Contact: Sunny Mindel/ Edward Skyler (212) 788-2958
Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani today called on the City Council not to approve Introductory Number 354-A, legislation that would significantly undermine the City's efforts at welfare reform. The bill, being considered today by the Council's Committee on General Welfare, would create a transitional employment program (TEP) that requires the City to create at least 10,000 new jobs, subsidized by the taxpayers of New York City.
"This bill is a product of the philosophy of dependency. Instead of encouraging self-sufficiency and independence, this bill encourages reliance on government instead of on one's self," Mayor Giuliani said. "It was programs like these that made New York City the welfare capital of the world from the 1960's until the mid-1990's. Simply put, this legislation attempts to end welfare reform as we know it."
The Administration opposes the legislation for several reasons. First, the City Council does not have the authority to institute TEP. The Council is attempting to mandate the requirement of certain services and circumvent state law. Also, since TEP participants would be assigned to civil service positions without regard to civil service qualifications and without examination, the bill may violate the New York State Constitution as well as provisions of the Civil Service Law. TEP would give its participants an unfair advantage by allowing them to bypass the many people who have taken competitive tests and are waiting to be called from hiring lists.
Lastly, the legislation would impose severe costs on the City and is fiscally irresponsible. The Office of Management and Budget has estimated that the program would cost $394 million annually. Considering the efforts this administration has made to reduce the headcount of city employees and its overall budget, it makes little sense for the City to hire thousands of unneeded workers and transform the streamlined city workforce into a bloated bureaucracy.
"Over the last six years, the City's Workfare program has helped some 250,000 people gain the skills they need to attain and keep full-time employment. We have guided over 500,000 people off the welfare rolls by emphasizing self-reliance and personal responsibility," the Mayor continued.
"This bill is a throwback to the days when people looked to government for handouts. It would force the City to become the employer of first resort to those
who are out of work or on public assistance. The goal of welfare reform is not to have government subsidize people's employment; the goal is to move people into permanent jobs which are supported by the economy. The Transitional Employment Program simply fosters the cycle of dependency we have worked so hard to break,"
Mayor Giuliani concluded.