The Cardinal Direction

h
the
cardinal
direction
wesleyan university
public policy journal
volume 1 fall 2009

Executive Board
Alison Cies
Miriam Rosenau
Lily Mandlin
Editorial Board
Rosemary Ostfeld
Evan Perkoski
Rachel Tecott
Dan Tessler
Copy Editor
Catherine Gavriel
the views expressed within

the cardinal direction are
exclusively those of the authors
and do not represent the opinions
of the editors, the wesleyan chapter
of the roosevelt institute or
the national organization of the
roosevelt institute.
5 assessment of the safety net:
housing and public policy
Jennifer Garcia
11 an argument for acknowledging persecution

based on gender in american asylum law
Emily Reisner
15 improving global emissions trading under

a new climate treaty
Eli Allen
19 aid to medicaid
Will Monson
25 reassessing connecticut’s wic program in

the current economic downturn
Alison Cies
33 weswind: bringing wind turbines

to wesleyan
Amy Blume
37 growing pains: food stamps and food

insecurity in the current economic recession
Yannick LeJacq
43 meeting the demands of war:

ensuring equal and full status for gays
and women in the armed forces
Dan Tessler
49 state elected judiciary: reducing

corruption by moving towards an
appointed judicial model
Elizabeth Gauvey-Kern
53 filling in the future: the need for

rehabilitation & reintegration of former
child soldiers in uganda
Lily Mandlin
59 tanf: cutting costs, leaving the needy

behind
Charmaine Chen
65 american coordination
for climate change
Jeffrey Bizinkauskas
Dear Readers,
The Wesleyan University Chapter of the Roosevelt Institute is excited to present the first
installment of The Cardinal Direction, a progressive public policy journal. This journal is the
result of a full year of discussions on issues critical to the political climate of the United States.
The wide range of policy papers in this publication indicates both the breadth of issues facing
our nation and the diverse interests of the Wesleyan student body.
The school year began with election fervor as we ushered in a new presidential administration.
Young leaders of the progressive policy movement recognized the strong influence of youth
participation in an historic outcome. The Roosevelt Institute was founded on the principle that
student voices can make a difference in political life. In the 2008 Presidential election, we saw
evidence of this guiding tenet.
Wesleyan Roosevelt followed up the election season by working with other student groups
to ask “what’s next?” for American politics. We seized the moment and ran with it, holding
debates and policy forums. Many papers were inspired by these discussions.
As the school year was coming to a close and The Cardinal Direction was about to go to
press, the Wesleyan community was struck by the tragic murder of Johanna Justin-Jinich ’10.
We dedicate this journal to activists and politically engaged thinkers who are never given the
chance to see their dreams for humanity realized. Like their lives, their contributions will not
be forgotten.
With hope for the future,

The Wesleyan University Chapter of the Roosevelt Institute, 2008–2009
assessment of
the safety net:
Jennifer Garcia
2010 housing and public policy
Background
In 1997, a family needed to earn three times the minimum wage in order to afford a fair market
rental unit.1 It is not unfathomable to question the success of a safety net that has denied the
access to affordable and decent housing for minimum wage workers in a “fair” rent market.
During the current recession in the United States, it is imperative that housing and public policy
be taken into serious consideration in order to maintain the well being of its citizens.
In “Home Sweet Home?” Janet M. Currie reviews three types of assistance available to
renters, which include public housing, Section 8 vouchers, and construction subsidy programs,
such as HOPE IV and the Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC). Her main argument is that
the housing system could be greatly improved by “eliminating construction subsidy programs
and projects in favor of voucher programs that served everyone below a given income”
because “more families could be served with the same budget if all spending were switched
from construction programs to voucher programs.”2 She cites various studies that support this
claim. First, construction programs such as LIHTC and HOPE VI are more expensive than Section
8 vouchers, and it has been estimated that they cost 35 to even 91 percent more.3 Second,
switching aid to all vouchers would expand the amount of families served under the program.
1
Nicholas Retsinas, “Renters deserve a better shake,” The Boston Globe, 13 August 2008.
2
Janet M. Currie, The Invisible Safety Net, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), 110.
3
Ibid, 95.
Jennifer Garcia
Third, vouchers help to alleviate neighborhoods with high concentrations of poor families by
moving poorer families into better neighborhoods. Lastly, Currie argues that the amount of
money the government loses through tax deductions from homeowners is far more than the
amount the government is willing to spend on housing for low-income people. In this light,
not only is there a need to restructure existing housing policies, but also a need to increase the
expenditures for housing programs.4
Edward N. Wolff’s analysis of the role of public policy on poverty and inequality overlaps
with Currie’s housing policy argument, although there are some crucial disagreements. Like
Currie, Wolff supports the safety net (and thereby housing assistance) because without them
the poor would be much worse off. In fact, Wolff argues, “without this ‘safety net,’ poverty rates
would have been 50 to 70 higher during the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.”5 Like Currie, he also
sees overall critical flaws in the government programs, such as that although poverty rates may
have been higher without these programs, their anti-poverty effects did not increase during
1980s, 1990s, and 2000s.6
Where the arguments by Wolff and Currie’s diverge is on their analysis of the redistributional
effects of public policy. Wolff explains that the lower-income groups benefit more from net
government expenditure relative to the upper income groups because “net benefits from
government…as a percent of income fell rather precipitously with income level.”7 He argues
that government expenditures have a redistributional impact and that the tax system does
not. Currie, however, argues that it is critical to also take into consideration tax deductions.
Although the government engages in direct expenditures for housing, they also engage in
indirect expenditures such as the homeowner’s tax deduction.8 A study by Anderson and Roy
examines the distributional impact of possible changes in tax deductions for homeowners and
concluded that the “removal of the tax deductibility of mortgage interest and property taxes
would increase the progressivity of the income substantially.”9 Currie argues that the amount
4
Currie, 112.
5
Edward N. Wolff, Poverty and Income Distribution, 2nd ed. (Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 561.
6
Ibid, 562.
7
Ibid, 616.
8
John E. Anderson, Atrayee Ghosh Roy. “Eliminating Housing Tax Preferences: A Distributional
Analysis,” Journal of Housing Economics 10 (2001), 41-58.
9
Ibid, 41.
6
assessment of the safety net
of money the government loses through indirect housing costs is far more than the amount of
money spent on housing programs for low-income individuals.
Analysis
From the analysis provided by Currie and Wolff, the housing programs that are currently in
place are benefiting low-income people but there is also a great potential to increase the
amount of individuals who could benefit from government expenditures for affordable and
decent housing. The main obstacle to funding programs that give direct money to help cover
the cost of affordable housing, such as Section 8 vouchers, is mainly due to the lack of political
support. The HOPE IV, LIHTC, and the favorable tax deductions for homeowners reflect a
system that encourages housing consumption and homeownership rather than renting or
alternative housing options.10 In fact, during this current recession the new economic stimulus
package includes an $8,000 tax deduction for first time homebuyers, even though most will
have difficulty just making a down payment on a house.11 The stimulus package is also a
good indicator of which housing programs are politically favored and how these programs
are ranked. The housing tax cuts for first time homebuyers represents the highest allocation
of funding for housing at 6.6 billion dollars while only 2.0 billion dollars has been allocated
for Section 8 vouchers.12 This is particularly surprising when one considers the long waiting
list for Section 8 vouchers, which reflects the growing need for this particular form of rent
subsidy and how “the foreclosure crisis had overshadowed the fact that there are still huge
needs for affordable rental.”13 In Los Angeles County alone there are over 100,000 people on
the wait list for Section 8 vouchers.14 Although a third of Americans are renters, the amount
of available rental units has been declining while the demand for rental units has been
increasing.15 Housing programs that favor homeownership during the current recession are
10
Anderson, Roy, 55.
11
Bob Tedeschi, “Sweetning the Pot for Home Buyers,” The New York Times, 10 April 2009.
12
Farhana Hossain, Amanda Cox, John McGarth, Stephan Weitberg, “The Stimulus Plan: How to Spend
$787 Billion,” The New York Times.
13
Miranda Spivack, “Recessions Hasn’t Missed Renters,” The Washington Post, 10 March 2009.
14
Anne M. Simmons, “Lancaster proposes limiting Section 8 housing,” The LA Times, 10 April 2009.
15
Nicholas Retsinas, “Renters deserve a better shake,” The Boston Globe, 13 August 2008.
7
Jennifer Garcia
incongruous with the present financial reality for the growing amount of people who cannot
afford mortgages or even fair market rent.
Although affordable rental units are in demand, there is current move against the use
of Section 8 vouchers. In Maryland there have been cases of landlords denying low-income
people seeking to use their Section 8 voucher even though their county has banned housing
discrimination based on the source of income.16 In Lancaster, California, there has been a
proposition to limit Section 8 housing.17 Although many landlords in the Los Angeles region
support Section 8 vouchers because it guarantees them rent payment, the Lancaster mayor
believes that Section 8 vouchers represent a “failed” program that has increased crime rate
and the burden on the city for having to provide more social service programs.18
These problems are exacerbated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development
(HUD), who is taking a rather back seat approach to the current pressing issues, such as home
foreclosures, increased rent demand and the backlash against Section 8 vouchers.19 Many of
HUD’s programs have only helped to further segregate the poor in inner cities, such as their
widely recognized failed HOPE program.20 Additionally, HUD has set up housing goals that
many low-income people cannot make.21 For instance they have “pushed the secondary
mortgage market to buy loans on criteria other than the creditworthiness of borrowers.”22
Those who cannot attain regular mortgages because of bad credit history are even more
unlikely to be able to pay for secondary mortgage loans, which have higher and unstable
interest rates. Recently there have been suggestions to get rid of HUD all together and
replace it with the Commerce and Treasure Department that will single-handedly administrate
financing the Federal Housing Administration.23 Under the new pressure set by the current
16
Spivack, 2009.
17
Simmons, 2009.
18
Ibid.
19
Jason DeParle, “Wider Role Urged for Housing Choice,” The New York Times, 13 January 2009.
20
Sudhir Venkatesh, “To Fight Poverty, Tear Down HUD,” The New York Times, 25 July 2008.
21
Howard Husock, “Housing Goals We Can’t Afford,” The New York Times, 10 December 2008.
22
Ibid.
23
Sudhir Venkatesh, “To Fight Poverty, Tear Down HUD,” The New York Times, 25 July 2008.
8
assessment of the safety net
housing crisis, HUD will need to either increase its role in housing policy or pass on its role to
another department.
Conclusion
The current safety net that promises to provide affordable and decent housing for low-income
Americans does not fully acknowledge all forms of housing. It clearly favors and encourages
homeownership through special tax deductions and greater financial support for purchasing a
house, while paying far less attention to subsidies that support rent and non-traditional forms
of housing. This is particularly alarming when a third of the nation is composed of renters.
The current recession reflects a growing population of renters and a decreasing population of
potential homeowners. Yet, the economic stimulus package does not accurately account for the
increasing demand for Section 8 vouchers renters needed to fill in the widening gap between
rising rent costs and minimum wage. If the government were to reallocate more money for
Section 8 vouchers, their money would be used more efficiently by serving a greater amount
of low-income people who will benefit from the program. An adequate safety net for housing
will call for a policy that acknowledges the affect of the recession on renters and increase
spending on programs that seek to aid not only those looking to own a house, but those
renting as well.
Sources
Anderson, John E., Atrayee Ghosh Roy. “Eliminating Housing Tax

