Angel Buechner is following the rules to get off welfare. She?s working. She?s going to school. She?s raising her sons at home. So she can?t figure out why Minnesota is suddenly making it harder for her to succeed.

Come July 1, Buechner will lose $250 a month she receives under the Minnesota Family Investment Program, the state?s welfare-to-work system. The state is yanking the money because her 12- and 10-year-old sons qualify for federal Social Security disability payments.

In addition, the state will cut $50 more from Buechner?s MFIP grant because she receives a federal housing subsidy. That cut wipes out the last of the cash assistance she gets from the state, she says.

Finally, if Buechner wants to keep the state assistance that helps pay for her schooling, she?ll have to work more than twice as many hours at her jobs as she now works.

"I'm trying to get my life on track," said Angel Buechner. "I know I made mistakes." Union Advocate photo

Further into poverty
Those policies are some of the cost-cutting requirements included in Gov. Tim Pawlenty?s ?no new taxes? budget. The changes make Buechner both frustrated and angry.

?How am I supposed to accomplish what I?m supposed to accomplish if they keep pushing me further into poverty?? she asks. ?The state is taking money out of my pocket and out of my children?s pocket.?

Buechner, of Minneapolis, told her story June 5 during a demonstration organized by the Welfare Rights Committee outside the governor?s mansion on Summit Ave. While she spoke calmly, other committee members and their supporters were not so polite.

In various statements, the committee branded as ?criminal? and ?outright thievery? the budget that Pawlenty and his Republican loyalists rammed through the Legislature. Committee members attacked Democrats for caving in and, in their eyes, treating the state?s most vulnerable residents ?as pawns in a twisted political game.?

?We are the ones who will see our families suffer, go homeless and die,? said committee member DeDe Francis.

Work more ? or lose school aid
The reduction in MFIP grants for households that also receive Social Security disability payments affects about 7,000 families a month, said Karen Smigielski, of the Department of Human Services. The $50 cut for those receiving federal housing subsidies affect about 12,000 families a month, she said.

Buechner says the new policies leave her trying to support herself and her four sons on the $800 a month she gets in Social Security disability checks, plus what she earns from the part-time job she works while going to school.

?I?m trying to get my life on track,? she says. ?I know I made mistakes. But I?m trying to move on. I think I?m doing what I?m supposed to be doing.?

Buechner is studying for her medical administration certificate at the Alexander Institute. She attends school five hours a day during the week, and is on track to finish in December, she says. The certificate would qualify her for work in any hospital, clinic or doctor?s office, she says, at wages she?s been told can reach $30,000 a year.

?I need that certificate to get a better job,? she says.

Right now, Buechner makes slightly above minimum wage at the nonprofit agency where she works three hours a day, four days a week after classes. But if she wants to retain the educational assistance she gets under MFIP, she?ll have to increase her workload from 12 hours a week to 30 hours.

The only way she can do that, she says, is to work nights or weekends ? and forget about seeing her kids. ?Where do I fit that in?? she asks of working 18 more hours. ?That leaves me no time with my kids. And any job I get, it?s just going to pay for child care.?

"We're already below the poverty line, and they're cutting us more," said Tracy Furney. Union Advocate photo

Couple caught off guard
Tracy Furney, of Crystal, also will see her state assistance slashed $300 a month.

Furney and her husband, Michael, both receive Social Security payments because they are disabled, meaning their state grant will be reduced by $125 per person. They also receive Section 8 housing assistance for the home they rent.

?This happened so fast,? Furney said, that she hasn?t yet figured out how they?ll adjust, especially because neither can work. Rattling off a list of routine expenses ? gas, electricity, water, garbage, phone, groceries, car ? she says: ?I don?t know where we can cut back. We?re already below the poverty line, and they?re cutting us more.?

The new policies under Pawlenty?s budget ?took me off guard,? she said. ?I knew they proposed it, but you just don?t imagine that the governor would do this and the Democrats would allow this to happen.?

She says she?s most concerned about the effects on her daughters, who are 16 and 3. ?They?re beautiful children. My 16-year-old, she?s getting A?s and B?s in school. She doesn?t deserve this.?

Reprinted from the June 12, 2003, issue of The Union Advocate newspaper. Used by permission. The Union Advocate is the official publication of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@mtn.org