Category: Deirdre Fulton
Snowe, Collins Vote Against Drilling in Arctic Wildlife Refuge
WASHINGTON – Republican Sens. Olympia J. Snowe and Susan M. Collins voted against a majority of their party Wednesday in opposing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Both senators said reducing energy reliance and increasing energy efficiency would accomplish more than drilling in the Alaska refuge, which, they warned, would have negative environmental and economic effects.
The 52-48 vote, with eight Republicans voting against Alaskan drilling, eliminated a Bush Administration proposal in the Senate version of next year’s budget resolution that called for drilling in the refuge. Supporters of the measure argued that especially now, the U.S. needs to become more energy independent and that the drilling would have minimal environmental impact.
But opponents of drilling in the region said it would harm a priceless national treasure. The area is home to many species of animals including polar bears, caribou and the native Gwich’in Indians. In a statement, Snowe said because the gap between U.S. oil consumption and oil production is so vast, the nation should look not to more drilling, but to a more comprehensive energy policy.
Today, the United States consumes about 25 percent of the world’s oil but possesses only 3 percent of its oil reserves, Collins pointed out in a statement. For this reason, she said, drilling in the Arctic refuge would do “almost nothing to decrease our reliance on foreign oil.”
Instead, Collins advocated renewable energy sources and an energy policy that would increase national energy efficiency.
Snowe, with California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein, recently introduced legislation aimed at reducing fuel consumption and emissions by raising automotive fuel economy standards.
This legislation “could more than offset oil retrieved from the Arctic Refuge,” she said, “and will provide lasting benefits far beyond the expected oil recovery possible in the refuge.”
Snowe and Collins acted as leaders in the environmental fight by voting as they did, said Maureen Drouin, organizer of the Maine Sierra Club. She said drilling in the Arctic “would not save consumers a dime.” Instead, oil recovered from the refuge would take 10 years to get to the market and would provide about a six-month supply, she said.
“Americans consistently voice support for protecting the Arctic, and today the Senate listened by rejecting this backdoor attempt to drill in this special place,” Drouin said.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Andrews and Win Without War Continue Anti-War Campaign
WASHINGTON – Win Without War, the national anti-war coalition headed by former
Maine Rep. Tom Andrews, intends to continue expressing its steadfast opposition to the Bush doctrine of pre-emptive attack, despite the seeming unavoidability of war with Iraq.
"The United States is woefully unprepared for what could easily become a humanitarian catastrophe," Andrews said Wednesday at a press conference where he also emphasized the potential negative economic consequences of a war. "Americans will now be required to shoulder the burden of this unnecessary war - a price that will drive up our already skyrocketing deficit and put yet more pressure on our fragile economy."
In response to the war, the coalition announced a three-pronged plan of action that included a candlelight vigil on the first night of military action, support for American troops and the launch on Friday of a "Citizen's Declaration" that will attempt to indicate worldwide public opposition to war.
"You can support the warrior at the same time you oppose the war," said former Rep. Bob Edgar, a Pennsylvania Democrat who is now general secretary of the National Council of Churches. The coalition is advocating the use of "Operation Dear Abby," a service that sends supportive messages from home to troops overseas. Win Without War will link to the service on its Website.
"It's important to hear from the folks at home," Edgar said.
The coalition will also actively oppose President Bush's proposal to cut the Veterans Administration budget by billions of dollars, Andrews said. He described it as "outrageous" to "order our men and women in uniform into harm's way while simultaneously cutting the programs and services that they need and deserve," referring to hospital and education services that stand to be affected by cuts.
Andrews also congratulated Maine's legislature, along with other state and local governments, for weighing in on the national war debate. Anti-war resolutions like that considered by the Maine legislature, which was ultimately rejected by a single vote, contributed tremendous momentum to the cause, Andrews said. He called them "fine examples of democracy."
"We need to build on that momentum," Andrews said. "There is a very, very powerful force out there that we are going to tap and cultivate."
He encouraged the public to sign the Citizen's Declaration that will be available through the Websites and communications systems of the almost 40 Win Without War member organizations including the National Organization for Women (NOW), The American Friends Service Committee and Oxfam America.
The coalition hopes the declaration will affirm the opposition of the international community to the Bush administration's first-strike doctrine.
"We are committed to burying this doctrine in Iraq," Andrews said, adding that he hoped the invasion would end quickly and with a minimal loss of life.