Preferences: A Distributional Analysis.” Journal of Housing Economics 10
(2001): 41-58.
Currie, Janet M. The Invisible Safety Net. Princeton: Princeton University

Press, 2006.
DeParle, Jason. “Wider Role Urged for Housing Choice.” The New York
Times,13 January 2009, http://www.nytimes.com.
9
Jennifer Garcia
FreKing, Kevin. “Analyst differ on public housing fix.” The Seattle

Times, 14 April 2009.
Hossain, Farhana, Amanda Cox, John McGarth, Stephan Weitberg.

“The Stimulus Plan: How to Spend $787 Billion.” The New York
Times.
Husock, Howard. “Housing Goals We Can’t Afford.” The New York

Times, 10 December 2008.
Retsinas, Nicholas. “Renters deserve a better shake.” The Boston

Globe, 13 August 2008.
Simmons, Anne M. “Lancaster proposes limiting Section 8 housing.”

The LA Times, 10 April 2009.
Spivack, Miranda. “Rights Groups Allege Rental Discrimination,”

The Washington Post, 25 February 2009
.
—“Recessions Hasn’t Missed Renters.” The Washington Post, 10
March 2009.
Tedeschi, Bob. “Sweetning the Pot for Home Buyers.” The New York
Times, 10 April 2009.
Venkatesh, Sudhir. “To Fight Poverty, Tear Down HUD.” The New
York Times, 25 July 2008.
Wolff, Edward N. Poverty and Income Distribution, 2nd ed. Malden:

Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
10
an argument for
acknowledging persecution
based on gender in
Emily Reisner
2009 american asylum law
Background
In this age of increased migration, sovereignty has been challenged as multilateral institutions—
such as the United Nations—encourage countries to develop a more cosmopolitan view of
citizenship. Being a citizen should enable a person to be a self-actualizing agent in society.
The inclusiveness of a nation-state is meant to facilitate the ability to reach one’s potential
through participation in public life. Gender issues arise when women are deemed incapable
of participating in public life because they are “irrational” beings that need to be governed.
Women become “national wombs” to carry on the values of the nation through mothering
the next generation. The private becomes stigmatized as the woman’s space moves beyond
the reach of the political. Women become marginalized as they are forced to be dependent on
men who have greater access into the public sphere through, for example, civic action or the
ability to earn a wage. This public/private construction becomes a method of socially controlling
women. Violence only magnifies this oppression.
Acts of extreme violence against women in the domestic sphere constitute persecution
as public actors refuse to intervene in the “private.” In doing so, they deny protection to
deserving citizens. Thus, violence is privatized and normalized. Examples of this violence include
female circumcision, honor killings, rape (particularly in times of war or conflict), and forced
sterilization. These gender-based acts of persecution should receive the same response as
persecution on the grounds of race, religion, particular political thought or membership in a
particular social group.
Emily Reisner
Analysis
In the 1950s, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees began allowing for refugee status on the
aforementioned grounds as a response to the thousands of people left stateless following the
Nazi occupation in Europe. While refugees must apply for and be granted refugee status while
still outside of the destination country, asylum seekers are allowed one year after entering the
asylum-granting country to apply. They are granted asylum if they can prove past persecution
based on the four UN-sanctioned grounds and if they can prove they have a legitimate fear of
future persecution upon their return. The original drafting of the 1951 UN Convention in Geneva
implied that refugees would be predominantly male. An awareness of gender discrimination in
the 1970s revolutionized the image of a refugee. Today, half of all stateless people are women.
Recently, immigration lawyers have attempted to argue for their clients’ eligibility for asylum
based on gender, and they have seen some success.
Since American asylum law is constantly evolving as new cases set new precedents, there
is a potential for the integration of gender-based asylum. Some political thinkers criticize the
ethnocentrism of declaring these acts persecutory, and some policy makers make no effort to
see the value of these practices in their cultural context as connected to tradition or honor.
They argue that the declaration that these practices are oppressive passes judgment where
judgment should not be passed. As an advocate of cultural relativism, I agree that the West
should not impose their values on anyone else, but I emphasize the importance of these female
asylum seekers acting on their own agency as they cross the border into a country whose values
they more strongly identify with.
Conclusion
The women who escape situations of oppression have overcome the social and economic
constraints limiting their mobility. Refusing to acknowledge that these women have been
involved in gender-based persecution is to deny these individuals the inclusion into an alternate,
1
“The World of Refugee Women at a Glance,” UNHCR—The UN Refugee Agency, http://www.unhcr.org/
publ/PUBL/3cb6ea290.html.
12
acknowledging persecution based on gender
and less oppressive, political system and to perpetuate the imprisoning environment that the
nation-state is capable of constructing. It is important to entertain the ways in which including
gender as legitimate grounds for declaring persecution may further victimize women. Some
feminist political activists see this change to asylum law as encouraging the gender dichotomy
of women as the victim and men as the oppressor. I argue that in certain nation-states the
victim-oppressor relationship is a reality. Asylum should be an avenue that these women can
take to find empowerment. Let us adopt a more cosmopolitan view of citizenship and extend
rights fostered by liberal democracies to those asking for help.
Sources
The Department of Homeland Security. “INS Asylum Gender Guidelines.”

