FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: DIANE MINOR, 773; KATIE BEMAN, 771

ACTIVISTS TO DEMONSTRATE, START FASTING OVER WELFARE

WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 1996

WHO:

• NOW President Patricia Ireland,
• Eleanor Smeal, Feminist Majority,
• The Rev. Jesse Jackson, National Rainbow Coalition,
• Michelle Tingling Clemmons, National Welfare Rights Union,
• feminist author Gloria Steinem
• and activists from NOW and other groups

WHAT: will kick off their Hungry For Justice Campaign

WHERE:

• Demonstration -- White House sidewalk, 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
• Fast and Vigil -- Lafayette Park, across from the White House

WHEN: TOMORROW, THURS., AUGUST 1

• Demonstration -- 12 noon
• Fast and Vigil -- begin immediately after that. Vigil runs daily from 8 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Fast continues until President Clinton either reverses or fulfills his pledge today to sign the harsh welfare bill approved by Congress.

WHY: "President Clinton appears poised to join Congress in pulling a shift and shaft on poor women and their children," said Ireland. "Shift responsibility for welfare to the states and shaft both recipients and the states by cutting funding. Women hunger for real justice for the poor, not a politically expedient approach. We won't settle for less."

NOTES: Ireland will lead activists in Thursday's demonstration and join in the fast. At least four activists will be on hand at the Lafayette Park site each day, with speakouts scheduled for 12 noon daily and candlelight vigils at sunset. Activists who do not fast are generating phone, fax and e-mail messages to the White House. Suffragists used hunger strikes to win women the right to vote earlier in this century.