Policy Statement on Welfare Reform Adopted
Diocesan Press Service. September 29, 1971 [95-6]
GREENWICH, Conn. -- The Executive Council of the Episcopal Church, meeting here September 28-30, adopted a policy statement today on national welfare reform "to guide its staff in the informational, educational, and action programs."
The statement, presented by the Program Advisory Group on Public Issues, consists of an introduction, a section on principles for Christians to understand the issues, and suggested provisions of welfare reform.
It was noted that "at the present time, Congress and many state legislatures are considering changes in the basic programs of care for the poor and distressed."
The basic objective of the policy statement is to support provisions of welfare reform that will "alleviate poverty among all our citizens."
"It should be our national policy," the statement says, "to assure that all its citizens have the opportunity to live secure from poverty, the access to adequate health services, and the right to enjoy the psychological and spiritual sustenance advocated in a democratic society."
The Council's statement rejects the widely-held misconception "that the welfare rolls are filled with people who are able to work but won't."
The paper points out that according to the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, 24 per cent on welfare are old-age recipients; 8 per cent are permanently and totally disabled; 1 per cent are blind; 50 per cent are children; 2.9 per cent are incapacitated parents in the home, and the remaining 13 per cent are mothers, 20 per cent of whom are in job training or earn insufficient wages.
Contrary to popular opinion, the statement says, less than 1 per cent of those receiving welfare payments are able-bodied men and these men have to be seeking jobs through state employment agencies to be eligible for any aid.
The provisions of welfare reform endorsed by the Council include:
* coverage for all poor people, based on need;
* assistance grant levels starting at $3,940 for a family of four;
* incentives and realistic aids to encourage those eligible for public assistance to move into job training and full employment;
* acceptance of declaration of need as sufficient to establish eligibility, with provision for prompt and periodic checks to determine accuracy of eligibility and payment;
* program and administration federally financed and controlled;
* right of the poor to organize and work together to achieve a human standard of living.
THE CHURCH AND PUBLIC WELFARE
Introduction
"The poor will always be with you in the land, and for that reason I command you to be open-handed with your countryman, both poor and distressed" (Deut. 15:11). The Biblical observation is true today not only in the relative sense that some people have less than others, but also in the absolute sense. Today there are over 7 million heads of families who are poor in spite of the fact that they work, and about 5 million children with inadequate food to develop their minds and bodies. With the abundance of resources at our disposal, the commandment cries out: "be open-handed with your countryman, both poor and distressed."
Too often the observation that "poor will always be with you" has become an excuse for disobeying the law, "you are to be open-handed with your countryman." Too often we have searched for the reasons of poverty in order to escape responsibility for justice and mercy, rather than address ourselves to the root causes of poverty and to be most helpful to our poor and distressed countryman.
The Biblical analyses of why there is poverty include: laziness, extravagant living, and folly -- for which the individual does have responsibility; and oppression, disease, and fraud -- evils of others or of society over which the individual poor does not have control. We must add that the very system designed to help the poor in our country is in fact a major contributor to their condition of dependence and misery.
At the present time, Congress and many state legislatures are considering changes in the basic programs of care for the poor and distressed. We welcome this public consideration, and offer first some principles for Christians to understand the issues, and then some suggested provisions of welfare reform.
Principles for Christians
1) The poor are a special charge of God. Both the law and the prophets warn against the oppression of the poor, and exhort the rich to help the poor, the strong to help the weak. Provision and opportunity for the poor is the primary standard by which individuals and nations are to be judged. Giving to the poor and destitute from the leftovers is to be condemned; rather the poor have prior claim for adequacy on our resources.
2) Neither sin nor virtue is a function of a person's economic, educational, or employment status, nor is race or age. All have sinned, all may distort their ethics by their economic self-interest. The demand for justice and mercy for the poor, therefore, is based in the Old Testament on a remembrance of Israel's bondage, and in the New Testament on the commandment, "you shall love your neighbor as yourself."
3) God has created life and the resources which sustain life. Man does not have the right to withhold the abundance of God's resources from those in need, nor can he rightly determine who does and who does not "deserve" what God has given freely and lovingly. Man, a steward of God's resources, has the obligation to use God's resources for the development of life with dignity among His children.