(26 May 1995). American Immigration Lawyers Association.
http://www.aila.org/content/default.aspx?bc=26279%7C20130%7C13813.
Bohmer, Carol. Rejecting Refugees : political asylum in the 21st century.

London: Routledge, 2007.
Butler, Judith, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Who Sings the Nation-State?

New York: Seagull Books, 2007.
Crawley, Heaven. Refugees and Gender: Law and Process. Bristol: Jordan
Publishing, 2001.
Dowty, Alan. Closed Borders: The Contemporary Assault on Freedom of

Movement. New York: The Twentieth Century Fund, 1987.
Enloe, Cynthia. Bananas, Beaches, and Bases; Making Feminist Sense of

International Politics. Berkley: University of California Press, 2000.
Ericson, Connie M. “In re Kasinga: an Expansion of the Grounds for Asylum

for Women.” Houston Journal of International Law 20, no. 3 (Spring 1998).
Freedman, Jane. Gendering the International Asylum and Refugee Debate.

Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
General Assembly of the United Nations. “Universal Declaration of Human

Rights.” (1948) The United Nations. http://www.un.org/Overview/rights.
html.
13
Emily Reisner
Kaplan, Caren, Norma Alarcon, Minoo Moallem, eds. Between

Woman and Nation. London: Duke University Press, 1999.
Kenney, David Ngaruri, Philip G. Schrag. Asylum Denied: A Refugee’s

Struggle for Safety in America. Berkley: University of California
Press, 2008.
Lewis, Hope. “Reconceiving Reality: Women and International Law.”

Human Rights Quarterly 17, no. 3 (August 1995): 576–582, http://
www.galegroup.com.
Lister, Ruth. Citizenship; Feminist Perspectives. New York: NYU Press,

1998.
Nussbaum, Martha. “Women and Equality: the Capabilities

Approach.” International Labour Review, Vol. 138, no. 3 (1999).
Oxford, Connie G. “Protectors and victims in the gender regime of

asylum.” NWSA Journal 17, no. 3 (Fall 2005): 18–21, http://www.
galegroup.com.
Randall, Vicky, Georgina Waylen. Gender, Politics, and the State.

London: Routledge,1998.
Rosenblum, Marc R., Idean Salehyan. “Norms and Interests in US

Asylum Enforcement.” Journal of Peace Research Vol. 41, no. 6
(November 2004): 677–697.
Seith, Patricia A. “Escaping Domestic Violence: Asylum as a Means

of Protection for Battered Women.” Columbia Law Review Vol. 97,
no. 6 (October 1997).
U.S. Department of Justice. “In re R-A, Respondent.” The U.S.

Department of Justice, (19 January 2001). http://www.usdoj.gov/
eoir/vll/intdec/vol22/3403.pdf.
Wallace, Rebecca M. “Making the Refugee Convention Gender

Sensitive: The Canadian Guidelines.” The International and
Comparative Law Quarterly Vol. 45, no. 3 (July 1996): 702–711.
“Who We Are.” Refugees International, http://www.

refugeesinternational.org/who-we-are.
14
improving global
emissions trading
Eli Allen
under a new climate
2009 treaty
Background
Climate change poses a classic collective-action problem: individuals do not suffer the
full burden of producing Greenhouse Gases (GHG), but society does in the form of global
warming. To equate the private cost to the higher social cost, governments must set a price for
producing GHG emissions. This can be achieved by taxing GHG emissions or by implementing
Cap and Trade, issuing a set number of emissions permits and creating a market for trading
them. This Cap and Trade system is currently used by the Kyoto Protocol, under which all
industrialized countries, except the United States, have agreed to reduce their collective GHG
emissions by 5 percent relative to 1990 levels. The deadline for this reduction is 2012 and
negotiations are currently underway to develop a new international climate change treaty. To
improve the emissions trading system, the post-2012 treaty must make reengaging the U.S.
a priority, encourage developing countries to adopt differentiated emissions targets, and fund
adaptation projects.
Analysis
First, much of the failure of the current Kyoto Protocol in slowing GHG emissions can be
attributed to the lack of participation from the U.S., the second largest producer of GHG
emissions in the world. For a new protocol to be successful, the U.S. must be a full and active
Eli Allen
participant. While the current U.S. administration appears to be in support of an international

climate agreement, it remains uncertain whether President Obama will be able to garner the
two-thirds vote necessary for ratification in the Senate. Failure to obtain enough votes in the
Senate is what prevented the U.S. from participating in the Kyoto Protocol in the first place;
however, a similar situation should not preclude the U.S. from participating in a new protocol.
Rather, a new framework must include a mechanism for allowing the U.S. to participate
without ratification. While Senate ratification is uncertain, it is very likely that the Obama
administration will establish a domestic GHG emissions trading scheme. This scheme will either
be enacted through congressional legislation or by Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
through the Clean Air Act.
Therefore, non-Party countries—countries that do not ratify the protocol—should be
allowed to participate in the international trading scheme as long as they adopt emissions
targets equivalent to those mandated by the protocol. This would allow non-Parties to
participate in the Clean Development Mechanism, under which developed countries gain
credits by reducing emissions in developing countries. Additionally, as long as the non-Parties
remain in compliance, they should be allowed to participate in the governing institutions of
the new protocol. This will make it possible for President Obama to link a domestic U.S. trading
scheme to the international one. In this way, there will be greater certainty that the U.S. will
be able to comply with its obligations under a new protocol, improving the capacity for the
protocol to curb GHG emissions.
Second, in past negotiations developing countries have traditionally acted as one block—
the G77/China group—and together have resisted binding emissions reduction commitments
for developing countries. However, there is great divergence in the per capita income and GHG
emissions of these countries. This supports the case for differentiated commitments among
developing countries. This could be applied on a graduated basis based on per capita income
and per capita GHG emissions. However, in order to persuade developing countries to adopt
future commitments, developed countries must create an incentive structure. Therefore, a new
framework must make investments in developing countries under the Clean Development
Mechanism (CDM) contingent on these countries’ acceptance of differentiated commitments.
A future protocol should also use the different funds under the Kyoto Protocol to persuade
16
improving global emissions trading
under a new climate treaty
developing countries to accept differentiated commitments. These funds provide financing for
projects related to adaptation, technology transfer, energy, and economic diversification.
Finally, the funding needed for adaptation to climate change is far beyond that which is
currently available. Developing countries, particularly Small Island Developing States and Least
Developed Countries, need the most support with adaptation. The Kyoto Protocol currently
funds adaptation by diverting a share of the proceeds already destined for developing countries
in the CDM. As Costa Rica noted, “this is financially insufficient and morally unacceptable.”
The second commitment period can correct this situation by imposing a levy not just on CDM
projects, but also on the granting of emissions permits. This would create equitable burden-
sharing, as Parties would contribute to adaptation in direct proportion to their overall emissions
allocation, and in inverse proportion to their emissions reduction commitments.
Conclusion
A post-Kyoto framework will only be effective if it can both mitigate climate change by reducing
GHG emissions and protect vulnerable developing countries by funding adaptation projects.
The emissions trading scheme can be restructured to facilitate these two objectives. In order
to effectively reduce emissions, the United States needs to adopt binding emissions reduction
commitments and developing countries need to adopt differentiated commitments. The former
can be achieved by lowering the hurdle for U.S. participation from a two thirds Senate ratification
vote to either a congressional vote on climate legislation or regulatory action by the EPA.
The latter can be accomplished by using the Clean Development Mechanism and a variety of
funds to create incentives for developing countries to assume differentiated commitments.
Finally, imposing a levy on the granting of emissions permits would increase funding for
adaptation projects, obtaining the revenue from those most responsible for producing GHG
emissions. In this way a new protocol will help ensure the survival of all peoples and nations
from climate change.
17
Eli Allen
Sources
Auffhammer, Maximilian, Richard T. Carson. “Forecasting the Path

of China’s CO2 Emissions Using Province-Level Information.”
Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 55 no. 3
(May 2008): 229-247.
Donehower, Jonathan. “Analyzing Carbon Cmissions Trading: a

Potential Cost Efficient Mechanism to Reduce Carbon Emissions.”
Environmental Law 38 No.1 (Winter 2008): 177(32).
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

“Analysis of Means to Reach Emission Reduction Targets and
Identification of Ways to Enhance their Effectiveness and
Contribution to Sustainable Development: Emissions Trading and
the Project-Based Mechanisms.” 27 August 2008. http://unfccc.int/
resource/docs/2008/awg6/eng/l12.pdf.

