Hunger and Public Policy 2006 

The Booklet 

"Plenty and Scarcity: Hunger and Public Policy 2006" is now available. As a resource for discussing five critical issues impacting hungry people, these booklets may be used for groups gathering for Bible study, prayer, and conversations about the role of faith in society. They may be used for Lenten season or throughout the year.

The Process 

Each year the Board of Trustees of the Hunger Network in Ohio (HNO) determines the most crucial hunger-related issues the Organization is able to effectively impact. These subjects are packaged into a study booklet. This year’s edition of “Plenty and Scarcity: Hunger and Public Policy 2006” is distributed through congregations and is available for use by other interested groups and individuals.

The Issues 

While working with collegial organizations on international concerns, the HNO primarily focuses on hunger issues in and affecting Ohio. This year’s priority issues are "POVERTY AS MORALITY: Faces of Poor, Katrina and Beyond;" "LEGISLATING OR REGULATING? In-TEL-igence in Ohio Politics;" "INCOME JUSTICE: The Economy and Fair Wages;" "FAREWELL TO WELFARE: Moving Families out of Poverty;" and "MAKING $ENSE OF TAX CUTS: Impacting 'HAVES'/'HAVE-NOTS'."

Accessing the Booklet 

"Plenty and Scarcity" is available here in several formats. Simply click the link for the desired format, and follow the instructions to download. The Booklet may also be viewed online in HTML.       Adobe Acrobat 6.5 Word 2000 Rich Text Format 2.4 MB 249 KB 2.5 MB

The Hunger Network in Ohio has adopted the following priority hunger-related issues to be addressed next year. They are consistent with our mission to “end hunger in Ohio,” through a strategy of trying to “change condition causing poverty,” and within the scope of our capabilities to advocate. They are now being researched for inclusion in the upcoming edition of Plenty and Scarcity: Hunger and Public Policy 2006 available in January. Please let us know if you would like to order copies for a discussion group you would be willing to organize. 

1. Faces of the Poor and Facing Poverty
The realities of hunger and poverty in Ohio and the USA Hurricane Katrina dramatically revealed faces of the poor especially in New Orleans. However, beyond the Gulf Coast, how do we develop greater sensitivity to poverty and remedies throughout the nation and the state of Ohio? 

2. Meeting our Obligations 
The federal and state budgets are moral documents As our country’s spending commitment and deficit grow, we have been caught in a dilemma over cutting domestic programs and, at the same time, reducing re venues. What are viable options for drastic cuts of human services and alternatives to tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans? 

3. The Tax Code is Public Policy 
The impact of policies of taxation on the “Haves” and “Have Nots” After being postponed for consideration this November, Tax Payers’ Bill of Rights (TABOR) along with alternative politicized spending-reduction schemes will likely return for debate in Ohio in 2006. Anticipating the potential for damaging long-term impact on precarious Ohioans, what can we do to challenge this trend? 

4. The Economic Bind and a Fair Wage 
Energy, health care, and economic stress; minimum wages and a living wage. Our nation is confronted with a sudden and an unprecedented rise in costs of gasoline and natural gas as health care and housing costs continue to rise astronomically. The impact will be felt particularly by those who struggle simply to survive. Efforts are currently underway to highlight the need in Ohio to increase the minimum wage from $4.25 to $6.85 and, longer term, to press for a “living wage.” How might we be helpful? 

5. Society’s Bare-bones Safety Net for its “Underclass” 
Looming legislative battles over Food Stamps, TANF, and other precarious poverty programs The forecast of drastically reducing the amount of federal spending on food stamps for low income families will continue to demand greater responses from food pantries and the countless churches who sponsor them. Meanwhile, TANF reauthorization continues to be stuck in the federal bureaucracy. How do we as a nation improve upon and move this critical legislation that is essential for enabling families to become self-sufficient? 

