July 31, 1996
Dear Progressive Ally:
I am writing to you with an urgent request for action to encourage President Clinton to veto the welfare reform legislation he will soon receive. As you know, members of the Senate and House are meeting in a conference committee to merge the two different welfare bills passed by each body. Both bills would push more than a million poor women and their children deeper into poverty. There is no way that conference committee can fix these bills; they are fatally flawed. Poor women and their families are facing dire times. We must act now.
I invite you to join the Hungry for Justice campaign. Feminist and progressive activists will fast if President Clinton fails to veto the welfare repeal bill within 24 hours after he receives it. Through the fast, we will enhance our understanding of and our commitment to ending poverty. The fast will provide an opportunity for everyone -- including President Clinton -- to examine our hearts and consciences, while calling attention to the plight of poor people.
We will maintain a vigil in Lafayette Park to encourage the president to veto the bill. The vigil will begin at 8 each morning as people pass the park on their way to work. We will have lunchtime speak-outs to talk about why we are fasting. And we will end each night with a candlelight vigil to shed light on the fact that if the welfare repeal bill is signed into law, millions of people will go to bed hungry.
We are calling upon progressive leaders across the country to join the Hungry for Justice fast. Can we count on you to stand with us as we ask President Clinton to remember poor women and their families and veto the punitive welfare reform that will be before him?
You and your organization can make this campaign a success. President Clinton has vetoed welfare bills twice because they would have punished poor women and their children. We need to give the president the support he needs to veto yet another bad welfare bill. An outpouring of support for poor families and action by progressive leaders will help the president veto this punitive bill.
I hope you will call Beth Corbin or Kim Ward in my office today to sign on to this important action in support of poor women and their families. Please join us in Lafayette Park to remind the president that we are Hungry for Justice.
Yours for NOW,
President