Congressional Briefing on TANF Reauthorization
Ending Poverty, Not Welfare:
A Grassroots Congressional Briefing on TANF Reauthorization
Thursday, Feb. 25, 2010, Washington, D.C.
10am-11:30am at House Rayburn Gold Room, 2nd floor
or
2-3:30pm at Senate Dirksen G11
Join CLASP and Women for Economic Justice* for Ending Poverty, Not Welfare, a grassroots congressional briefing on TANF reauthorization. This briefing will feature the testimony of low-income mothers who have direct experience in the welfare system and can offer a crucial perspective on how Congress can strengthen the nation's safety net while also creating pathways out of poverty for low-income women and their families. National experts, including Elizabeth Lower-Basch, a senior policy analyst at CLASP, will also address what is known from research. There will be an opportunity to attend this briefing in the morning or afternoon.
The timing of this briefing is crucial. This year, TANF is up for reauthorization. When the program was created in 1996, it was in the context of a strong economy and record rates of job growth. Today, due in part to the recession, welfare rolls are rising for the first time since 1996, and the national poverty rate is at its highest level since 1997.
To RSVP or for more information, contact Diana Spatz, executive director of LIFETIME, dspatz@geds-to-phds.org, or call 510.352.5160.
The 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. sessions will cover the same topic. WEJ is holding two sessions to give more interested parties an opportunity to attend.
*Women for Economic Justice is a national network of grassroots, low-income women-led organizations working to win policy gains under TANF reauthorization that will end poverty and achieve economic justice for low-income women, their families and communities.