Quick Links

Impacting Public Policies

Using the Booklet

Show Me the Money: Ohio Budget (Income) Crisis

To Cut or to Keep: Ohio Budget (Spending) Crisis

TANF - Take 7: Next Steps in Welfare Reform

Brake, Broker or go Broke: Federal Fiscal Fights

Divining Morality: Faith Communities at Odds

Seek Justice, Love Kindness, Walk Humbly

Opinion Ballot

Impacting Public Policies

 The Process

Each year the Board of Trustees of the Hunger Network in Ohio (HNO) determines the most crucial hu­nger-related issues the Organization is able to effectively impact.  These subjects are packaged into a study booklet.  This year’s edition of “Plenty & Scarcity: Hunger and Public Policy 2005” is distributed through congregations and is available for use by other interested groups and individuals.

The Issues 

While working with collegial organizations on international concerns, the HNO primarily focuses on hunger issues in and affecting Ohio.  This year’s priority issues are the State budget--both income sources and expenditures--along with Temporary Assistance for Families in Need (TANF)--program features in the context of overall spending.  These are divided into four subjects for discussion.  The fifth topic is on the meaning of “moral values,” so prominent in this year’s election, and its divisive impact within communities of faith.

Ongoing Involvement

The HNO offers several ongoing ways of being involved:

• Plenty is a regular newsletter offering information/inspiration for advocacy.

• Hungernetohio is a public policy email network that provides public policy updates and alerts.

• Prayers, Pennies, and Public Policies, also known as “2 Cents-a-Meal,” is a mealtime reminder to consider opportunities for action and contribute financially

Hunger Network in Ohio

Using the Booklet

“Plenty & Scarcity” features five critical issues being addressed this year through the Hunger Network in Ohio. They are written for anyone who is concerned about hunger and willing to help change conditions that cause it.  The booklet combines biblical suggestions with information about hunger-related issues and implications of public policy decisions.  These discussion-starters may be used by church classes, families, friends, or any small groups willing to struggle together with Scripture and life—ancient wisdom and contemporary society.

This exercise is intended to encourage lively dialogue on the humanitarian impact of choices before us—the tension between “Plenty and Scarcity.”  In a universe blessed with abundance, too many of our local and global neighbors are cursed with hunger, malnutrition, and starvation.

While participants are encouraged to adopt their own patterns for personal and group discussions, a suggested format includes the following:

The last page of the booklet suggests other ways to make a difference.  

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Show Me the Money:

Ohio Budget (Income) Crisis

The next six months will be as challenging as any in Ohio legislative history. Ohio, a falling star among former power states, is faced with unprecedented losses in manufacturing jobs, high numbers of citizens—working and unemployed—without health care, a school-funding formula that forces more and more local school districts to seek voter approval for property tax increases, and an antiquated, uncompetitive tax code. And it’s getting worse. The state is facing a budget deficit that some estimates peg as high as $5 billion.

The Akron Beacon-Journal points out some reasons for the crisis now brewing in our State.  While these problems are clearly economic, their resolution is primarily political.   To the key question of how to generate additional money to sustain the health and well-being of the poorest Ohioans, several answers are now being weighed.

Keep the Penny

Faced with a similar dilemma two years ago, legislators filled a projected $4 billion shortfall largely with “non-reoccurring revenues.”  These are one time sources of money which, once exhausted, would not be available for future use —”rainy day” funds. Other prominent nonrenewable moneys include last year’s federal fiscal relief grants and transfer from accumulated dividends from a settlement with the tobacco industry.

Yet, the largest and most controversial stopgap came from temporarily adding one penny to the state sales tax.  Many health and human service providers threatened by similar cuts as in 2003, now advocate keeping the penny rather than allowing it to elapse June 30.  A counter-intuitive survey by the Dayton Daily News revealed a majority of State senators and house members alike are favorable to either sustaining the current sales tax or at least keeping their options open. However, even with maintaining that sales tax increase not enough money will be generated to fully fund existing government services.

Cut Taxes

For their willingness to “bite the bullet,” many legislators were shunned (and some voted out) by their constituents.  That uneasiness over last year’s increase of the one cent sales tax has them again in a bind.  Veterans of hard and unpopular choices joined by fresh and wary comrades in the legislature are being lobbied to cut taxes. With chief spokesperson Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, Citizens for Tax Reform are pushing for a constitutional amendment designed to limit state spending.  Modeled after an earlier — and dubious — initiative in Colorado, TABOR (Taxpayers Bill of Rights) would, among many regulations to discourage spending, establish a two-thirds super-majority requirement to raise taxes.  This idea has been criticized by the Governor and leaders of both houses yet is endorsed by prominent Republicans.

