I don’t know if I have much to add to the noise, but here goes…..

During the federal government shut-down, North Carolina, under the “leadership” of Governor Pat McCrory, achieved the disgraceful honor of becoming the only state in these United States to cut off Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Supplemental Assistance benefits. Let me repeat, North Carolina and only North Carolina made the decision to stop supporting the most vulnerable among its own citizens.

I don’t believe that I am alone in my dismay at the policies of my state in response to the debacle that was the federal government shut-down.  How did North Carolina move so far away from its reputation as a “progressive” southern state?  In my experience, North Carolinians pride themselves on their sense of community, compassion, and human decency. None of these values was in evidence when the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced it would not continue to support TANF and WIC through the period of the government shutdown.  Why is North Carolina making such staggeringly poor cost/benefit choices that measurably increase human misery throughout our state?

According to an October 8, 2013 press release by the NC Department of Health and Human Services, the WIC program in North Carolina serves 264,000 women, infants and young children, and the annual budget of $205 million is 100 percent federally funded.  Every month, “North Carolinians using WIC make $16.6 million in food purchases at more than 2000 food vendors around the state.”  http://www.ncdhhs.gov/pressrel/2013/2013-10-08_DHHS_announces_WIC_shut_down.htm

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, WIC is intended to help low income and the nutritionally at-risk: pregnant women through pregnancy and up to six weeks after birth; breast-feeding women up to the infant’s first birthday; non-breastfeeding post-partum women; infants up to their first birthday; and children up to age five.

Who in our state can be considered more vulnerable than pregnant women and mothers with children younger than five years old? What are the health costs over a month for a young mother struggling to feed an infant or young child? What are the health costs over a lifetime for an undernourished child?  How do we, as a society, as a city, as a town, as a community, allow our own children, our own neighbors to go hungry?

North Carolina chose to stop issuing vouchers on October 8^th, despite the federal government commitment to reimburse all such expenditures once it reopened. North Carolina completely reversed its decision two days later, when the NC Department of Health and Human Services found “lapsing funds from the previous fiscal year, additional contingency funds from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and product rebates from WIC formula manufacturer, Nestle Foods.  http://www.ncdhhs.gov/pressrel/2013/2013-10-11_DHHS_funding_continue_WIC.htm

Thus far, Governor Pat McCrory has not responded to an open letter from U.S. Representatives David Price, G.K. Butterfield, and Mel Watt requesting an explanation for the draconian decision to cut off TANF and WIC benefits.  My guess is Governor McCrory will not attempt to defend an indefensible policy.  What justification could he possibly give? Governor Pat McCrory found North Carolina completely alone in its decision to cut off resources for poor women and children as a fiscal policy response to the crisis of suspended federal funds, and his rush to target the poorest and least influential of his constituents demonstrates a discouraging lack of leadership and common sense.  http://price.house.gov/press-releases/reps-push-mccrory-to-explain-why-nc-is-only-state-to-stop-tanf/

What is at stake?  Why does it matter?  It matters to me because I want to live in a community which values and protects its weakest and most vulnerable members.  The nature of our society is a reflection of us, each and every one of us, and when we care for our most helpless, defenseless and weak, we demonstrate the humanity that shapes our world and makes it better, for ourselves, for our children, for everyone. Supporting the most vulnerable in our society is a moral imperative.

“Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tossed, to me:
I life my lamp beside the golden door.”

This quote from the Statue of Liberty reflects our collective history, our collective heritage, our collective obligation to those who struggle in our own communities, and our collective obligation to future generations of Americans.