Andrews and other group leaders who were at the press conference stressed their
concern about post-war Iraq, saying the United States is "grossly underprepared" to give humanitarian aid - food, clothing and medical care, among other things.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Maine Delegation Responds to Reports of Anti-War Comments
WASHINGTON – Reports of Maine teachers making insensitive remarks in their classrooms about the conflict with Iraq have spread across the nation and have made an impact here in the capital, where the Maine congressional delegation is responding to the accounts.
After speaking last week with Adjutant General Joseph E. Tinkham of the Maine National Guard in an effort to emphasize her support for those in the service, Republican Sen. Susan M. Collins said in a statement, "These children are already facing a painful separation from a parent; any suggestion that their parents are doing something wrong is extremely unfortunate and could have a harmful effect."
Because younger children are even more sensitive, Collins said she hoped school personnel - especially those elementary and middle school teachers mentioned in the reports - would be "more sensitive to the impact of their comments."
Republican Sen. Olympia J. Snowe also expressed hope that the isolated incidents would not be taken as anything more than just that.
"I know that the good people of Maine will do everything to support and protect the families of those who are working to secure the blessings of liberty for each of us," Snowe said.
Democratic Rep. Michael Michaud, who is opposed to the war, said that regardless of public opinion, Mainers and the American public should remember the sacrifices of those in service.
"The conflict with Iraq has clearly stirred emotions within the American spirit," he said. "Whatever our opinions may be towards a war in Iraq, I believe we must show our support to our brave men and women in uniform."
Aides in Collins' and Democratic Rep. Tom Allen's offices said they had not received any calls about the issue, while Snowe's and Michaud's offices reported that calls had been received.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Snowe Introduces Health Insurance Legislation
WASHINGTON – Next week, the American public will be asked to focus its attention on the 41 million uninsured employees across the nation during national Cover the Uninsured Week. In appropriate timing, Maine Sen. Olympia J. Snowe introduced legislation Thursday that she hopes will help small-business employers provide quality and affordable health care to their employees.
Snowe, as chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, said she has heard compelling cases for association health plans that would allow small-business employers to pool buying power and spread risk in order to offer less expensive health insurance.
"This is the number one issue affecting small businesses across America," Snowe said at a news conference Thursday where she introduced the Small Business Health Fairness Act (S.545) with Missouri Republican Sens. Kit Bond and Jim Talent. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao, Hector V. Barreto, the head of the Small Business Administration, and several other small-business advocates were also in attendance.
Small businesses have much less health insurance buying power than larger businesses and corporations, Snowe said, and association health plans would let the small business community band together to create larger bargaining power. The groups would be regulated by the Department of Labor, a task Chao said would be feasible because the department has experience overseeing similar health plans for larger businesses.
Those who oppose association health plans, like the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, say would deny coverage based on health status, offering insurance only to younger or healthier employees. Snowe said she was "mystified" by these charges.
Language in the legislation, which she said could always be further adjusted, specifically addresses and prohibits this concern about "cherry picking," the senator said.
Another concern, according to Mary Nell Lehnhard, senior vice president of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, is that in states like Maine, which currently has an extensive system of health insurance checks and reviews, consumer protections would be diminished.
"AHPs don't have to do any of this," Lehnhard said after the news conference, referring to the independent reviews and consumer protections that state-regulated insurance plans are obligated to uphold. There are no comparable federal rules for independent review of claim denials or assurances of access to certain kinds of care, she said, adding that in Maine the state insurance commissioner currently enforces such rules. In Maine, for example, state regulations ensure access to emergency room visits and obstetrical-gynecological services that Blue Cross and Blue Shield said would not regulated by the Labor Department.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Delegation Worried About Post-War Iraq
WASHINGTON – Reconstruction of post-war Iraq would be a daunting task, some Maine lawmakers said Thursday, and would require a lot of money, time and energy.
In addition, members of the delegation worried that President Bush, in a speech he gave Wednesday night before an American Enterprise Institute audience, was too confident about the long-term effects of war with Iraq.
"His assessment of the costs of a war and a continued rebuilding process, in both economic and human terms, is overly optimistic," said Democratic Rep. Michael Michaud, adding that he wished the president would talk more about nation building in the United States - dealing with issues like the American economy and health care - rather then abroad.
It will be difficult to help rebuild Iraq, said Democratic Rep. Thomas Allen, because the U.S. military will have to perform a policing role during reconstruction. Voicing another of several concerns, Allen asked, "How do you police the country when you don't speak the language?"
