Paul Patton on Welfare & Poverty Former Democratic KY Governor

Support LIHEAP, low-income heating assistance.

• WHEREAS, The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) enables states to assist low-income households in meeting critical heating and cooling needs; and
• WHEREAS, More than two-thirds of households eligible for LIHEAP have annual incomes under $8,000, making LIHEAP a targeted, cost-effective way to help low-income citizens pay their home energy bills; and
• WHEREAS, Households served because of LIHEAP include the most vulnerable populations in our states ? the elderly, disabled, and young children; and
• WHEREAS, LIHEAP provides a foundation upon which the Midwestern states have built community-based energy assistance programs and has permitted us to leverage state and local dollars to meet the needs of our citizens; and
• WHEREAS, In past years, funding for LIHEAP has been substantially reduced, and any new funding cuts will impede the states’ ability to meet the energy needs of low-income households; now therefore be it
• RESOLVED, That the Midwestern Governors’ Conference encourages Congress to renew its support for LIHEAP and maintain funding in Fiscal Year 2001 at or above the level appropriated for the program in Fiscal Year 2000.

Promote the next generation of welfare reform.

Principles of the Democratic Governors Association:

PROMOTING PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY THROUGH THE NEXT GENERATION OF WELFARE REFORM

Democratic Governors are promoting the next stage of welfare reform: helping families rise above poverty; providing access to the health insurance, transportation and child care that make it possible for single parents with children to go to and stay in work; and focusing on the fathers of children on welfare, to not only make sure they meet their responsibilities to their kids, but to help them find the work necessary to do so.

More federal funding for Low-income energy assistance.

• Whereas, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), created to assist low-income households in meeting their cooling and heating needs, provides less than 20 percent of the Nation’s eligible applicants with assistance and is distributed based on a formula that is weighted toward cold weather, with only 2.8 percent in FY95 being used for cooling needs;
• Whereas, the Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP), a program designed to provide low-income households with energy efficient improvements, is underfunded and provides 10 times more funding to states with more heating assistance needs than states that have more cooling needs;
• Whereas, sixteen southern states account for 43 percent of the low-income households in the United States and the majority of the southern states receive significantly less than the national average in the LIHEAP state gross allotments and WAP funding;
• Resolved, that the Southern Governors’ Association urges Congress and the President to provide in any national energy policy increased funding for Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and Weatherization Assistance Program (WAP) to include a larger proportion of eligible low-income households while equitably addressing both cooling and heating needs.

Supports TANF grants to states.

• Whereas, Congress reformed public assistance in 1996 with the creation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program;
• Whereas, included in this program were modest supplemental grants for 17 relatively poor or rapidly growing states;
• Whereas, nine of the 17 qualifying states are from the South and receive 78.6% of the funding totaling $251 million;
• Whereas, these grants that help southern states provide important services, such as child care, job training and placement, and transportation to low-income families; and
• Whereas, authorization for these grants is set to expire at the end of the 2001 federal fiscal year; now, therefore, be it
• Resolved, that the southern governors call upon Congress to extend for one year the TANF supplemental grants to the 17 identified states:
• Resolved, that Congress should include in its 2002 TANF reauthorization bill provisions that will continue the supplemental grants for poor and fast growing states and use information from the 2000 census to identify any new states that meet the eligibility criteria; and
• Resolved, that Congress should provide adequate funding if new states are identified as being eligible for the supplemental grants.