Shrink Local Funding

Another money-saving strategy by the State would be to reduce the amount of funding to local communities.  These are crucial moneys that fill in support for police, fire, street, libraries, etc.  Local officials, already piecing together remnants from previous shortfalls, are understandably apprehensive.

Change the Tax Code

The most lasting remedy involves overhauling the State tax codes. Initially proposed by the Governor and handily rejected by the General Assembly last year, this idea will be refurbished and reintroduced.  This year’s initiative will promise to move Ohio’s economy from

An increasing number of legislators recognize that a radical makeover of tax policies is an important, inevitable, and ultimately effective way of more equitably bolstering state revenues.  After wrestling over the contentious resolutions for improving the state of the State in the next two years, the 126th General Assembly’s decisions will ultimately depend upon their constituents for direction—be they the most powerful, vocal, and/or caring!

To Cut or to Keep:

Ohio Budget (Spending) Crisis

“Next time you push a shopping cart full of groceries into a long checkout line, take a look at the folks around you and imagine an equally long line of people waiting for a food handout.  Then look at the goods you’re about to pay at least $150 for, and remember that those in the food-bank lines are getting soup, macaroni and cheese, and the like.  And unlike the constantly restocked shelves in supermarkets, the food pantries’ cupboards are going bare.  You are imagining reality.”

Following up a week-long series last summer on hunger in Ohio, this Columbus Dispatch pre-Christmas editorial underscored the dramatic increase in hungry Ohioans (a quarter of them children) amid the decline in services.  “Lines are longer and donations are down, “ according to Lisa Hamler-Podolski, director of Second Harvest Foodbanks.  “Some people who were donors a year ago are now standing in the line.”

Continuing to Protect Ohio’s Future

Lisa’s organization, which supplies food to over 3000 food pantries and soup kitchens throughout the State, was one of many programs marked for drastic cuts or elimination during the budget debate two years ago.  These included 70,000+ working parents with incomes below 100% of poverty, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and a wide variety of programs for the poor, disabled, and elderly.  Along with gutting human services allocations, the State would have needed to eliminate over 1.5 billion for K-12 education and a half billion dollar reduction from higher education that had already been hard hit in previous budgets.  The ripple effect on the state level would become a torrent locally, decimating allocations such as fire, police, and library funding.

Now faced with similar alternatives, legislators are beginning to realize that, without a combination of a renewed penny sales tax and new moneys, a projected $5 billion deficit for the next biennium will require severe cuts to these invaluable support systems for those least able to care for themselves.

Medicaid: Down and Without

The major driver of the crisis has been the astronomic rise in the cost of health services for the indigent.  The growing number of recipients and increasing cost of Medicaid- related services is far exceeding allocations.  Disproportionately draining federal and state revenues, it threatens to exhaust the health care system for those who are down and without medical insurance.  Likely considerations include cutting reimbursements for nursing homes, containing costs for medical procedures, and raising standards for families to qualify.  With most states facing similar dilemmas, a chorus of governors has called upon the President and congress to avoid passing to states a greater burden for Medicaid.  While most are prepared to trim rolls, one governor has moved on a path others may follow by proposing to privatize these services to the indigent.

Training Ohio’s Working Poor

Nearly a quarter million jobs have been lost in recent years, yet jobs are what Ohioans need most.  According to the Community Research Partners of Columbus, as part of a report of a national working-families project sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, “the shift in Ohio’s economy away from manufacturing promises to be a lasting one, and state policies need to change to keep up.”  The study found that one of five jobs in Ohio pays less than poverty-level wages ($18,392 or $8.84 an hour for a family of four).  And many low income families earning up to twice that amount don’t qualify for government programs even though their incomes are too low to pay for transportation, health care, and child care.  The report suggests that, in the long-term, Ohio truly can’t afford to ignore these willing workers.  Financial aid will be needed particularly for...

The report concludes that this change is not “mainly about recession (rather) permanent change in the economy.”  Some form of widespread jobs-incentive initiative is severely needed for unemployed and underemployed Ohio families.