Republican Sen. Susan Collins, though she commended the administration for developing plans to deal with the aftermath of war, advised it to continue to work with U.S. allies.
"The U.S. cannot, and should not, shoulder the entire burden of reconstructing Iraq," she said.
The president's hope for peace and democracy not only in Iraq but also in the Middle East as a whole is unrealistic, Allen said.
"Though no one knows, I believe an invasion of Iraq is more likely to destabilize the Middle East than to stabilize it," he said, referring to the president's linkage between the removal of Saddam Hussein and the achievement of peace between Israelis and Palestinians. "It's more likely to increase the threat of terrorism than reduce it."
Allen also expressed concern about international perceptions of the United States. Though the president's speech was intended to persuade the world of America's democratic - not imperialistic - goals, Allen said President Bush could give "6,000 speeches about our intentions and the world will judge us more by what we do than what we say."
A lot of international opinion depends on whether the United States has the backing of the United Nations, Allen said.
Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe also stressed the importance of the United Nations, saying in a statement, "I was impressed with the President's vision for stability and peace in Iraq and the Middle East and continue to believe the best opportunity for peace in the region will stem from a strong, unified international commitment to upholding the United Nations resolutions."
Snowe and Collins both said they still hoped for a diplomatic solution to the conflict with Iraq. Snowe stressed the fact that Iraq still had time to comply with U.N. resolutions by completely disarming.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Snowe Takes Action To Protect New Balance Workers
WASHINGTON – The New Balance athletic shoe plants in Norridgewock, Norway and Skowhegan employ about 900 workers. With only 4,000 rubber footwear jobs remaining in America, according to the American Apparel and Footwear Association, these 900 jobs represent an at-risk group. And some lawmakers are worried that foreign imports are putting these few remaining jobs in considerable danger.
On Monday, Maine Republican Sen. Olympia J. Snowe won a provision in trade legislation under consideration in the Senate that would help to protect domestic workers who manufacture rubber and plastic footwear - like the athletic shoes with rubber soles and fabric uppers that New Balance makes - from some foreign competition.
The victory came in the form of 17 exceptions to provisions of the proposed Miscellaneous Tariff and Technical Corrections Act. The legislation would eliminate all tariffs on imported footwear. These duty-free provisions, discussed at a Senate Finance Committee markup meeting Monday, would benefit consumers and importers by making foreign footwear less expensive to buy.
However, Snowe warned, tariff elimination would prove devastating for the vulnerable rubber footwear industry, which already is experiencing considerable "erosion" as a result of import competition. At the markup meeting, Snowe pushed for a compromise that would exempt rubber footwear from the duty-free rule. The exception would keep tariffs on rubber footwear at approximately 20 percent.
"Without recognition that rubber footwear manufacturers are particularly sensitive to imports, the delicate balance in trade could have been upset - with serious consequences for Maine and other states that produce rubber footwear," the senator said in a statement. "Today's committee action is a step in the right direction that will help stem the erosion in the level of protection America provides for the endangered rubber footwear industry."
The rubber footwear industry is labor-intensive, making it more vulnerable to imports from foreign countries where the cost of labor is much lower, said Katherine Shepard, senior corporate communications director at New Balance.
"We're only able to continue manufacturing in the U.S. because of the tariff protections that provide us with a small assist," she said. The "small assist" allows the company to "come close to the cost of an imported shoe from a low-wage country," she added.
Overseas, shoes are made in assembly lines and with an abundance of cheap labor, Shepard said. In the United States, production is different, with "wages many, many times higher" and workers split into small groups.
Ninety-five percent of all footwear is now produced overseas and imported, according to the American Apparel and Footwear Association. Athletic and rubber shoes were the second and third most-imported types of shoes in 2001, association statistics said. Only women's shoes were imported in higher volume. As of 2002, only 68 shoe companies were still based in the United States.
Nike and Reebok, major New Balance competitors that also produce rubber-soled shoes with fabric uppers, rely completely on overseas production, said Mitchell Cooper, a lawyer who represents the Rubber and Plastic Footwear Manufacturers Association. This leaves New Balance to rely more on the productivity of their smaller, higher-paid workforce and tariff protection provided by the government, Cooper said.
Even with this protection, however, companies like New Balance still face a difficult struggle, said Peter Mangione, president of Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America.
"You would have to have 200-percent duty," Mangione said. Even the existing duty "is far too small to come anywhere near to equalizing the vastly lower price of imports," he said.
