Advocates for the poor rallied Thursday at the Federal Building in Salt Lake City to protest what they are calling the "Contract on America."
The Contract with America, signed by Republican candidates just before the election which changed the partisan majority in Congress, will increase the number of children living in poverty and raise the national debt, according to Utah Progressive Network. UpNet, as members call themselves, is a coalition of human-service program providers and advocates who want to protect the interests of low-income Americans.UpNet members say the contract will also hurt the environment, increase prison populations and defense spending, reduce economic opportunity for the middle class and cut taxes for the rich.
"We think the contract contains elements that will not be good public policy, said Deeda Seed of Jedi Women, an UpNet member organization. "All thoughtful public policymaking will be shot down by pandering to the public's valid dislike of government policy."
Many of the participants, including several women who are on welfare, said they support welfare reform - but not if it consigns women and children to poverty.
"We are a Christian nation and those of us who don't claim to be Christian claim to be enlightened," said the Rev. Janet Swift, pastor of Trinity AME Church. "Every major religion cares about the poor among us."
Some new policy suggestions are "blaming victims in many cases," she said. But she dismissed fears that orphanages would be used as an alternative to welfare. "We are mean enough, but I don't think we are fiscally naive enough."
Lynn Whitesides, Mormon Women's Forum, said welfare "is not a way to get rich, to get a good feeling about yourself."
She was once on welfare and "ten years later, every paycheck I put back into the system almost as much as I took out every month.
"Change is needed, but not changes that will trap poor women in a larger pink ghetto," she said.
Other speakers talked about the negative impact they believe the contract will have on environmental policy and the need for the United States to maintain its position as a place where dreams can come true and life can get better.