An Open Letter to Congress: Suspend Federal Bans on Public Assistance
Dear Members of Congress:
We urge you to support the Elimination of Barriers for Katrina Victims Act introduced by Representative Bobby Scott, which would temporarily narrow the application of federal laws that deny public assistance to former drug law offenders. These laws are tremendous roadblocks to thousands of families struggling to put their lives back together in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. People who have lost everything should not be denied public assistance just because they were convicted of a drug offense sometime in their past.
Nearly 3 million Americans have been displaced from their homes and are seeking immediate food, medical and monetary assistance. According to FEMA's reporting, an estimated 2.1 million Americans have already applied for federal aid. While it is impossible to know for sure how many families will be denied public assistance because of drug convictions, it could be in the tens of thousands.
More than 1.5 million Americans are arrested for drug offenses every year. Numerous federal laws impede their ability to get their lives back together. A recent GAO report[1] reveals the staggering impact:
- An estimated 41,000 Americans were denied college assistance during the 2003/2004 academic year because of drug convictions.
- While the GAO was only able to collect data from 15 public housing agencies (out of more than 3,000), those 15 agencies denied housing to almost 1,500 families in 2003 alone because of past drug violations.
- In states that have fully implemented the federal ban on accessing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), almost 25 percent of drug offenders released from prison in 2001 were eligible for aid for their families but permanently barred from receiving it because of their drug convictions.
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita have inflicted suffering on millions of people and this suffering will fall the hardest on Americans denied aid because of past drug offenses. Parents struggling to feed their children will be denied TANF and food stamps. Students struggling to stay in school will be denied student loans. Entire families will be denied housing. These federal bans are needlessly cruel.
We urge you to support the Elimination of Barriers for Katrina Victims Act. While America would undoubtedly be better off if these federal bans were permanently repealed, they should at least be suspended for families affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, so that they can put their lives back together.
21st Century Youth Leadership Movemen
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
AIDS Survival Project (Atlanta, GA)
Alabamians for Caring Use
Alliance for Recovery
American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry
American Association for the Treatment of Opioid Dependence
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Texas
American College of Mental Health Administration
American Osteopathic Academy of Addictive Medicine
American Society of Addiction Medicine - Connecticut Chapter
A New PATH
Break the Chains: Communities of Color and the War on Drugs
The Bronx Defenders
Cascadia Behavioral Healthcare, Inc.
Center for Addictive Problems (Chicago, IL)
Chicago Recovery Alliance
Columbus Free Press
Common Sense for Drug Policy
Community Action Drug Coalition (CADC) (Valparaiso, IN)
Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP) (New York, NY / Providence, RI)
Criminal Justice Washington Letter (Washington, DC)
Dignity USA - National HIV/AIDS Project
Drug Policy Alliance Network
Drug Reform Coordination Network
Edgewater Systems (Gary, IN)
El Paso Alliance
Ensuring Solutions to Alcohol Problems
Exponents (New York, New York)
Federal CURE, Incorporated
The Freedom Project (Durham, NC)
Full Proof HIV/AIDS Ministry
Greater Flint Project Vox
Harm Reduction Coalition
Harm Reduction Project (Salt Lake City, UT / Denver, CO)
HIV Resource Center (Roseburg, Oregon)
Housing Works (New York, NY)
Human Rights and the Drug War
Human Rights Watch
Justice Policy Institute
Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy
Institute for Health and Recovery
International Center for Advancement of Addiction Treatment
International CURE
The Lambda Letters Project
League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
LULAC - District VIII (Houston, TX)
Long Island Recovery Advocates
Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center (New York, NY)
Maryland Office of the Public Defender
Midwest Harm Reduction Institute
NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc.
NAACP Washington Bureau
NAADAC- The Association for Addiction Professionals
NJADVOCATES (Nama/NJ)
National Advocates for Pregnant Women
National Alliance of Faith and Justice
National Alliance of Methadone Advocates (NAMA)
National Alliance of Methadone Advocates - Delaware Chapter
National Alliance of Methadone Advocates - Southern California
National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice
National Association of Blacks in Criminal Justice - Richmond, Virginia Chapter
National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers
National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA-US)
National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL)
National Black Police Association
National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc.
National Council of La Raza
National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
National Legal Aid & Defender Association
National Urban League
New England National Alliance of Methadone Advocates - Mothers On Methadone Chapter (NENAMA-MOM)
New York AIDS Coalition
National Organization for Women (NOW)
Nu Leadership Policy Group
NYC AIDS Housing Network
NYC NAMA
O.A.S.I.S. (Organization to Achieve Solutions in Substance-Abuse)
Open Society Policy Center
PAR-People Advocating Recovery
Penal Reform International
Point Defiance AIDS Projects / NASEN
Porter-Starke Services, Inc. (Valparaiso, IN)
Rebecca Project for Human Rights
Reentry Net
The Restorative Justice Center of the Inland Empire
Ryan White Consumer Caucus - Atlanta
The Sentencing Project
Students for Sensible Drug Policy
Tri City Community Mental Health Center (East Chicago, IN)
Quest Counseling and Consulting, Inc. (Reno, NV)
Title II Community AIDS National Network (TII CANN)
Virginia Chapter of National Alliance of Methadone Advocates
The Well Project
West Virginia Methadone Advocacy Project
YES!
[1] Drug Offenders: Various Factors May Limit the Impacts of Federal Laws That Provide for Denial of Selected Benefits. United States Government Accountability Office. September 2005.