John McCain on Welfare & Poverty Republican nominee for President; Senior Senator (AZ)

Lower and middle income Americans need more help

A: Lower and middle income Americans need more help. Obviously, that’s the case today. That’s one reason why we’re giving them rebates. I support the Reagan tax cuts, and they had spending restraints associated with it. I made it very clear when I ran in 2000 that I had a package of tax cuts which were very important & very impactful, but I also had restraints in spending. And I disagreed when spending got out of control. I disagreed when we had tax cuts without spending restraint. Guess what? Spending got out of control. Republicans lost the 2006 election not over the war in Iraq, over spending. Our base became disenchanted. If we had done what I wanted to do, we would not only have had the spending restraint, but we’d be talking about additional tax cuts today.

Require 40 hours work per week from welfare recipients

McCain supports the following principles regarding healthcare:
• Welfare recipients should be required to spend at least 40 hours a week in a combination of work and training programs.
• Supports increased funding for child care programs.
• Supports housing assistance for low-income families.

Supports block grants, welfare-to-work, state control

McCain supports the following principles regarding welfare issues:
• Support housing assistance for welfare recipients
• Provide homeless families with apartment vouchers they can use to supplement the cost of an apartment
• Continue to give states and local governments responsibility for welfare programs through block grants
• Maintain current welfare-to-work requirements in order for states to qualify for block grants
• Require that unwed teenage mothers live with a parent or guardian (if possible) and attend school to receive benefits
• Restore food stamp programs to legal immigrants
• Transfer homeless housing programs to states through block grants
• Provide continued Medicaid benefits for those welfare recipients who have moved from welfare to work
• Provide federal assistance to low-income job applicants for transportation to jobs at some distance.

Anti-poverty shared by gov’t & faith-based orgs

List unoccupied HUD-owned homes, & give them away

Use tax code to address unemployment & working conditions

McCain supports the following principles concerning employment:
• Provide tax credits for companies that move into areas with high unemployment
• Reduce government regulations to encourage investment
• Establish empowerment zones in areas with high unemployment
• Encourage employers to offer flex-time scheduling, comp-time and unpaid leave to attend to their family responsibilities
• Provide tax credits for businesses that provide on-site child care.

More housing assistance; tax breaks against homelessness

McCain supports the following principles regarding poverty and homelessness:
• Provide tax incentives for companies to hire and train homeless people who want to work.
• Increase funds for housing assistance for welfare recipients who need housing to get or keep a job.
• Provide homeless families with apartment vouchers they can use to supplement the cost of an apartment.
• Convert government-funded low-income housing projects into private housing, managed and owned by the residents.

Pro-block grants; pro-welfare-to-work

McCain supports the following principles regarding poverty and welfare:
• Continue to give states and local governments responsibility for welfare programs through block grants.
• Maintain current welfare-to-work requirements in order for states to qualify for block grants.
• Require that unwed teenage mothers live with a parent or guardian (if possible) and attend school to receive benefits.

Voted YES on instituting National Service as a new social invention.

Adds to National and Community Service Act of 1990 (NCSA) purposes:
1. providing year-round opportunities in service-learning;
2. involving program participants in emergency and disaster preparedness, relief, and recovery;
3. increasing service opportunities for retiring professionals;
4. encouraging service by individuals age 55 or older and continued service by national service alumni;
5. focusing national service on the areas of national need.

Proponent's argument to vote Yes:Sen. BARBARA MIKULSKI (D, MD): [In developing national service over many years] we were not in the business of creating another new social program. What we were in the business of was creating a new social invention. What do I mean by that? In our country, we are known for our technological inventions. But also often overlooked, and sometimes undervalued, is our social inventions.

We created national service to let young people find opportunity to be of service and also to make an important contribution. But not all was rosy. In 2003, when I was the ranking member on the appropriations subcommittee funding national service, they created a debacle. One of their most colossal errors was that they enrolled over 20,000 volunteers and could not afford to pay for it. That is how sloppy they were in their accounting. I called them the "Enron of nonprofits."

And they worked on it. But all that is history. We are going to expand AmeriCorps activity into specialized corps. One, an education corps; another, a health futures corps; another, a veterans corps; and another called opportunity corps. These are not outside of AmeriCorps. They will be subsets because we find this is where compelling human need is and at the same time offers great opportunity for volunteers to do it.

Opponent's argument to vote No:No senators spoke against the amendment.

Voted YES on welfare block grants.

Voted NO on eliminating block grants for food stamps.

Voted YES on allowing state welfare waivers.

Voted YES on welfare overhaul.

Fully fund AmeriCorps.

To: President George W. Bush

Dear President Bush:

We write to express our strong support for AmeriCorps and recognize the leadership you have shown on this issue over the years. We know you agree that AmeriCorps is an outstanding program which has proven successful in addressing our homeland security needs, leveraging volunteers, and improving the quality of services available to a broad range of Americans.

Unfortunately, as you know, the Corporation for National Service officially announced yesterday unprecedented and drastic funding cuts, from 50 to 95 percent in every state. These cuts mean that under the State Competitive funding stream the Corporation will only fund 2,036 volunteers, compared with 11,236 last year. Many states will see their volunteer allocations under the competitive stream drop by as much as 90 percent and 16 states are shut out completely.

In your 2002 State of the Union address, you called for every American to dedicate 4,000 hours to community service throughout their lives. In your 2004 budget request, you proposed increasing the number of AmeriCorps volunteers from 50,000 to 75,000. Unfortunately, due to serious errors made by the Corporation, fewer than half this number of Americans will be allowed to serve their country through service.

We should support, not oppose, efforts to encourage more Americans to enter public service. We should do everything in our power to reward the American men and women who have chosen to serve the country and their communities in the hope of meeting the nation's critical education, safety, health, and homeland security needs.

We urge you to request additional funding in the supplemental appropriations bill to ensure that AmeriCorps remains a strong and vital program today and in the future.