“Information on the Work of the Ad Hoc Working Group on Further
Commitments for Annex I Parties under the Kyoto Protocol in
Accordance with Decision 4/CMP.3, Paragraph 10.” 7 October
2008. http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/2008/cmp4/eng/inf01.pdf.

“Views from Parties on Extending the Share of Proceeds to Assist
in Meeting the Costs of Adaptation to Joint Implementation and
Emissions Trading.” 7 October 2008. http://unfccc.int/resource/
docs/2008/cmp4/eng/misc01.pdf.
18
aid
Will Monson
2011 to medicaid
Background

As a result of the current recession, nearly all government programs are struggling to
accommodate for the rise in recipients. Medicaid in particular is short on funds and flushed
with new requests for medical assistance. Created in the 1960s as a means to provide
healthcare for low-income households, the program has become the U.S. government’s
largest public assistance program, costing nearly $304 billion in 2005, or 22 percent of all
public expenditures.1 As a result, the program is becoming a source of concern for public
policymakers who have to grapple with rising budget gaps in both the state and federal
government. With that being said, policymakers should keep in mind the role the program
plays in society, and that low-income families will continue to need medical assistance, regardless
of public funding. Instead of the government, private hospitals and general public will carry
this burden in the form of higher rates and crowded facilities. The recent economic downturn
will expose many faults in the Medicaid system, and provide policymakers with the opportunity
to reform this program, while maintaining its service to the low-income recipients.
Analysis
One crucial aspect of Medicaid that needs to be reformed is the balance of incentives within
1
Edward N. Wolff, Poverty and Income Distribution (Malden: Wiley-Blackwell 2009), 534
Will Monson
the program’s system. Recipients of Medicaid have a disincentive to work, fearing that they
will lose their benefits if their income gets too high.2 As with all government programs,
policymakers worry that these disincentives will cause some people to receive benefits from
the program who are not as needy as other recipients. In addition, eligible recipients need to
have more incentives to sign up for Medicaid in the first place. Currently, low-income families
not on Medicaid only seek medical help in emergencies, in which case they use the emergency
room as a regular doctor’s office. This practice incurs unnecessary costs, which can in part be
reduced by enrolling more eligible families in the Medicaid program.
In addition to balancing patients’ incentives, policymakers should also focus on the
doctors’ incentives. Under the current system, few doctors are willing to take patients on
Medicaid, and for good reason. Doctors receive much lower reimbursements from Medicaid
than from private health insurance. Also, there is a significant amount of time and effort
wasted negotiating with the bureaucracy in order to receive these low reimbursements. As a
result, only 40 percent of U.S. pediatricians take a limited number of Medicaid recipients while
20 percent refuse to take any at all.3 As a result, low-income individuals suffer from lower
quality and availability in medical services than individuals with private insurance. In turn,
low-income individuals experience more medical problems and utilize the emergency rooms in
hospitals more often, raising unnecessary costs.
The most obvious problem with Medicaid—which has been illuminated by the current
recession—is the mismanagement of costs associated with the program. The funding system
for Medicaid is inherently faulty, undermining its role as an automatic stabilizer during hard
economic times. Ideally, the program would be counter-cyclical, contracting in booms when
unemployment was low, and expanding in recessions when unemployment rose, resulting in
the loss of private healthcare insurance. However, state governments, which are reluctant to
run budget deficits, finance most of the funding for Medicaid. Therefore, when state revenues
decline in recessions, legislators are inclined to cut Medicaid spending to balance the budget.
Indeed, the newspapers are full of public health programs losing funding as states try to
2
Janet M. Currie, The Invisible Safety Net: Protecting the Nation’s Poor Children and Families. (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2006), 33.
3
Ibid, 49-53.
20
aid to medicaid
balance gaps in their budgets. So far, nineteen states have cut their Medicaid funding for the
next fiscal year, eliminating coverage for thousands of people.4
While cutting Medicaid coverage seems like an easy way to balance the state budget, it is
a very shortsighted policy that will incur heavy costs in the long run. First of all, the uninsured
will continue to seek medical attention, with or without Medicaid. The hospitals and the
general public will cover the cost that result from the savings for the government, most likely
at a higher cost. Most importantly, states are only assessing the direct costs of Medicaid, and
failing to take into account its indirect costs. Minor medical problems have the tendency to
grow into serious medical problems when they go untreated, resulting in significantly higher
costs. Therefore, there are enormous returns in investing in preventive medicine, both financially
and in terms of human health. Currently though, states are cutting this funding for basic
healthcare, which will undoubtedly exacerbate the state budget problems in addition to
undermining the welfare of low-income families. Many officials even acknowledge this
misappropriation of costs, but it seems that shortsighted savings are more politically palatable
than responsible allocation of funds.5
Conclusion
As revenues fall in the economic downturn, state governments are rolling back Medicaid
coverage in an effort to minimize costs. However, not only are they failing the low-income
families who rely on Medicaid for healthcare, but they are also incurring far greater long-
run costs. A more prudent policy should increase medical coverage for low-income individuals
in this recession; particularly in preventive care. A more extensive safety net in recessionary
times would be a more effective automatic stabilizer, catching the high number of unemployed
workers who recently lost their healthcare benefits. Furthermore, the government should make
a greater effort to enroll individuals eligible for Medicaid. Currently, only 25 percent of the
people eligible for Medicaid enroll in the service.6 By expanding coverage to more people,
4
Amy Goldstein, “States Cut Medicaid Coverage Further,” Washington Post, 26 December 2008.
5
“Wrong Move at the Wrong Time,” New York Times, 11 November 2008.
6
Currie, 55.
21
Will Monson
the government can save on costs by encouraging more people to see a doctor more often,
rather than waiting for an emergency. There are responsible ways to reduce the high costs of
medical care, but cutting benefits for recipients is the wrong tactic in recessionary times.
Sources
Currie, Janet M. The Invisible Safety Net: Protecting the Nation’s

Poor Children and Families. Princeton: Princeton University Press,
2006.
DeParle, Jason. “Welfare Aid Isn’t Growing as Economy Drops

Off.” New York Times, 1 February 2009, http://www.nytimes.
com/2009/02/02/us/02welfare.html?scp=7&sq=government%20
welfare%20programs%20economic%20crisis&st=cse.
Dorschner, John. “Low Medicaid payments lead to lack of dental

care for kids.” Miami Herald, 22 March 2009, http://www.
miamiherald.com/business/story/960877.html.
Eckholm, Erik. “States Slashing Social Programs for Vulnerable,”

New York Times, 11 April 2009, http://www.nytimes.
com/2009/04/12/us/12deficit.html?scp=5&sq=government%20
welfare%20programs%20economic%20crisis&st=cse.
Essig, Alan. “Tax cuts cannot effectively prepare Georgia for future.”
Atlanta Journal Constitution, 2 April 2009, http://www.ajc.com/
opinion/content/opinion/stories/2009/04/02/essiged_0402.html.
“GHA Survey Reveals Economic Crisis, Medicaid Underfunding

Hitting Georgia Hospitals Hard.” Georgia Hospital Association, 5
February 2009, http://www.gha.org/Publications/EconomyRelease.
pdf.
Goldstein, Amy. “States Cut Medicaid Coverage Further.”

