Supporters of the bill, including City Council General Welfare Committee Chairman Bill de Blasio, the Hunger Action Network of New York State and the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, are hoping Spitzer will "demarcate himself from the old ways – we want him to show some leadership," said Federation policy director Jillynn Stevens. "We had 12 years of 'work first' under Pataki, and we expect something different from this governor."
Philosophy aside, advocates and opponents see the practical aspects of the bill quite differently. Federal welfare rules require a certain percentage of the welfare caseload to be involved in work-related activities – and allow a percentage of them to be involved in education and training. The latter group has thousands of unfilled slots, say the advocates; filling them would help meet the quotas and stave off federal penalties. Yet opponents like Sheila Harrigan, executive director of the New York Public Welfare Association, say the bill would "jeopardize our ability to meet federal work participation rates placing us all at risk of facing fiscal penalties.”
Similarly, Doar of HRA said in a statement, "If this bill becomes law ... it will make it more difficult for us to achieve federal participation rates and it will severely undermine our welfare reform approach that has been so successful in moving families from welfare to employment and self sufficiency."
Spitzer has until midnight Aug. 1 to veto the bill; if he does nothing before or after that it will become law. Of the 605 bills passed by both houses and delivered to him since January, Spitzer has vetoed 74.
