States have until July to come up with a plan to do the work the feds used to, with less money and fewer people eligible. Nationally, this will be a disaster; state legislatures are much more conservative on average than the feds, and will try to make further cuts. Washington will be no different, and people are gonna get screwed unless a lot of organizing is done in a hurry.

Another aspect to watch out for is the fierce lobbying by big corporations to privatize new state welfare systems. Privatization of a few aspects has already happened in a handful of states; Texas is now about to give the whole state's contract to McBoeing competitor and Pentagon addict Lockheed Martin.

Using profit-driven companies, HMO-style, to determine and oversee need and eligibility requirements, when every recipient hurts their bottom line, is an invitation to no support at all for the poor. It's a perfect set-up: the state wrings its hands, denies responsibility, but claims the cost of changing contracts and starting over would just be too high. Meanwhile, Lockheed (or whomever) still gets its administrative costs paid by us--money on the books as helping poor women and kids instead goes to Fortune 100 companies. Are you sick yet?

There will be a statewide lobby day, march and rally in Olympia on Feb. 14th to demand real welfare rights. Seattle carpools leave from Catholic Community Services, 23rd & Yesler, at 9 AM. (Call Aiko Schaefer, 727-0375, or Juan Bocanegra, 461-3865, for info.)