Washington Post, 26 December 2008, http://www.washingtonpost.
com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/25/AR2008122501148.html.
Harms, William. “An economic downturn impacts social services’

ability to aid poor.” The University of Chicago Chronicle, 11
December 2008, http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/081211/poor.shtml.
22
aid to medicaid
King, Charles. “Healthcare cuts are actually critical Medicaid reforms”

New York Daily News, 19 February 2009, http://www.nydailynews.com/
opinions/2009/02/19/2009-02-19_health_care_cuts_are_actually_
critical_m.html.
McGeehan, Patrick. “For New York’s Newly Jobless, $430 Doesn’t Go Far.”
New York Times, 18 April 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/
nyregion/19benefits.html.
“National Governors Association Calls for Medicaid Funding to be

Included in Potential Economic Stimulus Package.” Medical News Today,
31 October 2008, http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/127679.
php.
“Recession may exacerbate Medicaid problems.” Pharmacy News,

31 December 2008, http://www.pharmacychoice.com/News/article.
cfm?Article_ID=238719.
Rovner, Julie. “Opponents Support Expanding Medicaid Coverage.”

NPR, 21 April 2009, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.
php?storyId=103313150.
Wolff, Edward N. Poverty and Income Distribution. Malden: Wiley-

Blackwell, 2009.
“Wrong Move at the Wrong Time.” New York Times, 11 November 2008,
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/opinion/12wed2.html?_r=2.
23
reassessing connecticut’s
wic program in the current
Alison Cies
2011 economic downturn
Background
Although Connecticut is one of the wealthiest states in the nation, significant disparities
in healthcare and food persist for the state’s population, particularly for women, children,
and infants. While these disparities have existed for decades, they have been considerably
worsened by the recent economic downturn. Throughout the U.S., and in Connecticut
in particular, social service programs are grappling with an inadequate supply of funds to
meet the growing demand for relief. This troubled situation is exemplified in the Special
Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children, also known as WIC, which
was established in 1969 to ensure the health and nutrition of low-income women who are
pregnant, breastfeeding, or non-breastfeeding postpartum, and of infants and children up to
age five.1 The program’s emphasis on allocating set quantities of nutritional foods—such as
milk, eggs, and bread—to low-income families has always left the program vulnerable to price
volatility. In a time of recession, however, price volatility is just one of the many challenges
that WIC faces—increased food prices threaten the number of WIC recipients, and federal
changes to the WIC food package are emphasizing a healthier, but costlier, diet. Consequently,
the number of WIC participants in Connecticut has been steadily declining despite the greater
demand for relief. In a time of economic crisis, WIC’s resources must be expanded to permit
the program to become fully funded and to eliminate the program’s reliance on Congressional
1
“About WIC,” CT Department of Public Health, http://www.ct.gov.
Alison Cies
appropriation. WIC provides its participants with immense health benefits that should not be
limited when they are needed most by the population.
Analysis
The WIC Program provides qualified individuals or families with monthly vouchers for nutritious
foods, an educational component on healthy eating, and referrals to health and social services.
Nationally, the program serves more than 8.2 million people each month. To be income-eligible
for WIC, the individual or family must be at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty income
limit. For a family of three, this would be at or below $32,560 annually, $2,714 monthly,
or $627 weekly.2 If individuals are already recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance
Program (SNAP), Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF), or Medicaid, they are automatically
income-eligible for WIC. Secondly, women and/or children and infants must be at nutritional
risk—either medically based, such as low birth weight or anemia, or diet based, mainly
unhealthy eating habits. To become a recipient of WIC in Connecticut, the family must reside in
the state. Proof of citizenship or alien status, however, is not required.
The WIC Program has been shown to improve the diets and behaviors of low-income,
pregnant women, which has contributed to better birth outcomes—WIC has proven to reduce
the incidence of very low birth weight by 21 to 53 percent.3 Not only does the WIC program
provide several advantages to its participants, but it also benefits taxpayers. In 1990, the
GAO noted that providing WIC services to women and infants saved federal taxpayers more
than $337 million in medical costs.4 A dollar invested in WIC saves at least $3.50 in other
medical costs.5
Unlike programs such as SNAP, WIC is not fully funded. It must rely on federal grants—a
finite amount of funding given to each state by annual Congressional appropriation—to
2
“WIC Frequently Asked Questions,” Food and Nutrition Service, http://www.fns.usda.gov.
3
Janet M. Currie, The Invisible Safety Net: Protecting the Nation’s Poor Children and Families (Princeton:
Princeton University Press, 2006), 74.
4
Currie, 74.
5
Currie, 75.
26
reassessing connecticut’s wic program
administer the program each year. For Fiscal Year (FY) 2008, Connecticut received a Total
Food Grant of $34,616,430 and a Total Nutrition Services and Administration (NSA) Grant
of $10,710,716.6 Connecticut’s FY 2008 Total Grant came to $45,327,146, of which it used
$44,514,278.7 These grants, however, do not respond to the population’s increased need
in recessionary times, which has left eligible WIC participants vulnerable to being closed off
from the program’s limited resources. In Connecticut, the rising unemployment rate has led
to greater competition for WIC’s limited resources. Between March 2008 and March 2009,
58,000 individuals in Connecticut were put out of work.8 Over 7,000 people in the state were
laid off between February and March of 2009.9 As of March 2009, the state’s unemployment
rate had risen to 7.5 percent. Without additional funds to meet this rising demand for relief,
programs like WIC are being forced to turn away eligible candidates.
As a result of the 2005 revision to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the WIC Program
finalized an initiative to introduce more nutritious, and more expensive, foods into the WIC
Food Package over the course of 2008 and into August of 2009. Food such as soy-based
beverages, tofu, fruits and vegetables, whole-wheat bread, other whole-grain options, and
baby foods were required to be phased into the WIC program by State agencies beginning in
February of 2008.10 While this new initiative is intended to target the nation’s growing issue
of overweight and provide greater options and alternatives to meet the varying dietary needs
and choices of its participants, these new foods cost significantly more than the white bread,
non-soy diet that made up the previous WIC Food Package. In October of 2008, for example,
white bread cost $1.39 per pound and whole wheat bread cost $2.00 per pound.11
To pass this initiative, the goal of cost neutrality was required to keep the average food
cost per person on WIC in line with that of the previous WIC Food Package. The leaders of the
6
“FNS Summary of FY 2008 Grants,” Food and Nutrition Service, http://www.fns.usda.gov.
7
Ibid.
8
“Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, March
2009, http://www.bls.gov.
9
Ibid.
10
“Benefits and Services: WIC Food Package,” USDA Online, http://www.fns.usda.gov.
11
“Databases, Tables & Calculators by Subject,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2009, http://www.bls.
gov.
27
Alison Cies
initiative insisted, “It is important that revisions to the WIC Food Packages be cost neutral
to protect the program’s ability to serve the greatest number of eligible women, infants,
and children.”12 Policymakers thought this could be achieved by eliminating more expensive
foods, such as yogurt, from the package. Rising food costs, however, have complicated this goal.
From July 2008 to November 2008, the U.S. city average price of whole wheat bread increased
from $1.933 to $2.019 per pound.13 Prices have remained high—as of February 2009, the
price had only fallen to $1.970. State agencies have been placed under immense pressure to
implement these food package changes within the scope of their grants.14 Without additional
funds to accommodate for the increased food cost per person, individuals have been forced
off of the program.
Between October 2008 and January 2009, Connecticut’s WIC program underwent
a significant decline in the number of participating women, children, and infants. The total
number of women participating in WIC dropped from 13,122 to 12,642 during this time.15
The total number of infants participating in WIC declined from 15,782 to 15,368, and the
total number of children participating in WIC dropped from 30,484 to 29,836.16 The decline in
WIC participants is most clearly linked to the rise in average food cost per person. To preserve
the limited funds of the program as food costs rise, fewer eligible individuals can become WIC
recipients. Thus, individuals may be removed from the program and their space left vacant
after their period of eligibility has expired, they may be removed from the program and/or
placed on a waiting list when applying for recertification, or they may be placed on a ranked
waiting list through the priority system and accepted into WIC only when a vacancy can be filled.
The priority system ranks pregnant and breastfeeding women, and infants at nutrition risk, first.
Children who are at nutrition risk because of an inadequate dietary pattern, however, are
ranked fifth. In recessionary times, these children will have limited access to WIC’s benefits.
12
“Revisions to the WIC Food Packages, Proposed Rule,” Federal Register 71, no. 151 (August 2006), 1.
13
“Databases, Tables & Calculators by Subject,” Bureau of Labor Statistics, March 2009, http://www.bls.
gov.
14
“Rethinking Help for Children,” The New York Times, 29 February 2008, http://www.nytimes.com.
15
“WIC Agency Level Monthly Spreadsheets,” Food and Nutrition Service, March 2009, http://www.fns.
usda.gov.
16
Ibid.
28
Conclusion
In a time of recession, the structure of the WIC Program presents several challenges for its
eligible participants. Since WIC is funded by Congressional appropriation, waiting lists must be
utilized when the funds cannot serve all eligible women, children, and infants. Currently, the
rising number of unemployed, coupled with rising food prices, has eroded the program’s limited
resources. If WIC were to become fully funded and not be forced to rely on yearly Congressional
appropriation, all eligible individuals would have access to its resources and benefits without
being placed on waiting lists. These additional funds would compensate for rising food prices,
as well as for the newly implemented WIC Food Package. As Dr. Jean Mayer explained, “One
of the stupidest ways to try to save money is not to feed pregnant women.”17 The long-term
health benefits—lowered obesity, better nutritional habits, and less susceptibility to disease—
greatly outweigh the short-term costs of fully funding WIC. Thus, individuals should seriously
reconsider expanding the program’s resources. In a time of economic crisis and expanded need,
the safety net of WIC must be preserved so that all eligible participants can be provided with a
sufficient means of survival.
17
Currie, 75.
tables detailing food costs of wic program
Table 1: Average Food Cost Per Person on WIC
October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 Difference in