Primary References: Campaign to Protect Ohio’s Future;
Community Research Partners; the Hannah Report

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TANF--Take 7:

Next Steps in Welfare Reform

From its inception in 1996, Temporary Assistance for Families in Need (TANF) has been portrayed as “changing welfare as we’ve known it”—shifting moneys from direct handouts to job training and expectation for employment. Even with discrepancies between the reduction of caseloads and evidence of self-sufficiency of persons previously receiving welfare benefits, there is a general consensus that TANF has had a positive effect and—with improvements—should be continued. 

The Score: 0-6

However, mandated reauthorization has been postponed six times in the last two years.  Republican and Democratic legislators have been unable to agree on how to build upon their success.  Most attention has focused upon a few critical differences: whether more or less emphasis should be dedicated to educational development and job training; what would be an appropriate expectation for the number of hours worked by recipients to move toward self-sufficiency; whether health benefits should be reduced or increased during transitions from welfare to work; and determination of adequate child care support, especially for single mothers.

We have learned much about enhancing the effectiveness of “welfare reform”—what works in reducing poverty and creating self-sufficiency and what doesn’t.  Now is the time to push beyond partisan politics and build upon rather than lose what we have gained.

H.R 240

Yet with funding for TANF running out again on March 31, rumblings in this new congress suggest that legislators could become immobilized over these same issues.  Rep. Wally Herger, the Chair of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources, has introduced H.R. 240, the Personal Responsibility, Work and Family Promotion Act of 2005.  Immediate reactions reveal a clear philosophical split: those favoring greater patience and more gradual accountability for “families in need” are preemptively attacking the bill as containing punitive provisions supported by the House in the last Congress.  That version included higher work participation rates for states, increased work hours for benefit recipients (up to 40 per week, from the current 30), and reduced flexibility for states in determining what counts as work.  Opinions differ as to whether provisions for child care are adequate to meet the current need, particularly in light of the requirement for increased hours on the job.  And, apparently to coax broader conservative supporters, the bill also includes politically charged “marriage promotion” provisions—encouraging coupling as a means for individuals to become more economically stable.

The other predictable congressional collision will be over the level of funding. TANF has been funded at $16 billion a year since it was enacted in 1996.  With the administration’s determination to reduce funding for discretionary programs in its budget proposal for the next fiscal year, even sustaining this level could be in jeopardy.  The case for decreasing funding points out that TANF rolls have been cut in half over the last eight years. Moreover, many states (including Ohio) were able to siphon off excess TANF funding and divert it to other programs in previous years.  So chances are that, even with inflation and new evidence that caseloads have begun to rise, TANF will be cut.   

Interfaith Recommendations

As a “voice crying in the wilderness,” the interfaith community has advocated for legislation to reauthorize TANF that would increase funding for child care; restore TANF and health care benefits for legal immigrants; give states increased flexibility in determining what meets the work requirement (such as expanding the time allowed for vocational education from 12 to 24 months); give states flexibility to ignore or extend work requirements and time limits for people facing severe barriers to employment; reject increased work requirements; and deny any proposal that would allow states to waive federal rules in certain low-income programs, in the name of program consolidation.

The collision over this revolutionary legislation features a classic battle between what either side might describe the other as “hard hearted” versus “bleeding heart” approaches to the plight of the poor.

Primary References: National Council of Churches-USA; Ohio Empowerment Coalition;
Center for Law and Social Policy

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Brake, Broker, or Go Broke:

Federal Fiscal Fights

Any consideration of TANF must take into account the larger debate about all federal funding and benefits programs. A couple of facts may jar us into that reality.  The federal budget deficit hit a record $413 billion in 2004.  While revenues were 5.6 percent lower than in 2001, spending was 23 percent higher, and total debt held by the public--the amount borrowed to pay for past deficits--was 29 percent higher.

In early February, President Bush will recommend the 2006-07 federal budget.  His figures must meet two primordial standards of the controlling party—reduce both the size of the debt and the size of government.  Ideally, his projections will as well relieve public anxiety about the future.  Between then and October, when spending begins flowing for the next fiscal year, hearings will be held and opportunities will become available to influence its final version.  Stark choices will be placed before Congress and the American people:

Un-entitling “Entitlements”

The administration’s budget will seek to drastically reduce spending for domestic benefits.  Because of promised increases for defense and home security alongside continuing tax reduction, many of those cuts will necessarily come from basic health and human services—traditional “entitlements.”