According to Mangione, the average price of a domestically made rubber-soled, leather or fabric upper shoe in 2000 - before marketing and other costs that make the price skyrocket - was $15.19. An imported shoe, with duty paid, was only $8.67 because of lower production costs, he said.
But Cooper said he remains optimistic about the future of New Balance and other rubber footwear manufacturers left in the United States. He pointed out that New Balance just expanded its operations in Maine. In the past year, New Balance renovated a new warehouse building, adding 27 jobs in the town of Skowhegan.
"They have survived all of these years and they will continue to survive," he said, "provided there is not a significant cut in their level of protection."
Maine Democratic Rep. Michael Michaud thought Snowe's efforts in this debate were a "small step in the right direction," said Monica Castellanos, Michaud's press secretary. Michaud has consistently voiced his support of free trade "as long as it is fair trade," she said, referring to Michaud's willingness to open up American markets as long as American workers remain protected.
The legislation was voted out of the Finance Committee Thursday morning, preparing it for Senate consideration in the near future. The House has yet to take up the issue, according to Snowe's office.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Baldacci Meets With Delegation, President While in Washington
WASHINGTON – Governors nationwide are concerned about rising costs for health care, homeland security and education, said Gov. John E. Baldacci, in town for the National Governors Association's winter meeting.
The governor spent Saturday through Tuesday in the capital, meeting with President Bush, the president's Cabinet and members of the Maine delegation to discuss issues important to Maine. States need more flexibility and more funds to implement efforts like homeland security improvements and the assessments that the No Child Left Behind Act requires, Baldacci said in an interview Monday night.
Support for economic development is also imperative right now, the governor said, with 46 of the 50 states facing huge budget shortfalls. Some have said the president's budget doesn't do enough to help the states during their fiscal crisis. Others have said that without more federal aid, money that could be used for other initiatives is poured instead into federally mandated programs. Baldacci, a Democrat, said he felt encouraged by his talks with President Bush and the Cabinet secretaries.
"He's made an attempt to engage in debate," Baldacci said of the president. "He invited the governors to be involved in the process that's going to finally shape the [budget] package and the legislation."
Baldacci also mentioned his conversation with Rod Paige, secretary of the Department of Education, in which the two discussed implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act, which was signed into law in early 2002 and is aimed at revamping low-performing schools.
On Monday, Baldacci met with Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and with Democrat Michael Michaud, who occupies the seat Baldacci held before becoming governor. The delegation touched on "an awful lot of issues" and laid out an agenda of priorities, he said. Democratic Rep. Tom Allen was in Maine for the weekend.
Because he is a former congressman, Baldacci already has a good working relationship with the delegation, said Felicia Knight, Collins' press secretary. "He understands what some of the difficulties are of getting things done in Washington. It gives him an understanding of what he needs to give the delegation in terms of information and so forth," she said.
At the meeting, Baldacci came forward with "a lot of issues that are important to the state of Maine and that have a federal component to them," Knight said. One issue was federal aid for Medicaid, which Collins has addressed in legislation she hopes will pass this year.
Another important bill that will affect Maine is the Transportation Equity Act, which is up for reauthorization this year and will determine the amount of money Maine gets for highways. With Michaud holding a seat on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and Snowe pushing to close an $11 million gap in highway funding in Maine, transportation was identified as a target for action, said Snowe press secretary Dave Lackey.
The delegation and the governor also discussed the closing of the Great Northern Paper Mill, where some workers are still missing health insurance and other benefits.
"The sense is that we've got to work hard to stay on top of these issues," Baldacci said. "We've laid out an agenda that's pretty encompassing in terms of Maine's needs, and now there needs to be a lot of follow ups."
Baldacci has pledged his support to help the delegation in addressing Maine's issues, and the senators and congressmen also offered to assist him in return.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Maine Acts as a Trendsetter for Democratic Party
WASHINGTON – Despite dismal results in the 2002 elections, Democrats still feel they have at least one reason to smile - the state of Maine.
Maine is a "bright spot…really setting the trend for where the future of the Democratic Party needs to be going," said Barbara Raths, chairwoman of the Maine Democratic Party, at the Democratic National Committee's conference last weekend.
Because the state had a relatively successful 2002 election cycle, Maine plays an important and "relevant" role in developing these strategies, Raths said in an interview at the Hyatt Regency Hotel where party representatives from across the nation met to discuss electoral strategies for 2004.
In 2002, she pointed out, Democratic Rep. Thomas Allen was reelected, Democrat Michael Michaud was voted into an empty seat, and the state voted Democrat John Baldacci into the governor's seat - the first time a Democrat has held the position in 16 years. The Democrats failed to unseat Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who defeated her Democratic challenger Chellie Pingree, a former Maine state senator.