(USD$) (USD$) (USD$) (USD$) Cost Oct. vs. Jan.
(USD$)
CT 50.35 50.71 50.79 52.46 2.11
MA 42.61 42.12 42.92 43.04 0.43
NY 49.12 49.04 49.10 50.16 1.04
WIC Agency Level Spreadsheets. www.fns.usda.gov.
29
Alison Cies
Table 2: Total WIC Food Costs Per Month
October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 Difference in

(USD$) (USD$) (USD$) (USD$) Cost Oct. vs. Jan.
(USD$)
CT 2,990,134 2,957,325 2,960,067 3,034,691 44,557
tables detailing participation rates

of connecticut wic program
Table 3: Total Number of Women Participating in WIC
October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009

CT 13,122 12,792 12,712 12,642
Table 4: Number of Infants Participating in WIC

CT 15,782 15,503 15,578 15,368
Table 5: Number of Children Participating in WIC

CT 30,484 30,025 29,989 29,836
Table 6: Total Number of WIC Participants

CT 59,388 59,320 58,279 57,846
30
Sources
“About WIC.” CT Department of Public Health. http://www.ct.gov.
Altimari, Daniela. “U.S. Rep. Rose DeLauro Pushes Measure on Food

Safety.” The Hartford Courant, 9 April 2009.
Becker, Arielle Levin. “Critics Say Rell’s Proposed Cuts to Medicaid Go

Against Spirit of Federal Stimulus.” The Hartford Courant, 2 April 2009.
“Benefits and Services: WIC Food Package.” USDA Online. http://www.fns.

usda.gov.
Besharov, Douglas J., Peter Germains. Rethinking WIC: An Evaluation of

the Women, Infants, and Children Program. Washington: AEI Press, 2001.
Currie, Janet M. The Invisible Safety Net: Protecting the Nation’s Poor
Children and Families. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006.
“Databases, Tables & Calculators by Subject.” Bureau of Labor Statistics.

March 2009. http://www.bls.gov.
Eckholm, Erik. “As Jobs Vanish and Prices Rise, Food Stamp Use Nears
Record.” The New York Times, 31 March 2008.
First, Devra. “Rising Costs: A Look at Three Families.” The Boston Globe,
28 May 2008.
Krauthammer, Charles. “Obama’s Goal Isn’t Car Warranties.” The Hartford

Courant, 4 April 2009.
Leukhardt, Bill. “Historically, Times Have been Tougher in CT.” The Hartford
Courant, 23 April 2009.
Mallby, Sebastian. “Financial Industry Reform Must Be Built on Limiting

Risk.” The Hartford Courant, 30 March 2009.
Martin, Andrew. “Food Prices Expected to Keep Going Up.” The New York
Times, 27 November 2009.
Milligan, Susan. “A Towering Record, Painstakingly Built.” The Boston

Globe, 20 February 2009.
“Regional and State Employment and Unemployment Summary.” Bureau

of Labor Statistics. March 2009. http://www.bls.gov.
31
Alison Cies
“Rethinking Help for Children.” The New York Times, 29 February

2008.
“Revisions to the WIC Food Packages, Proposed Rule.” Federal

Register 71, no. 151 (August 2006).
Valkova, Aneliya H. “Are People Born Equal? The Effect of WIC on

Birth Outcomes.” B.A. thesis, Wesleyan University, 2009.
Wolff, Edward N. Poverty and Income Distribution. Oxford: Wiley-

Blackwell, 2009.
32
weswind:
bringing wind turbines
Amy Blume
2011 to wesleyan
Background
Wind energy needs no fuel, produces no emissions, and is an excellent replacement for oil
and other non-sustainable forms of energy. The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA)
asserts that wind energy has the potential to sustain 20% or more of the nation’s entire energy
cost. For this reason, state governments, embracing environmental protection, have begun
funding numerous public and private projects installing wind turbines. In Massachusetts, the
state granted USD 23 million over the past three years to people looking to build wind turbines
on their property.
Although the projects are expensive, almost the entire cost of a wind turbine is the
initial installation. Wind turbines typically pay for themselves within a few years. Wind turbine
generators have progressed substantially over the past twenty years, becoming pollution
free and safe for communities. Wind turbines could benefit Wesleyan and the Middletown
community with very little cost.
Although there are several notable problems associated with wind turbines, a number of
case studies provide methods of averting such problems to produce clean, usable, sustainable
energy. Just last year, Sister Garrity and 49 nuns at Mount Saint Mary’s Abbey in Wrentham,
Massachusetts funded a wind turbine in a neighboring field. Once finished, the turbine will
account for 75% of the Abbey’s energy costs. The Abbey can also sell extra energy back to
National Grid, the Abbey’s energy provider, if the wind turbine produces more energy than the
community needs. This will save the Abbey a substantial amount of money every year.
Amy Blume
The Portsmouth Abbey School funded a similar project in 2006. The turbine provided
excellent benefits for the abbey, school, and community. To provide maximum power and
minimum disturbance, the abbey built the turbine 750 feet from its nearest neighbor. Similarly,
the abbey chose a design that produced little noise, as low as 45 decibels, the same amount of
noise as wind blowing through the trees nearby. The State of Rhode Island Renewable Energy
Fund contributed one-third of the price to help the Portsmouth Abbey School purchase the
wind turbine.
Analysis
A wind turbine would be an excellent step forward for Wesleyan’s green initiative—lowering
the school’s carbon footprint, providing a service to the community, and creating a sustainable
energy source that will eventually save money for the University in the following years. In order
to meet the agreed quota of sustainable energy among Northeast colleges, 15% sustainability
in energy consumption, Wesleyan has been funding green initiatives on the east coast by
buying renewable energy credits (RECs). RECs are a great way to provide green energy sources
for a variety of businesses, homes, and institutions. However, building a wind turbine would be
an even more direct method of making Wesleyan sustainable and would provide more support
to the surrounding community than these RECs can do alone. While the average wind speed in
Middletown is .04m/s below the necessary amount to make a small wind turbine sustainable,
there are several towns in the Middletown area with a higher average yearly wind speed,
and with wind gusts, appropriate for a small wind turbine to generate megawatts (MWs) of
energy. Wesleyan could place a small turbine in any of these areas where the turbine is at a
fair distance from its nearest neighbor, perhaps a distance 750 feet, like the turbine installed
by the Portsmouth Abbey School.
Wind turbines generally cost USD 1,000 per kilowatt hour, so a small turbine would likely
cost no more than USD 40,000 to install, some of which could be funded by companies or other
financial opportunities, including the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund. Because there are few
places for large installations of wind turbines in Connecticut, CCEF intends to launch a rebate
program to fund small, personal projects starting in 2010, which makes now an excellent time
34
weswind
for Wesleyan to starting planning and measuring.

