Poor people demand more money, aid for all, at opening of MN legislature

St Paul, MN – Members of the Twin Cites-based Welfare Rights Committee made themselves visible at the Feb. 20 opening day of Minnesota state legislature. This session, members of the WRC initiated and are pressing for the passage of two bills.

First, there is the GAAIN Bill – for Give Aid to All in Need. This measure would give cash assistance to people who people who, under current law, don’t qualify for anything, even though they have no income. It will cover people whose unemployment has run out and families that have hit the five-year limit on welfare.

Second, the WRC is pushing for raising the welfare grants in a big way. A bill will be introduced soon that would place a retroactive cost-of-living increase on the MFIP grants – starting from 1986. The effect is an increase that more than doubles the amount that people on welfare currently get.