisive public debates. Churches are becoming battlegrounds for dispute over the meaning of morality for the country, and religious leaders are on the frontlines of contention over American values.

Two examples from Florida this spring triggered national furor over life and death decisions. Should a feeding tube be removed from a comatose woman? Does a 13 year old rape-impregnated foster child have the right to abort?

Attention could soon shift to Ohio where a time bomb has been ticking over whether to print specialty auto license plates with the inscription "Choose Life." Leveraged by religious activists with an anti-abortion persuasion, permission was signed into law by Governor Taft on February 15th. Yet, issuing these plates has recently been stalled by religious activists with a pro-choice viewpoint.

Meanwhile, as our state edges toward budget agreements that will likely deprive many of our most fragile citizens of life's barest essentials, subtler but equally alienating volleys are being exchanged from sacred towers. Charges and countercharges are clashing over efforts to broaden the discussion of moral values beyond issues of sexuality; warriors for inclusive humanitarian needs are advocating, within any discussion of morality, primary concentration on those precariously coping within an often hostile and indifferent society. These Christian legions are mobilized under banners of preference for caring more about the orphan, the widow, and the poor - not anti-abortion activities - as "true religion."

Are we blinded to possibilities of rightness in the conviction of others by the certainty of our own?

A neutral observer might conclude that the center of this faith fracas is not so much which spin on scripture is right or wrong as the capacity of both camps to affirm the worth in all of life. The chief difference between the armies on the left and the right seems to be about whose survival is included and whose excluded from holy consideration. Behind most of the rhetoric are sincere "children of God" who care passionately about protecting their choices of those most at risk. Someone outside the fray might wonder whether possibilities for truce would increase if each side directed its heat toward protecting all vulnerable Ohioans-those in the middle as well as those on the ends of the life spectrum?

For instance, if commitment to life encircles (along with the unborn or dying) the quality of life for everyone, wouldn't we be able to make better use of those spears and swords? Rather than a weapon for or against court judgments, why not approach the theme "Choose Life" as a win-win resolution-affirming mutual understanding that we hold as one? Rising from its Deuteronomic origins, the slogan could be treated both as a reminder of the sanctity of choice alongside a celebration of life's fullness. 

Pro-choice would accept conception as ordination into life, the right to birth, and increasing opportunities for adoption! Pro-life would embrace social justice for economic survival and assure health care as well as guard civil liberties for all! "Choose Life" could then be interpreted as mutual advocacy for adequate revenues, humane spending policies, and programmatic empathy for multitude of ill-conceived, ill-equipped, and just plain ill. And compassion would embrace those condemned by imperfect legal systems. We would choose to nurture life in every moment, form, and condition.

Overly simple? Sure. Fantasy? Probably, but can we at least recognize that it's in the common interest of everyone--and a tribute to our common faith--to try to understand the reasons behind these intense differences? Through greater acceptance each other's minds and hearts, if not pronouncements, we remove mine-fields of mutual self-destructiveness. The quest for "common ground" begins with a willingness to walk unmarked and hazardous paths...together!

Ain't gonna happen? Maybe, but a dusty source of ultimate hope is unshaken within our state motto's biblical confidence: "With God all things are possible!"

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Helping People to Help Themselves

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) provides cash assistance and help in moving from welfare to work for low-income families with children. TANF replaced the federal program Aid to Families with Dependent Children in 1996. The changes were substantial. Instead of open-ended federal funding that matches state expenditures on at least a one-to-one basis, TANF provides flat funding to states based on the amount they received immediately before the new law was enacted. Assistance to families is also no longer open-ended federal funds and cannot provide cash benefits for more than 60 months throughout their lifetime. In addition, parents receiving TANF must participate in work activities as a condition for receiving benefits. 

Since 1996, the TANF caseload has been reduced by more than half. Many families have left welfare although they are often not able to secure steady employment or above poverty wages. Their problems make it difficult for them to comply with program rules and they are pushed off assistance.

TANF was due to be reauthorized in 2002, but Congress has repeatedly enacted short-term extensions of current law with no increases in annual funding since the law was first enacted in 1996. The 109th Congress is currently considering legislation to reauthorize the block grant of TANF for five years.

Earlier this year, extending the program through June 30, 2005, both the Senate Finance Committee and the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources passed differing versions of reauthorization legislation. Now S. 669 and H.R. 240 await consideration by other committees before going on to the full Senate and House for further debate.

Although similar in some respects, the two pieces of legislation are different in major ways. This reflects, in part, that fact that the Senate bill is the product of some bipartisan negotiation and better reflects the views of state governors and TANF administrators, while the House bill is essentially the same bill introduced with single-party sponsors in 2002.

Overall Funding 

Both bills extend TANF block grant funding for five years at the current funding level of $16.6 billion a year.

Child Care Funding

The House bill increases funding for child care by $1 billion over five years - less than the amount needed to account for inflation. The Senate bill increases funding for child care by $6 billion over five years. 