While the turbine would not be sustainable in Middletown itself, a turbine could be
installed away from the host site and still support the host site with few extra costs. Running
wires a couples miles between the turbine and the site to which it needs to supply the energy is
not cheap and some voltage is lost. However, with proper negotiation of costs with companies
that own energy sources and energy grids that transfer and distribute the energy produced,
it could make a turbine a few miles from Wesleyan very profitable and efficient. Currently,
Wesleyan uses several companies and energy sources to provide energy to Wesleyan. Several
are state regulated, such as Yankee Gas, while others change from year to year depending on
prices, supplies, and opportunities, such as TransCanada and Dominion. CL&P is both regulated
and dispensable. Proper negotiation with such contracts can make a turbine in a neighboring
town a practical and efficient option. Once installed, the turbine would quickly begin saving
money for Wesleyan in this difficult, oil-driven economic climate. Wesleyan could even sell
excess energy to residents and private businesses in Middletown and the surrounding area, like
Mount Saint Mary’s Abbey; thus providing a service to the community, paying off energy costs,
and producing clean and sustainable energy with no harmful emissions.
Other concerns include the safety of bird life at Wesleyan, but scientists extensively studied
bird patterns in the northeast after the affects of the wind turbine in Altamont. Although bird
life in Altamont, California was greatly affected from its introduction to turbines in 1981, “much
has changed since Altamont’s folly. Bird studies are now standard operating procedure.”
Conclusion
The wind turbine would be an unquestionable success for the Wesleyan community. The wind
turbine would produce clean, sustainable energy for Wesleyan, be cost effective, and help
surrounding communities and Wesleyan-community relations. Various funding opportunities
could help pay for a wind turbine constructed by Wesleyan in the Middletown area. A wind
turbine would be an excellent and appropriate addition to Wesleyan’s green energy initiative and
is an amazing step toward creating a cleaner, safer, more sustainable Wesleyan community.1
Sources available upon request.
35
growing pains:
food stamps and food
insecurity in the current
Yannick LeJacq
2011 economic recession
Background
Jina Gill, a resident of Indiana, first applied for food stamps this past year in anticipation of
large winter heating costs. She quickly found herself enmeshed in an embarrassing and time
consuming bureaucratic process. She told The Journal Gazette that her local welfare services
suffered from consistent communication problems. “I’ve faxed my things to them they’re
requesting. I know I’ve turned it in, but they’re saying I didn’t.” Eventually communication with
the office became difficult as she burned through minutes on her pay-per-minute cell phone.
“It was such a process,” she added, “I didn’t feel like an individual.”1
The food safety net, as Janet M. Currie concludes in The Invisible Safety Net, generally
works.2 What we see today is symptomatic of “growing pains” in a bureaucracy attempting to
cope with a rapid inundation of real economic need. This is a result from an increasing amount
of legitimately eligible recipients due to the economic instability of the recession. Unemployment
has risen markedly since the recession began. Food stamps have a particular ability, in being
generally small and fungible3 resources given to their recipients, to provide immediate and
1
“Indiana slow in approving food stamps,” Journal Gazette, 26 April 2009.
2
Janet Currie, The Invisible Safety Net, (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), 87.
3
In discussing non-cash government benefits, Wolff raises the issue of fungibility—the degree to which
the benefits can be used like cash to purchase commodities freely—of the different benefits offered.
Benefits can be made more or less fungible as a way to influence the degree of control over people’s
consumption preferences the program has. Food stamps are an interesting example here because the
general conception of them is that they are not very fungible, and thereby ensure that their recipients
Yannick LeJacq
viable economic assistance. On a macroeconomic scale, this can increase general levels of
consumption to reinvigorate local communities and stabilize their population until new jobs
are created.4 In evaluating the efficacy of food stamps in light of the continuing economic
recession, therefore, more emphasis should be placed on increasing short-term bureaucratic
efficiency rather than a long-term overhaul of program.
Analysis
Let me examine quickly some of the general aspects of the Food Stamp Program (FSP) before
moving into the more immediate and presently salient features of its present application. Put
most broadly, since its creation in the late 1930’s, the FSP has intended to provide a value to
its recipients which, as Edward N. Wolff puts it, “makes up the difference between the cost of a
nutritionally adequate low-cost diet (given the size of the family) estimated by the Department
of Agriculture and 30 percent of the family’s cash income.”5 There are several nuances to
this story, including the arbitrary and historic nutritional value defined by the USDA to befit
the program, welfare’s definition of the “household,” and problems related to obesity and
the consumption of nutritionally healthy goods when one is on the program. Currie is most
concerned with the idea that while food stamps have increased consumption of food goods,
they have increased the consumption of food goods that are “of little nutritional value.”6
The problem with this, of course, is the question of whether the FSP should be concerned
with solving nutritional problems that afflict our entire culture, or simply with offering benefits
to the truly needy. The alternative is making food stamps less fungible, but this risks creating its
own efficiencies more similar to the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program. For Currie,
it seems intuitive to keep the non-cash benefits of WIC less fungible to ensure that children
entered into the program can receive all of the essential nutritional benefits, whereas FSP
actually spend all of their money on food. Wolff states that food stamps are actually are “fairly fungible”
relative to other non-cash government benefits.
4
Edward Wolff, Poverty and Income Distribution, 2nd Ed., (West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 161.
5
Wolff, 532.
6
Currie, 67.
38
growing pains: food stamps and food insecurity
can more realistically be left up to the individual’s discretion.7 The assumption seems to be
that people exhibiting a legitimate economic need for food stamps will be able to choose a
consumption pattern that offers them at least the minimum nutritional requirements.
The central issue that is raised by both Currie and Wolff is one of participation. Eliminating
disincentives to application has always been a point of contention in food stamp policy,
given the emphasis that American welfare systems place on effectively targeting the most
deserving members of society for programs. The problem now is not one of a redefinition
of welfare, but the sudden and dramatic influx of a greater portion of the population into
pre-existing definitions of poverty and their subsequent legitimate economic need. Thus, the
question is one of scale.
Newspapers across Texas report in early April of problems in accepting new applications
during a transitional phase from the older, traditional computer service to the Texas Integrated
Eligibility Redesign System (TIERS). For the moment, plans for the development and application
of the new program have been postponed.8 “It’s tough to make any changes when you’re
drinking from a firehose,” stated Stephanie Goodman, a spokeswoman for the Texas Health
and Human Services Commission.9
Creative “outsourcing” and private contracting has proven to be another problem for
different states. The Miami Herald reported in mid-April on a probe occurring by lawmakers
into Welfare Offices in Florida from redirecting calls from Floridians to other states or even
other countries. JP Morgan Chase & Co., according to Florida’s Department of Children and
Families, has received a lot of this outsourced labor. Twenty-eight other states have begun
adopting this practice. Citicorp, another firm contracted by state welfare programs, received
$14 million a year to help develop electronic cards to replace paper food stamps. As part of
their contract, Citicorp began outsourcing calls to India. In somewhat protectionist language,
State Representative Julio Robaina, R-Miami, decried these practices, saying, “[…] at the end
of the day we’re using taxpayer money to call center outside of Florida, outside of the United
7
Currie, 79.
8
“Flood of food stamp applications slows state’s conversion to new software,” The Dallas Morning
News, 10 April 2009.
9
“Texas overwhelmed by food stamp, Medicaid applications,” The Statesmen, 9 April 2009.
39
Yannick LeJacq
States. Our money needs to stay within our state and within our country.”10
Similar problems as those in Texas and Florida were identified in the San Diego FSP. Local
government has supported many plans to expand participation in the food stamp programs,
with subsequent attempts to revise bureaucratic inefficiencies to allow the program to act
at its full capacity.11 The impetus for change in such situations has generally been coming
from advocacy groups, rather than the participants themselves.12 Advocacy groups express the
crucial concern, however, that technological and bureaucratic development of the FSP without
proper political oversight will simply amount to more pervasive screening measures to “prevent
families from applying for assistance.”13
A deeper risk to all of these new measures for the long-term effects on the FSP after the
recession (hopefully ends) is what some nutrition and poverty experts are identifying as the
“gradual erosion” of the value of food stamps with their expansion. In addition, soaring prices
in basic necessities such as “milk, eggs, and bread” limit how far each food stamps can actually
go for a family.14 If the recession continues or deepens, efficiencies in the food stamp program
may become irrelevant in the long run.
Conclusion
Pessimism aside, the best solution that the FSP appears to offer in light of the recent stimulus
plans is a means by which to reinvigorate local economics via increased consumption. As The
New York Times reports, “the bulk of the federal dollars reaching New Jersey are working their
way into the economy through individual transactions like those at the supermarket.”15 Food
stamps are obviously not the only way to get us out of the recession. However, if the FSP is
combined with other federal programs to increase employment, it can, in a very Keynesian
10
“Florida Lawmakers to probe food stamp calls in India,” The Miami Herald, 26 April 2009.
11
“Plan to Reform Food Stamp Program Approved,” San Diego News, 21 April 2009.
12
“Plan to get more people on food stamps approved,” Sign on San Diego, 21 April 2009.
13
“Food Stamp Fight!,” The San Diego Weekly Reader, 22 April 2009.
14
“As Jobs Vanish and Prices Rise, Food Stamp Use Nears Record,” The New York Times, 31 March 2008.
15
“Stimulus Money Hits the Supermarket, Then the Roads,” The New York Times, 19 April 2009,
40
growing pains: food stamps and food insecurity
model, stimulate aggregate demand both in the short run—with immediate food assistance—
and the long run, with longer term increases in both employment and production levels.
Eliminating inefficiencies to maximize the overall use of the program would therefore ensure
that the FSP plays as decisive of a role as possible.
Sources
“As Jobs Vanish and Prices Rise, Food Stamp Use Nears Record.” The
New York Times, 31 March 2008, http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/31/
us/31foodstamps.html?_r=2&scp=2&sq=food%20stamps&st=cse.
Currie, Janet. The Invisible Safety Net. Princeton: Princeton University