Squeezed between the rock and the hard place, the legislature will need to decide what programs and which American should bear the brunt of sacrifice.  Should our country target for greatest cuts basic human services— programs that are guaranteed and rise automatically each year based on set formulas?  These “long-term unfunded obligations” of benefits include Social Security, Medicare, Civil Service retirement and disability, veterans disability compensation, etc.  With further reductions forecast in housing assistance, job training, and health coverage for poor families and children, the implications for precarious families moving from welfare to work will become increasingly dire.

Making Tax Cuts Permanent

Ironically, in this time of increasingly restricted money, the administration is determined to make permanent previous tax cuts.  Although those tax cuts clearly added significantly to the growing deficit, government officials deflect the greatest blame on the combination of a slumping economy and costs associated with “fighting terrorism.”  They also argue that, while reducing revenues in the long-term, tax cuts that especially advance wealthy entrepreneurs and corporations will eventually stimulate the national economy by increasing investments and productivity—therefore, employment.  A counter belief questions whether enabling the rich to get richer will prevent the poor from getting poorer. Those holding this position would channel greater charity directly toward the most needy. 

Deferring to Local Control

A more subtle approach for reducing the deficit would be for the federal government to send states larger, more comprehensive grants previously divvied out for multiple programs.  Undergirded by a preference for greater local rather than federal control, this point of view encourages states to decide what is the best use of these incoming moneys.  For instance, federal Medicaid allocations to state may initially increase along with expanded discretion for states and local governments to change the primary health care system for the poor. Those sweeteners would be followed by cuts in later years.  The advantages of local control are too often offset by misuses and abuses in spending by states. 

Although attempts at Social Security and tax reform will capture headlines early this year, the promises of a  “tough budget” for this next fiscal year will eventually dominate the attention of legislators.  And without substantial resistance, tax cuts will be made permanent and spending priority will be given to military operations and domestic security over social welfare.

Primary References: Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; Club for Growth;
United for a Fair Economy

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Divining Morality:

Faith Communities at Odds

What are “moral values”?  Judging from the recent presidential election, it depends upon whom you ask.  Literally, an expression of “manners” or “customs,” moral has traditionally meant personal principles of “right” and “wrong.”  Culminating in last fall’s campaign, the term’s prominence was ratcheted up, its meaning narrowed, and its application spread by a substantial number of outspoken Christians.

Led primarily by conservative and evangelical churches, the term became inseparably linked to particular “values” or standards for sexuality--especially contrary to homosexuality, abortion, stem cell research, etc.  On Election Day 2004, 18 million Americans reportedly voted for President Bush because of his “moral values”— code for judgment against gay marriage and its proponents.  In fact this outrage edged out terrorism and the economy as the top issue of the election.  In 11 states that included a referendum on gay marriage (including Ohio), moral values became synonymous with a vote for the President.  While prohibited from actually endorsing a particular candidate, receptive congregations were admonished by moral leaders to cast their vote based upon those particular values.

Meanwhile, other-minded Christians have appealed for a broader and more inclusive definition.  “Regardless of who leads this country,” says National Council of Churches General Secretary Robert Edgar, “the agenda of the church must always respond faithfully to the Bible’s timeless mandate to minister to the poor, the marginalized and the outcast; and to be seekers and makers of peace.”  To that end, progressive religious groups such as Hadassah, Interfaith Alliance, and Protestants for the Common Good (PCG) are encouraging people of faith to work toward reforms on moral issues such as economic justice, poverty, affordable housing, the environment, and international peace.