Hours of Work and Other Allowable Activities

A single parent with a child age 6 or older would need to be engaged in allowable activities for 34 hours a week under the Senate bill (24 if child younger than 6), and 40 hours a week under the House bill (regardless of age of child). 

Education and Training

The Senate bill retains current law that allows for post-secondary or vocational education to count as a work activity for more than 12 months. The House bill would limit current law by only allowing vocational education as a countable activity for 3 months in any two-year period.

Transitional Medical Assistance

The Senate bill extends Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA) for five years covering families who are working when they stop receiving TANF income assistance and others who lose Medicaid coverage when their income rises. The House bill extends TMA for one year and does not include improvements in the Senate bill.

Waivers

The House bill allows states to obtain waivers of nearly all federal law and rules related to TANF, the Food Stamp Program, and a wide variety of other federal family support programs. Under the Senate bill, up to ten states could obtain waivers of federal law and rules related to TANF and a limited number of complementary programs.

Block Grants

The House bill allows up to five states to elect a food stamp block grant in lieu of the regular Food Stamp Program. Block grant funds could be spent on food assistance, employment and training, or administration, with no requirements for how much states spend in any category or limits on how a state could alter the program under the block grant. The Senate bill does not include a food stamp block grant.

Miscellaneous

Other contrasts include the amount of time attributable to work for parents with children requiring medical and rehabilitative services, severity of penalties for families who partially comply with requirements, special provisions for Native Americans and treatment of legal immigrants. Both bills authorize "fatherhood" programs, although only the Senate bill includes funding for them. And both the House and Senate bills provide up to $300 million per year in funding for marriage promotion programs and research. The Senate bill includes some protections related to the voluntary nature of these programs and domestic violence programs that are not included in the House bill.

Time Line

Debate on both bills is likely to begin very soon.

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"Poorest of the Poor" 

A medical program described as the final safety net for the poorest of Ohio's poor will be dismantled if the House-approved version of the state budget is enacted. Disability Medical Assistance is a $73 million state-funded effort to provide health-care and prescription-drug coverage for Ohioans with chronic conditions, such as heart problems, diabetes, or mental illness who earn less than 33 percent of the federal poverty level (see chart).

Funded entirely by the state, the disability program was designed to bridge the gap while people await approval for Medicaid, Social Security, or other benefits. All too often, however, federal red tape means approval is slow or comes too late. All the 15,000 recipients are very poor and many are homeless, recently released from prison, between jobs, or working in temporary positions.

According to Barbara Riley, head of the Department of Job and Family Services, the change "will have serious and lasting consequences for many vulnerable Ohioans and will increase the demand on other social-service and health-care safety nets at a time when the budgets for those programs are already severely strained."

Eugene R. King of the Ohio State Legal Services Association, an advocate for those on disability assistance, called eliminating the program "disastrous." "This reflects the values of the state and reflects that we, as a state, don't care about our neediest residents. It will land on the back of you and me and other Ohioans."

Gayle Channing Tenenbaum of the Public Children's Services Association of Ohio, adds "This points out that the state of Ohio has to do something significant on tax reform and put together a permanent revenue stream to support families and vulnerable populations." 

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Out of the Basement 

The federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour is worth less than in all but one of the past 50 years. Since 1968, the value of a minimum wage paycheck has plunged by more than 30%. Work full-time at minimum wage - just $10,712 a year. By boosting the Ohio minimum to $7.15, would give 446,000 employees an essential raise. Over one-third of affected employees are relied upon for the entire family income. (Policy Matters Ohio)

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Unkindest Cuts 

On April 28, the House (214-211) and Senate (52-47) narrowly passed a $2.6 trillion compromise budget resolution for 2006. Overall, the budget will require $35 billion in cuts to domestic programs over five years. It also mandates $70 billion in tax cuts over five years, more than half of which will benefit people who earn more than $1 million a year. It calls for $3 billion in cuts to agriculture programs, which include cutting $500 million from food stamps. This would eliminate from the program 300,000 low-income women who recently moved from welfare to work and would also end their children's eligibility for free school lunches. In 2003, 36.3 million people lived in households that struggled to put food on the table, 1.4 million more people than in 2002, including 13.3 million children. Nearly 75% of adults with children who receive food stamps are working or engaged in job training and education. Eighty-six percent of food stamp households have a child, an elderly person, or a disabled person. Eighty-eight percent of food stamp recipients live at or below the poverty line. (Bread for the World) 

