More than 200 organizations from around the country and representing a variety of concerns and issues joined in sending a strong message to Representatives in Congress to oppose the super-waiver that has been included in the House's TANF reauthorization bills. The full letter, with all 200+ organizations, is provided here. For more information on the super-waiver and why these organizations are concerned, see OMB Watch's Super-Waiver Updates

May 7, 2002


Dear Member of Congress,

We are writing to express our opposition to the “super-waiver” proposal that is currently moving through the House as part of welfare reauthorization. We believe that the super-waiver poses serious dangers to a broad cross-section of federal programs and the people they serve.

The super-waiver would give sweeping authority to cabinet secretaries to override congressional funding decisions and eliminate congressional standards and requirements for federal programs. Under this proposal, cabinet secretaries could approve requests from governors for state-wide waivers of many different federal statutes and regulations in multiple federal programs. We have a number of specific concerns about the impact that this far-reaching proposal could have, including that it would:

• Represent a massive and unprecedented transfer of power from Congress to the executive branch and the governors. Congressional authorizing committees have worked on a bipartisan basis on numerous occasions to set careful standards and policy for important federal programs. The super-waiver would effectively give governors and cabinet secretaries veto power over those policy decisions. The ability of Congress to negotiate legislation with the White House would also be seriously undermined if the Administration could then pick and choose which provisions would actually be enforced.

• Override the decisions of congressional appropriators. The super-waiver would allow the transfer of substantial resources from one program to another, effectively overriding congressional determinations about where federal dollars are most wisely spent. An Administration that disagreed with congressional funding decisions could simply team up with governors and override those decisions. Resources could also be redirected from less politically powerful geographic areas or groups of people, to areas or groups that a particular governor favored more.

• Undermine important protections for federal program participants. The super-waiver would permit the elimination of important protections for people served by federal programs, with no opportunity for input or oversight on the part of affected communities. Many vital requirements in programs covered by the super-waiver could simply be waived away.

We are not opposed to state flexibility in federal programs, where appropriate. However, this can be accomplished through state options or through waiver authority that is targeted to areas where it has been demonstrated that waivers may help states operate programs more effectively, rather than allowing sweeping waivers of federal standards across programs.

We urge you to oppose legislation containing this super-waiver proposal.