Grassroots activism was a primary factor in Maine's success, Raths said.
To revitalize the party and politics, Raths said she advocates a "living platform" that she hopes will encourage grassroots leadership in every community. The living platform will engage Democrats across the state in community service projects tied to the issues of the Democratic platform.
"We're not just going to say we care about seniors and access to prescription drugs," she said. "You're going to see our Democrats in your senior centers; you're going to see our Democrats cleaning up our beaches; you're going to see our Democrats reading to kids in our schools."
In order to imitate Maine's success and beat President Bush, Raths advised candidates in 2004 to develop a similar local focus.
"We're urging the national party to get back to the grassroots…You can't win elections in Maine without being a good grassroots activist, " she said. She described the Maine political scene as a "retail model," where citizens are accustomed to candidates "coming by, door-to-door, talking about the issues and listening to their concerns."
In 2004, instead of a holding a state primary, Maine will return to a traditional caucus system, where candidates will go to towns all over the state to generate support. Out of these town meetings will come delegates who will report to the state convention in May to decide on a presidential preference. At town caucuses, Raths said, candidates will have direct conversations with citizens about of issues like health care, jobs and tight state budgets. "The issues people in Maine are concerned about are the Democratic issues," she said.
Though Raths met over the weekend with several presidential candidates-Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, and former Vermont governor Howard Dean--among other important political figures, she said the most exciting part of her time at the conference wasn't rubbing elbows with presidential hopefuls.
The most exciting conversations she had were with other state party leaders, she said, where they could establish connections regarding local issues and concerns. In those conversations, she said, a larger sense of community was established. "It's not just Maine, it's not just you…We're in this together."
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
Turkish Request Worries Some of the Maine Delegation
WASHINGTON – U.S. foreign relations are on shaky footing, some members of the Maine delegation warned Thursday, as the administration awaited a decision from Turkey on its request for more aid in return for the use of Turkish bases should the United States go to war with Iraq.
Democratic Reps. Thomas Allen and Michael Michaud have both expressed severe reservations about going to war without the support of an international coalition. Now, with Turkey demanding a significant increase in a multi-billion dollar aid package offered by America in return for use of its land to coordinate an invasion on Iraq's northern border, Allen and Michaud said they are even more worried.
"There is a real problem if our president has to pay $26 billion or more to allies like Turkey, who should have a clear interest in protecting its borders from Saddam Hussein," Michaud said in a statement, referring to the amount that could eventually be leveraged from the proposed aid.
In Turkey, as in other European countries, there is significant and vocal opposition to war with Iraq, Allen said in a phone interview Thursday. "For the democratically elected leaders of those countries this is a very difficult situation…. Perhaps they believe that if they agree, they'll be voted out of office," he said.
Lack of international backing is dangerous, Allen warned, predicting an increase in terrorism if America goes to war without allied support. Citing "hostility toward the United States" across Europe and the Middle East, Allen said he believed the administration was handling the situation poorly.
"The administration has alienated the very people we're trying to persuade, and I think it's made it harder to build this coalition," he said.
Without Turkish bases, U.S. troops and machinery would have to be based elsewhere, changing plans and strategies. Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that Turkey's cooperation "could help expedite military operations and therefore help alleviate the consequences that Turkey could face as a result of military operations."
Turkey, as the only Muslim nation in NATO, can play a special role in pressuring the Iraqi regime to disarm peacefully, she added. For these reasons, Collins said, she remains optimistic about the outcome of Turkish-American negotiations.
For Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe, it is still premature to evaluate the Turkish request, according to Snowe's press secretary Dave Lackey. However, he said, Snowe recognizes that "each nation has to make its own decision."
"She understands that the international response in this situation will help determine how successful a role the United Nations can play in the future," Lackey said, adding that for the "past dozen years," Saddam Hussein has failed to take U.N. resolutions seriously.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
House Passes Welfare Reauthorization Bill, Maine Delegation Reacts
WASHINGTON – The House Thursday passed a welfare reauthorization bill that includes more stringent work requirements, marriage promotion funds and increased state flexibility. Maine Democratic Reps. Thomas Allen and Michael Michaud both opposed the legislation, which they said could cost Maine $56 million and would not do enough to help those in need.