These concerns are being weighed as well among evangelical church leaders.  One nationally known pastor, Jim Wallis—editor of Sojourners—writes that the 2004 election has begun “a real debate in this country over what the most important ‘religious issues’ are in politics.”  He contends that the religious right “fought to keep the focus on gay marriage and abortion...But many moderate and progressive Christians disagreed.  We insisted that poverty is also a religious issue, pointing to thousands of verses in the Bible on the poor.  The environment — protection of God’s creation — is also one of our religious concerns.”  The Rev. Jeff Schutz, until recently a pastor at “a fast-growing evangelical congregation,” urged Americans to think past personal moral issues like abortion and gay marriage. “How about talking about adoption, special-needs children, reforming the insurance industry, [and] the homeless?” Schutz said.  Some have accused the President of hypocrisy, claiming himself the “President of moral values.”  They claim he has promoted polices that let millions of kids slide into poverty while cutting taxes for the richest Americans.  Some are convinced that religious people are simply being distracted from questioning, along with the economy, the morality of the war in Iraq.

Today, with the exception of some “died in the wool” conspiracy theories regarding the outcome in Ohio, the election is over for most of us and George Bush is our President.  However, these divisions—and growing divisiveness—are still seething among Christians—and other people of faith.  Regardless of religious, moral, or political persuasion, the credence of our messages will be strengthened, not by condemning each other’s values, but through greater mutual understanding. 

As Rev. Stephen Bouman, a New York-based bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, concludes, “Maybe this election was a wake-up call to have a serious conversation about what morality means, to look at what sort of country we’re  becoming.’’

Primary References: American Progress Action; Brookings Institute; Sojourner Magazine

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Seek Justice, Love Kindness, Walk Humbly_(*)

(*) Micah 6:8

How do we move forward to make a difference in the lives of hungry families?

Accurate Information

We must begin by seeking the truth--being conscientious and persistent in obtaining accurate information on the issues we seek to address.  Rather than relying on personal or popular opinion alone, we must grasp the constantly changing facts about the human needs we advocate and public policies we want to impact. 

Genuine Prayer and Reflection

Personal prayer is central--for those who hunger and are poor as well our congressional representatives; state or federal administration leadership; individuals and groups agreeing with or opposing our viewpoints; or simply for our own clarity of thought, determination, and caring.  In addition, Bible study, devotional exercises, and/or small group reflections cleanse our motivations and concentrate our approach.

Mutual Support

Companions sharing our cause help broaden and strengthen whatever we offer.  We spread our impact through mobilizing our congregations and civic/social organizations, and coalescing with kindred individuals and groups.  Ideally, we are also nurtured by friends and family.  

Personal/Professional Integrity

Our effectiveness will be increased by...

Targeted Advocacy

Personal visits, calls, letters, or email (in that order of priority) to politicians are critical. 

And in all that we do--since our vision and energy may be short lived--we must act while our convictions are fresh and opportunities are ripe.

Recording your Opinions

Please register your opinion on the Opinion Ballot (next page). Circle the option that most closely represents your thinking. You may add comments, using another sheet of paper to record extended answers. When you have finished the last issue in the booklet and completed the balloting, you may include “Optional Information”.  When you have completed filling out the forms, return, fax, call, or email your responses to the Hunger Network in Ohio. Ballot tallies and comments will be shared with public officials as a reflection of our accumulated thinking about these issues.

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Opinion Ballot

Ohio Income Battle

1. Sales tax (a)  (b)

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2. TABOR (a)  (b)

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3. Additional taxes (a)  (b)  (c)

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4. Tax code reform (a)  (b)  (c)

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State Spending Crunch

1. Program expendability (a)  (b)

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2. Reduce Medicaid costs (a)  (b)

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3. Expanding employment opportunities (a)  (b)  (c)

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Next Steps in "Welfare Reform"

1."Welfare reform" (a) (b)

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2. Child-care support (a)  (b)

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3. Education and training (a)   (b)

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4. Work expectations (a)  (b)  (c)

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State Spending Crunch

1. Debt reduction (a)  (b)  (c)

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2. Funding priorities (a)  (b)  (c)

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3. "Entitlement" (a) (b)

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4. Permanent tax cuts (a)  (b)

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Faith Communities at Odds

1. "Moral values" (a)  (b)  (c)

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2. "Moral values" in society (a)  (b)

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3. Role of organized religion in elections (a): (b)

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4. What could my congregation do (a)  (b)

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Optional Information

Name______________________________________________________________________

Address __________________________  City________________ Zip_________________

Phone(s) __________________________  Fax ________________  email_______________

I would like to receive more information (specify):

___________________________________________________________________________

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