Sincerely,

ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now)
AFL-CIO
AFSCME
Agenda for Children (New Orleans, LA)
Alliance for Children and Families
Alliance for Family Success
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Association of People with Disabilities
American Association of University Women (AAUW)
American Association of University Women, South Dakota Chapter
American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
ACLU-Wisconsin
American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
American Congress of Community Supports & Employment Services (ACCSES)
American Counseling Association (ACA)
American Educational Research Association
American Federation of Teachers
American Library Association
American Network of Community Options and Resources (ANCOR)
Americans for Democratic Action
America’s Second Harvest
The Arc of the United States
Arise Citizen’s Policy Project (Montgomery, AL)
Arizona Association of Food Banks
Association for Career and Technical Education (ACTE)
Association of Farm Worker Opportunity Programs
Association of Maternal and Child Health Programs (Washington, DC)
Association of Tech Act Projects (ATAP)
Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD)
Atlanta Community Food Bank
Audubon Area Child Care Resource and Referral Agency
Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law
The Benedictine Sisters of Baltimore
Boston ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now)
Brain Injury Association of America
California Child Care Resource and Referral Network
California Food Policy Advocates
Catholic Charities USA
Center for Adolescent Health & the Law (Chapel Hill, NC)
Center for Civil Justice (Saginaw, MI)
Center for Community Change
Center for Law and Social Policy
Center for Public Policy Priorities (TX)
Center for Women Policy Studies
Center on Budget & Policy Priorities
Child Care Law Center (San Francisco, CA)
Child and Family Services of New Hampshire
Child Welfare League of America
Children’s Action Alliance (Phoenix, AZ)
Children’s Alliance of Washington
Children’s Defense Fund
Children’s Defense Fund - Minnesota
The Children’s Foundation
Children’s Home Society of Washington
Children’s Village Child Care Center
Church of the Brethren, Washington Office
Citizen Action of New York
The City of Madison, Wisconsin
Cleveland Reads
Coalition on Human Needs
Colorado Center on Law and Policy
Communication Workers of America (CWA)
Community Coordinated Child Care, Inc. (Madison, WI)
Community Food Bank of Tucson, Arizona
Community Food Resource Center (New York, NY)
Community Legal Services, Inc.
Community Voices Heard (New York, NY)
Connecticut Association for Human Services
Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities TANF Task Force
Corporation for Ohio Appalachian Development
Council for Advancement of Adult Literacy
Council for Exceptional Children
Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR)
Crossroads Urban Center (Salt Lake City, UT)
CWA Local 1081
Day Care Action Council of Illinois
D.C. Employment Justice Center
Division of Workforce and Career Preparation
Early Childhood Policy Research
Economic Policy Institute
Employment Unit, Greater Boston Legal Services
Evansville Goodwill Industries, Inc.
Family & Children’s Service (Evansville, IN)
The Family Economic Initiative (Boston, MA)
Family Services of Delaware County, Indiana
Federation for Community Planning (Cleveland, OH)
Fiscal Policy Institute
Florida Legal Services, Inc.
The Food Bank of Alaska
Food Research and Action Center (FRAC)
Fremont Public Association (Seattle, WA)
Greater Hartford Legal Assistance
Greater Upstate Law Project (Albany, NY)
Helen Keller National Center (Sands Point, NY)
Higher Education Consortium for Special Education
I-NABIR (Inter-National Association of Business Industry and Rehabilitation)
Indiana Coalition on Housing and Homeless Issues (ICHHI)
Kentucky Task Force on Hunger
Kentucky Youth Advocates, Frankfort and Louisville
Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
League of Women Voters of the U.S.
Learning Disabilities Association of America (LDA)
Legal Action Center
Legal Assistance Resource Center of Connecticut
The Legal Aid Society (Brooklyn, NY)
The Literacy Initiative
The Literacy Network of Greater Cincinnati
Los Angeles Coalition to End Hunger & Homelessness
Lutheran Advocacy Network/Illinois
Lutheran Office for Governmental Affairs, ELCA
Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry – Colorado
Lutheran Office of Governmental Ministry – New Mexico
Lutheran Office on Public Policy in Maryland
Lutheran Public Policy Office of Washington State
Lutheran Services in America
Lutheran Social Services of Illinois
The Maine Association of Interdependent Neighborhoods
The Maine Equal Justice Project
Maryland Budget and Tax Policy Institute
Maryland Committee for Children
Massachusetts Law Reform Institute
Mayor’s Commission on Literacy (Philadelphia)
McAuley Institute
Metro CareRing (Denver, CO)
Michigan 4-C (Community Coordinated Child Care) Association
Michigan Child Care Task Force
Michigan League for Human Services
Minnesota Budget Project
Minnesota JOBS NOW Coalition
Montana Food Bank Network
Mothers on the Move Committee, Philadelphia Unemployment Project
Mountain Empire Older Citizens, Inc. (Big Stone Gap, VA)
NAHRO (The National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials)
NARAL
National Alliance of Urban Literacy Coalitions (Houston, TX)
National Association for the Education of Young Children
National Association of Child Advocates
National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies
National Association of Elementary School Principals
National Association of Housing Cooperatives
National Association of Public Hospitals (NAPH)
National Association of Protection and Advocacy Systems
National Association of School Psychologists
National Association of Social Workers
National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium
National Association of State Directors of Special Education (NASDSE)
National Center on Poverty Law
National Coalition of 100 Black Women, Metropolitan Atlanta Chapter
National Coalition on Deaf-Blindness
National Coalition for Literacy
National Community Action Foundation
National Community Reinvestment Coalition
National Congress for Community Economic Development
National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of La Raza
National Council of Nonprofit Associations
National Council of State Directors of Adult Education
National Education Association
National Employment Law Project
National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association
National Head Start Association
National Health Law Program
National Housing Law Project
National Institute on Out-of-School Time
National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty
National Low Income Housing Coalition
National Mental Health Association
National Partnership for Women and Families
National Priorities Project
National Rural Housing Coalition
National School-Age Care Alliance
National Women’s Law Center
Nebraska Appleseed Center for Law in the Public Interest
NETWORK, A National Catholic Social Justice Lobby
Network for Environmental & Economic Responsibility of the United Church of Christ
New Hampshire Women’s Lobby
New Mexico Center on Law & Poverty
New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence
New York State Education Department
9to5 Colorado
9to5, National Association of Working Women
NISH (National Industries for the Severely Handicapped)
Northwoods Wilderness Recovery (Marquette, MI)
NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund
OMB Watch
Oregon Center for Public Policy
Oregon Food Bank
Oregon Human Rights Coalition
Oregon Hunger Relief Task Force
The Ounce of Prevention Fund (Chicago, IL)
Pennsylvania Child Care Association
Pennsylvania Hunger Action Center
People’s Regional Opportunity Program (PROP) (Portland, ME)
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
The Poverty Institute at Rhode Island College School of Social Work
Presbyterian Church (USA), Washington Office
Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada
Quality Care for Children, Inc.
Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice
Research Institute for Independent Living
River Valley Child Development Services (West Virginia)
Salt Lake Community Action Program
School Social Work Association of America
Schuyler Center for Analysis and Advocacy (Albany, NY)
SENSES (Statewide Emergency Network for Social and Economic Security) (Albany, NY)
Service Employees International Union (SEIU)
Sisters of Mercy of the Americas
The Sisters of the Presentation Leadership Team (New Windsor, NY)
South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center
South Dakota Family Economic Self-Sufficiency Project
South Dakota Peace & Justice Center/TRV
Southeast Technical Institute (Sioux Falls, SD)
State Associations of Addiction Services
Survivors, Inc. (Boston, MA)
Tennessee Justice Center
Unemployment Law Project (Seattle, WA)
United Auto Workers
United Cerebral Palsy Associations
United Church of Christ Justice and Witness Ministries
US Action Education Fund
USA Child Care
Utahns Against Hunger
Volunteers of America
Washington Food Coalition
Washington Ethical Action Office, American Ethical Union
WEEL (Working for Equality and Economic Liberation) (Helena, MT)
Welfare Law Center (New York, NY)
Welfare-to-Work Project, The Legal Aid Society - Employment Law Center (San Francisco, CA)
Westchester Progressive Forum
Western Center on Law & Poverty (Sacramento, CA)
Western Region Anti-Hunger Consortium
West Virginia Welfare Reform Coalition
Wisconsin Child Care and Education Coalition
Wisconsin Council on Children and Families
Wisconsin Early Childhood Association
Wisconsin Women’s Network Child Care Task Force
Women Employed (Chicago, IL)
Women Unlimited (Augusta, ME)
Working Families Massachusetts
YWCA of Minneapolis
YWCA of the USA