Sequester on your street corner

Last week, Senator Patty Murray visited with House Democrats and discussed some of the effects of sequester - the looming automatic cuts to the federal budget that will be triggered if Congress fails to strike a budget deal by March 1st.

This week, the White House released more detailed information on what these automatic cuts would mean for Washington state.

Among the low-lights:

• Washington will lose approximately $11,606,000 in funding for primary and secondary education, putting around 160 teacher and aide jobs at risk. In addition about 11,000 fewer students would be served ad approximately 50 fewer schools would recieve funding.
• Washington will lose about $3,301,000 in environmental funding to ensure clean water and air quality...
• About 440 fewer low income students in Washington would recieve aid to help them finance the costs of college.
• In Washington, approximately 29,000 civilian Department of Defense employees would be furloughed, reducing gross pay by around $173.4 million in total.
• Washington will lose approximately $1,053,000 in funds that provides meals for seniors.

For the complete list of potential cuts, follow this link.

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A solution looking for a problem

Rep. Ruth Kagi

As of last year, 19 states require drug testing or screening of applicants or recipients of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), the cash assistance commonly referred to as "welfare."  Washington is not one of them.  Does this mean taxpayers are subsidizing drug habits in our state?

Actually, we have a pretty good system already in place to identify and address substance abuse issues in those who apply for TANF benefits.  Our caseworkers identify clients with potential substance abuse problems, and refer them for assessment and, if necessary, treatment.

These referrals are not simply polite suggestions.  Clients who refuse to participate in the assessment and/or treatment process are "sanctioned," which means their assistance is reduced by 40 percent.  At the end of the sanction period, if they still do not comply with treatment, they lose their assistance entirely.  In other words, our state can and does cut people off assistance if they have a substance abuse problem and do not get treatment.

In fact, last year an average of 2300 families were sanctioned per month, and around 3700 families each month completely lost state assistance.  Not all of these families were sanctioned or terminated due to substance abuse - these numbers include all reasons for reduction or loss of assistance, including not meeting job search requirements.  But it shows we're serious about ensuring people play by the rules.

Adding an actual drug test would only add cost and bureaucracy - neither of which is in the taxpayers' best interests.  And since the majority of TANF recipients are children or families with children, sanctions and terminations have a very real effect on child poverty in our state.  We already have over 27,000 homeless children in our schools. 

Last week, House Early Learning & Human Services Committee chair Rep. Ruth Kagi went on TVW's The Impact to discuss the issue of drug testing TANF recipients.  You can view the entire segment here, but she makes her main points in the clip below:



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HDC core values: fund education, create jobs, protect the safety net

The House Democrats’ primary goals these past few months were to pass a budget which funds education, higher education, and saves the safety net – and that’s exactly what we did.

Since last October, our number one priority has been to get Washingtonians back to work by passing the Jobs Now package – and that’s exactly what we did.

Knowing how important Jobs Now is to families in Washington, we did not let the opposition in either the Senate or the House stop us from putting 20,000 people back to work.

House Democrats fought tooth and nail for three years to eliminate the tax exemption for big, out-of-state banks – and this year, that’s exactly what we did.

The War on Women was dangerously close to entering Washington due to efforts to slash family planning grants, Working Connections funds, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. House Democrats know how important these programs are and fought to make sure they remained intact – and that’s exactly what we did.

These past few months have not been easy, but the challenge was worth it to protect education, save the safety net, and get over 20,000 Washington residents back to work.

To read this post in Spanish, click here.

2012 Legislative Session is open

Speaker Frank Chopp gaveled the session to order at noon today, laying out the House Democratic Caucus agenda for the upcoming year:

• Create jobs now

• Fund basic education

• Save the safety net

• Ensure equality

• Provide opportunity

You can ready his opening comments here.

To read this story in Spanish, click here.