Center for American Progress highlights ending poverty and protecting all families

Family structure too often is the fall guy for everything bad in society -- violence, illegal drugs, homelessness, illiteracy, and, of course, poverty. The right wing loves to tell us that the root of all social problems is the decline of life-long heterosexual marriage and that the solution is ... life-long heterosexual marriage.

This time of year -- the approach of Father's Day -- is prime time for such messages. Not only do these ideas disrespect families headed by lesbians and gay men, they let off the hook all the social and economic policies that keep poor and low income people where they are and let the rich get richer. If the solution is marriage, then the fault lies with the individuals who don't marry, not with the entrenched interests of the rich.

The Center for American Progress has long been my idol on how to really end poverty. Their 2007 report, From Poverty to Prosperity: A National Strategy to Cut Poverty in Half, is still an excellent road map.

I also highly recommend the program they are hosting tomorrow, June 9, Strengthening Families: Developing a Progressive Agenda that Promotes Family Stability and Cuts Poverty. Here is the description:

A progressive view of the role of government supports the notion that governments should act affirmatively to create and protect the conditions necessary for all families and children to thrive. Developing policies to support and stabilize families should go beyond a narrow focus on marriage promotion and unmarried childbearing; policies should reflect the fact that decisions related to family structure, relationships and parenting are inherently personal, and are made complex by one’s life and economic circumstances. Progressive policies must recognize and address the reality of today’s complex family dynamics.

I couldn't say it better myself. If you can't attend the program in person (here are the details), you can stream it live. The speakers have impeccable credentials. They want to end poverty without blaming those who live in families other than married mother/father form. It doesn't get better or smarter than that.

TANF reauthorization next year -- the stakes are high

President Clinton signed "welfare reform" right before the 1996 election; he signed DOMA during the same period. The first reauthorization, during the Bush administration, added the funding of "marriage promotion," which Obama is continuing. The next reauthorization must occur by September 2010.

Now comes an important report from the feminist legal organization Legal Momentum, demonstrating an enormous drop in the number of women and children receiving TANF benefits and a concommitant rise in the number of single-mother families living in extreme poverty. Since 1996, the number of welfare recipients has declined by two-thirds. This is not because "welfare reform" has succeeded in reducing poverty. Rather, there has been a 56% increase in the number of single-mother families with annual incomes less than $3000. When mothers who have left welfare are employed, their average earnings are likely to be less than the poverty level for a family of three.

The safety net has been shredded. There is no longer meaningful federal oversight. If states reduce the amount of money spent on welfare, they can use the surplus in their "block grants" for non-welfare purposes. Caseload reduction brings benefits to the states. These reductions do not have to be tied to any measure of the well-being of poor families.

The 2001 report of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force remains the best analysis of the connection between "welfare reform" and LGBT people. I hope they get involved during the upcoming reauthorization as well.

Legal Momentum will play a major role in shaping the advocacy around reauthorization. They opposed federal funding of "marriage promotion" before and will oppose it this time around as well. They have formed the EndPovertyNow coalition. To join it, send an email with the subject line "join" to tcasey@legalmomentum.org.