Economic Justice
Status
In November 2001, economists declared that the United States economy had been in a recession since the previous March, ending ten years of sustained economic growth. Before the attacks of September 11, 2001, the labor market was already suffering and Congress was focused on the weakness in the U.S. economy and the means to stimulate it away from or perhaps out of a recession. The nation's unemployment rate jumped to a six-year high of 5.8 percent in December; in April 2002, the unemployment rate was 6 percent.
The year 2000 will ultimately serve as the high point in our nation's decade of economic growth. But even in 2000, when poverty rates fell, there were some troubling trends. In recent years, those who remained poor have become poorer. The depth of poverty remained unchanged between 1999 and 2000, but in both years, the average poor person fell further below the poverty line than at any time since 1979. In addition, income disparities between high- and low-income families - as well as between high- and middle-income families - remained at or near their highest levels since before World War II, having grown significantly in the 1990s, as shown in a recent Congressional Budget Office study.
Legislative Summary
Food Stamps Program Reauthorization
The Food Stamp Program, first introduced in the 1930s and extended nationwide in 1974, is widely believed to be the single most important anti-hunger program in America.
On October 5, 2001, the House passed its version of the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act, H.R. 2646 (the Farm Bill), by a vote of 291-120. The House bill includes $3.3 billion in additional funding for nutrition assistance programs over the next ten years. Although limited, the House version of the bill acknowledges that the Food Stamp Program, our nation's first line of defense against hunger, needs significant improvements. Currently, only 57 percent of those eligible for food assistance are getting help, down from 74 percent in 1994. Before the House voted on the Farm Bill, the Administration released its Food and Agricultural Policy Report, which noted serious gaps in our nation's food safety net.
On February 13, 2002, the Senate passed its version of the Farm Bill (S. 1731) by a vote of 58 to 40. The Senate bill restores food stamp eligibility to legal immigrants who have resided in the United States for at least five years and also increases funding for the Food Stamp Program by $7.6 billion. President Bush supported the restoration of benefits to legal immigrants. The RAC sent a letter to President Bush welcoming his support for this restoration of benefits.
On May 1, 2002, the Farm Bill Conference Report, a compromise of the House and Senate versions of the Farm Bill, was officially filed. On May 2, the House passed the bill by a vote of 280 to 141. On May 8, the Senate passed the bill by a vote of 65 to 35. On May 13, 2002, President Bush signed the bill into law. The President stated:
This bill is also a compassionate bill. This law means that legal immigrants can now receive help and food stamps after being here for five years. It means that you can have an elderly farm worker, somebody here legally in America who's worked hard to make a living and who falls on hard times, that person can receive help from a compassionate government. It means that you can have a head of a family who's been working hard, been here for five years, been a part of our economy, been legally working. And that person falls on hard times, our government should help them with food stamps. And this bill allows that to happen.
The Farm Bill (P.L. 107-171) restores benefits for qualified legal immigrants who have lived in the United States for at least five years. The Bush Administration estimates that this provision will restore eligibility for about 363,000 immigrants. The law also lifts the seven-year cap on refugees and asylees for food stamp eligibility, and restores food stamp benefits for legal immigrant children. Children will no longer be subject to the five-year ban. Over ten years, $6.4 billion will be spent on the Food Stamp Program.
For more information on the Food Stamp Program visit the Food Research and Action Center at www.frac.org.
Judaism and Food Stamps
Our harvest festivals remind us to rejoice in our abundance, but we must also remember that the value we place on compassion and our tradition of generosity compel us to act on behalf of those less fortunate. Again and again our biblical tradition demands that we share our resources, for they belong not to us, but to God. "God says to Israel, 'My children, whenever you give sustenance to the poor, I impute it to you as though you gave sustenance to Me.' Does God then eat and drink? No, but whenever you give food to the poor, God accounts it to you as if you gave food to God" (Midrash Tannaim on Numbers 28:2).
Jewish tradition also teaches us to help the immigrant. The Torah commands us: "You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt" (Exodus 22:20). The message is clear and consistent, we must welcome and respect the stranger and grant equal justice for all God's children. Furthermore, we learn, "in a city where there are both Jews and Gentiles, the collectors of alms collect from both Jews and Gentiles; they feed the poor of both, visit the sick of both... and restore the lost goods of both, for the sake of Shalom" (Jerusalem Talmud, Dema'i IV:6). A partial restoration of benefits to legal immigrants still leaves behind some of the most vulnerable in our societ - hildren of legal immigrants. Since 1994, well over 75 percent of citizen children of legal immigrants left the Food Stamp Program because of fear and confusion over who is and who is not eligible. Eligibility for food stamps must be based on need, not citizenship status.
Welfare Reform Reauthorization
For information on welfare reform reauthorization, visit the RAC's Special Report on Welfare Reauthorization Page.
Social Security
For information on Social Security issues, visit the RAC's Social Security Issue Page.
Housing and Homelessness
For information on this issue, visit the RAC's Housing and Homelessness Issue Page.
Position of the Reform Jewish Movement
The Reform Movement has always acted upon fundamental Jewish ideals by advocating for children, the poor, disenfranchised, the elderly, the sick, the disabled and the "stranger among us." In past resolutions we have called for full employment programs, social welfare entitlements for public housing, day care, family planning, health and legal services and income maintenance assistance programs. In 1973, the URJ urged Congress to expand social programs, and in 1981 opposed efforts to cut funding to education, job training, food subsidies and many other social programs that were in danger of losing some, if not all, of their funding.
Just before the passage of the 1996 welfare reform law, the URJ passed a resolution entitled "Our Economic Commitment to America's Poor." This 1995 resolution recognized the importance of prudent fiscal reforms and welfare reform, but asserted that these reforms should not be made on the backs of the most needy. The resolution further asserted that "the United States government [must]"ensure an adequate, federally guaranteed safety net to protect our nation's most vulnerable populations." Any legislation that does not meet the above standard should not be passed by Congress or signed into law by the President.
Economic Justice and Jewish Values
Hebrew scripture details for us one of the world's earliest social welfare systems. We are taught to leave the corners of our fields and the gleanings of our harvest to the poor (Leviticus 19:9), and to open our hands and lend to people whatever it is they need (Deuteronomy 7-11). We learn that helping fellow human beings in need, tzedakah, is not simply a matter of charity, but of responsibility, righteousness, and justice. The Bible does not merely command us to give to the poor, but to advocate on their behalf. We are told in Proverbs 31:9, to "speak up, judge righteously, champion the poor and the needy."
Jewish history also provides us with an example for helping the needy. During Talmudic times, much of tzedakah was done though tax-financed, community-run programs that provided form the poor, the hungry, the ill, and the children - a close parallel to the entitlement security we fought, and continue to fight, to preserve in our society today.
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