Inflation Another Reason To Boost Aid, Coalition Says
Chris Van Buskirk
2/15/22 4:31 PM
FEB. 15, 2022.....As the fiscal 2023 budget makes its way through the process over the next few months, a statewide advocacy group is urging lawmakers to include in the proposal an increase to cash assistance grants for children and families living in poverty.
The Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC) program provides eligible families or individuals with temporary cash assistance and services depending on their gross income. Supporters with the Lift Our Kids Coalition say an increase in program payments can help children avoid "deep poverty" and help families provide basic necessities.
"We're not even talking about bringing people to a place where they're thriving, we're still talking about bringing people to a place where they will survive, which is very different than thrive," said Rep. Marjorie Decker (D-Cambridge). "Everybody in my worldview has the right to thrive."
The coalition wants to increase the TAFDC and Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled, and Children (EAEDC) line items by 20 percent in the fiscal 2023 budget.
TAFDC was funded at $275 million in fiscal 2022 and Gov. Charlie Baker has proposed increasing it to $295 million in his $48.5 billion fiscal 2023 proposal. Lawmakers and the governor funded the EAEDC program at $102 million in fiscal 2022 and Baker earmarked $122 million for the program in fiscal year 2023.
Advocates also want legislation (S 96 / H 199) from Sen. Sal DiDomenico (D-Everett) and Decker included in the budget as an outside section. The legislation increases cash assistance grants by 20 percent until reaching half of the federal poverty level while also providing for annual increases to account for inflation.
The Children, Families, and Persons with Disabilities Committee favorably reported the Senate version of the bill on Feb. 7, sending it to the Senate Committee on Ways and Means for further review. Ninety-six representatives have signed on as co-sponsors in the House while 26 lawmakers in the Senate endorsed the bill.
"In order to achieve the increases that many here today have talked about, we need to deal with this in the fiscal year 2023 budget," said Deborah Harris of the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute. "Passing the bill would be great, but the Legislature needs to take action in the budget."
DiDomenico said a wealthy state like Massachusetts still has children and families struggling to survive who are making tough choices between food, housing, and medical bills to make ends meet.
"The families that we're supporting, and that we're fighting for, are largely cynical about government because they're getting left behind, and they don't feel like they have a voice, that no one's watching out for them, and no one's looking after them," he said. "But if we can make this change, and we can pass this bill, they'll know that people are looking out for them -- they won't know our names, nor our faces, but know that somebody cared."
Participants of the Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children program can receive two cash payments per month, enrollment into MassHealth health insurance coverage, referral to free employment and training programs, child care referrals, a transportation stipend, one-time payments of $300 for infants under six months, and a one-time clothing allowance of $350 for each eligible child.
To qualify, a person must have children 18-years-old or younger, be pregnant and due in less than four months, be under the age of 20 at any stage of pregnancy or with a child, or be a caregiver for a child the person is related to but who is not a biological or adopted child.
The Legislature approved two increases to cash assistance grants last year. In January 2021, payments were increased by 10 percent and in July payments were again boosted by 9.1 percent.
"Unfortunately, though, most of the recent increase has been already lost to the unprecedented inflation that we're seeing," Harris said. "We still do have a lot of work ahead of us and that work is laid out in the Lift Our Kids bill, co-sponsored by Rep. Decker and Sen. DiDomenico."
Decker said the last two increases secured in previous budgets have been "a huge success."
"But the truth is, I don't think either one of us have been like dancing around celebrating, because it's such a drop in the bucket and it's something that was owed to people in our community for the last two decades," she said.
After the two recent increases to the TAFDC program, a family of three in deep poverty could receive up to $712 a month. Harris said families need to receive at least $960 a month, which amounts to roughly half of the federal poverty level.