The bill, which passed 230 to 192, would reauthorize the 1996 welfare law that sought to revitalize and refocus existing welfare requirements by placing time limits on assistance, requiring recipients to find work and emphasizing the importance of marriage and family. According to Republican lawmakers and the House Ways and Means Committee, this year’s legislation, H.R. 4, seeks to build on the success of that 1996 reform – which lawmakers say led to a significant drop in welfare caseloads.
In Maine, for example, welfare recipients dropped from more than 55,000 in 1996 to 12,236 in December of 2002, according to the Maine Department of Human Services.
Last year, the reauthorization, supported by the Bush administration, passed the House but was stalled by negotiations in the Senate. Virtually identical to last year’s bill, the legislation passed Thursday proposes long-term changes that would be fully effective by 2008. It would require 70 percent of welfare recipients in each state to be working or actively seeking work – up from 50 percent – while work hours per week would jump from 30 to 40 hours.
To work so many hours might be beneficial to welfare recipients in some parts of Maine, Michaud said in an interview before the vote. But in some regions, like the Katahdin Region in northern Maine, work requirements like this are unrealistic, he said. It is “crucial that states have flexibility,” he said, to address regional differences like the one he described.
However, the Ways and Means Committee said, the “State Flex” authority included in the bill would give states the ability to coordinate funds from different programs in ways that most effectively meet state needs.
Allen and Michaud both cited a Congressional Budget Office study that estimated the welfare reauthorization would cost Maine $56 million in unfunded mandates – federal requirements for states that aren’t sufficiently funded and leave states with the bulk of the cost. Allen praised the reform measures of the 1996 bill but said Thursday’s legislation went in the wrong direction.
“H.R. 4 abandons that reform model, imposes a ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach and shifts more of the costs onto already budget-strapped states,” Allen said in a statement.
Sen. Olympia J. Snowe was one of three Republicans to break from President Bush’s proposal last year. She and a tri-partisan group of lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee drafted a bill last year that would have placed more emphasis on increased child-care funds as well as vocational and higher education.
Education is the most effective way to bring people permanently out of poverty, Allen and Michaud agreed. The Republican bill, however, limits the number of hours spent in education that can count toward the 40hour work week – effectively “penalizing people for seeking education to improve their job skills,” Allen said.
Republican lawmakers disagreed. A Ways and Means Committee spokeswoman pointed out the provision in H.R. 4 that would permit welfare recipients to spend up to two days a week in education programs that would count toward the work requirement.
According to Dave Lackey, Snowe’s press secretary, the senator hopes a bill similar in focus to the bill she supported last year will come out of the Senate this year. “The principles that made sense last year…are outstanding ways to encourage self- sufficiency,” he said, adding that while the House bill would provide a good foundation, there would most likely be significant differences between the House and Senate bills.
Last year, the Senate debated varying degrees of increases in child-care funds.
“We need to ensure that parents making the leap from welfare to work won’t be forced to take a leap of faith that their children will have safe, affordable child care,” Snowe, who advocated a $5.5 billion increase in child-care funds, said in a statement.
This year’s bill calls for a $1 billion mandatory increase for child care. Helen Blank, director of child care at the Children’s Defense Fund in Washington, said this “could be a crisis.”
Though Republicans point to the fact that states would continue to receive the same amount of money despite decreasing caseloads – leaving more money for distribution – Blank said budget-strapped states still needed more funds.
“If we had such an excess of funding,” she said, “we wouldn’t see states cutting families out of child-care assistance right and left…. They ought to talk to the thousands of people on waiting lists.”
Chris Hastedt, a policy specialist at Maine Equal Justice, an advocacy group for low-income Maine citizens, agreed that more child-care funds were necessary – especially if workweek hours are increased. Single mothers required to work the additional 10 hours per week would spend a significant amount on child care, she said.
“In order to put people into that kind of work regimen, you need a lot of money – a lot more than there is in the system right now,” she said. “When you require people to work that additional number of hours, you need to give them more access to childcare.”
The Maine Department of Human Services and Democratic Gov. John E. Baldacci’s office said the existing ability to move funds between welfare and child-care funds is an integral component of the current welfare system. However, Newell Augur, director of legislative and public affairs at the Department of Human Services, acknowledged that changes in the federal participation requirements would raise overall costs – by increasing costs for child care, transportation and other services.
Allen was in Maine for his father’s funeral and missed the House vote. Michaud voted against the bill and supported a Democratic-backed amendment he said provided more resources to the states for education, training and child care.
Published in The Kennebec Journal and The Morning Sentinel, in Maine.