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Needed: HEART 

Ohio has reformed its welfare system. Caseloads have dropped by two-thirds as the vast majority of people previously on welfare have moved on to mostly low-wage jobs. The only people still on assistance are those who are meeting all the new requirements. So they should now be considered "deserving." But what do they deserve? More than 140,000 of the poorest children in Ohio are suffering needlessly. Half of all children receiving aid through the Ohio Works First (OWF) program are living with parents who are disabled or with other family caretakers, usually grandparents who get only about $370 per month for a typical family of three. Even with $300 per month in food stamps, they still live on an income that is only about half of the federal poverty level (see chart). Ironically, the state has underspent its TANF allocation almost every year since the program began eight years ago; it now has a balance of unspent funds of at least $800 million. We can afford to provide a decent level of assistance and still provide support for other working families with the TANF funds available to the state. We need to raise OWF benefits by $100 a month. We have the money. We just need the heart. (Jack Frech is director of the Athens County Department of Job and Family Services) 

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HUNGER NETWORK: General Assembly Testimony

We stand together with Ohioans least able to endure cuts and inadequate funding of services such as health care, PASSPORT and senior block grants, education, and local government. We support childcare eligibility increases, keeping CHIP at 200% of poverty, continuing to fund foodbanks and the ABC Initiative for Children's Behavioral Healthcare program as well as the continuation of the Disability Medical Assistance (DMA).

We oppose the Ohio constitutional amendment referred to as Tax & Expenditure Limits and other such maneuvers that place arbitrary and artificial caps on local and state spending. Passage of these types of amendments would dramatically restrict state investment in education, health care, services for seniors, environmental protection, libraries, economic development activities, and many other public services that improve the quality of life for all Ohioans. They also exempt public officials from exercising their responsibilities. Ideally guardians of the larger public interest, politicians ought not relinquish their roles as decision-makers to rigid formulas that may not accommodate changing needs and conditions.

Our organization favors a fair, progressive, diversified system of taxation that provides stable revenues sufficient to fund services and invest in Ohio's future. We are committed to assuring that Ohio sustains an adequate tax base to meet basic human needs and provide a safety net for the most vulnerable Ohioans. We oppose any initiatives that give tax cuts to the wealthiest Ohioans while underfunding education, health care, and other human needs programs. We also support the continuation of state monies to cities and townships in order to maintain adequate services.

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"2 Cents-a-Meal"

Recognizing the widespread and tragic desperation of persons deprived of food, the Hunger Network in Ohio has developed a ministry for ending hunger. More than providing occasional meals or groceries to temporarily relieve hunger, this is a strategy for reducing and preventing hunger through legislative change. This program reflects the willingness of people to offer prayers, gather pennies, and influence public policies.

What Is 2 Cents-a-Meal?

This is a program to remind us of the poor and needy at mealtimes. It encourages individuals and families to engage in a daily devotional exercise of collecting 2 pennies per person for shared hunger ministries as they give thanks for their own food.

What Happens to the 2 Cents-a-Meal Offering?

Each parish designates a Sunday of the month to receive the 2 Cents-a-Meal offering from their households. One cent is to be given to a local hunger ministry in which the parish is involved and/or supports and the other one cent is sent either to the judicatory to be forwarded or directly to the Hunger Network in Ohio.

Prayers, Pennies, Public Policies for Overcoming Poverty

A pamphlet is available for doing 2 Cents-A-Meal in families or beginning a hunger ministry in congregations. It includes information about hunger, sample exercises for teaching young people to respond to hunger in the world, and wrappers for a container used to collect pennies.

Additional information and materials are available through the Hunger Network Office.

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Legislative Directories Available 

With the ferment currently in Washington and Columbus, this seems to be an apt moment for concerned citizens to receive the 2005 Ohio Legislative and Government Directory. Additional complimentary copies of this pamphlet of addresses and phone numbers for the 120th General Assembly are available at the Hunger Network office.

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Public Policy Email Network 

To provide immediate and updated information about the urgent legislative issues of the day, we are now operating "HungerNetOhio." Reducing the cost of reliance upon traditional paper and postal services, we are replacing the frequency of newsletters with this electronic Public Policy Email Network. We want to be in touch with you as public policies are introduced and prime opportunities are available to influence legislation. Whether for individuals, churches, or other organizations, simply provide your email address and you will immediately become part of "HungerNetohio."

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Summertime... And the Livin's Not Easy 

While school doors are locked for summer vacation, Summer Food Service Program sites keep theirs wide open, offering free meals and snacks to children who depend on free or reduced-pnced meals throughout the regular school year. During the 2003-04 school year, approximately 498,356 low-income children in Ohio participated in the National School Lunch Program, but only 49,137 children in Ohio  were fed in July 2004 through Summer Nutrition Programs. Without these federally supported programs, children who rely on school breakfasts and lunches may go hungry during summer vacation. State agencies like the Ohio Department of Education approve sponsorship from organizations such as public or private schools and nonprofit organizations (including churches, public or private nonprofit camps, etc.) to act as sites where food can be distributed. Sponsors receive reimbursements to cover food, supplies, and administrative costs. Beginning in June, you will be able to find a site near you by calling 1-800-481-6885. (Children's Hunger Alliance)