Press, 2006.
“Flood of food stamp applications slows state’s conversion to new soft-

ware.” The Dallas Morning News, 10 April 2009, http://www.dallasnews.
com/sharedcontent/dws/news/texassouthwest/stories/DN-tiers_10tex.ART.
State.Edition2.4abea62.html.
“Florida Lawmakers to probe food stamp calls in India.” The Miami

Herald, 26 April 2009, http://www.miamiherald.com/news/florida/AP/
story/1002661.html.
“Food Stamp Fight!” The San Diego Weekly Reader, 22 April 2009, http://
www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/21/bn22food134150/.
“Indiana slow in approving food stamps.” Journal Gazette, 26

April 2009, http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20090426/
LOCAL/304269889/1002/LOCAL.
“Plan to get more people on food stamps approved.” Sign on San Diego,
21 April 2009, http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/apr/21/
bn22food134150/.
“Plan to Reform Food Stamp Program Approved.” San Diego News, 21

April 2009, http://www.10news.com/news/19242425/detail.html.
41
Yannick LeJacq
“Stimulus Money Hits the Supermarket, Then the Roads.” The New
York Times, 19 April 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/19/
nyregion/new-jersey/19stimulusnj.html?_r=1.
“Texas overwhelmed by food stamp, Medicaid applications.” The

Statesmen, 9 April 2009.
Wolff, Edward. Poverty and Income Distribution, 2nd Ed. West Sus-
sex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009.
42
meeting the demands of
war: ensuring equal and
Dan Tessler
full status for gays and
2009 women in the armed forces
Background
The United States military currently faces significant demands for its attention and for its
actions. America is embroiled in an ever-changing and unyielding struggle with the forces
of international terrorism, even as it faces wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and rising threats
from hostile and unfriendly nations throughout the world. The sheer number of situations the
military must prepare and position itself for, in addition to those situations in which the nation’s
soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines are already committed and fighting, constitute a severe
drain on the human resources of our armed forces. The military has been able to adapt to these
demands through increasing the number and the length of individual tours of duty as well
as increasing the number of recruits for each of the service branches, often through relaxing
previous standards. These methods are not suitable for maintaining an effective and efficient
fighting force over the long-term.
One possible solution to alleviating the demands of war on the military is through
establishing equality in the armed forces by ending discrimination based upon one’s sexual
orientation or gender. Throughout its history and this ongoing stress of multiple conflicts it must
respond to, the military has forbidden gay men and women from openly serving in the armed
services and has not allowed women to be assigned to combat units. It has followed this policy
even as it faces increasing demands for more and more able and willing members of the armed
forces. In changing current policy to allow gay men and women to serve their country openly
Dan Tessler
and to permit women to serve in combat roles, the military will be able to make significant
gains in recruitment and retention, as well as relieve some of the stress imposed upon it by its
current commitments.
The role of gay men and women in today’s military is rooted in a 1993 law that instituted
the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, under which the only way gay men and women are allowed
to serve in the armed forces is as long as they are not open with their sexual orientation.
Women in general are able to serve in the various branches, but have been limited in the
exact roles they may play within the military structure. Current policy concerning the function
of women within the armed forces dates to 1994, when the secretary of defense loosened
previous regulations in declaring that “women shall be excluded from assignment to units
below the brigade level whose primary mission is to engage in direct combat on the ground.”
Both of these official stances have remained controversial ever since they were implemented,
with supporters and detractors on both sides of each issue. While the policy concerning women
in combat has been relatively stable since its inception, the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy is
currently facing a potential reversal. President Obama, who promised during his campaign to
repeal the law, has recently asked the Pentagon to study the effects of such a policy reversal.
The American public has been shown to be relatively supportive of ending both
discriminatory policies. Various polls conducted between 2004 and 2008 have 60% to 81%
of respondents are in support of allowing gay men and women to serve openly in the military.
Similarly, a 2007 poll reported that 74% of respondents believed that women should be
allowed to hold combat positions in the armed forces, up from 36% in 1981.
Analysis
The United States military is struggling in its mission to assemble a fighting force of the
best possible caliber and of adequate size for the ever-expanding role of the armed forces
throughout the world. The military branches have been able to meet their recruitment quotas
in recent years, but only at the expense of relaxing standards for new recruits. Due to quota
needs and the needs of the military in the field, not all new service members have reached
the top physical and mental requirements that the military has placed in past years on those
44
meeting the demands of war
that seek to enlist. For example, in 2008 20% of Army recruits had to receive a waiver for
enlistment due to medical or conduct reasons and 372 waivers were granted for convicted
felons. A full 17% of Army recruits never graduated from high school, well above the 10%
maximum goal set by the Department of Defense. The military has had trouble recruiting
the necessary number of people required to fight two wars while maintaining their ability
to respond to many other external threats. As a result, the educational, physical, and mental
standards of the armed forces have been made less stringent, thus potentially weakening the
fighting ability of the military and, by extension, weakening our national security. If the military
did not discriminate based on sexual orientation or gender, many of these positions filled by
less-than-qualified fighters could have been filled by people ready, able, and willing to serve
that were more physically and mentally capable.
In the first ten years following the enactment of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” almost 10,000
service members were discharged under the policy. The cost to the American people of training
their replacements was more than USD 95 million. Of those discharged, 8% held critical
positions within the military and 3% had some proficiency in necessary foreign languages,
including Arabic, Farsi, and Korean. If this policy were not in force, many of these service
members would still be a part of the military, their skills and knowledge being put to good
use. Similarly, the military would have an additional USD 95 million it could spend on better
equipment for those fighting on the ground or for other worthy purposes.
By prohibiting women from combat positions, the military is making the same mistakes
it is making by enforcing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” The current policy does not prevent women
from entering hostile areas, and many female members of the armed forces have been killed
in recent years in various combat zones. Women are only prevented from being assigned to a
unit dedicated to fighting in a hostile area. As a result, the military neither adequately protects
female service members nor does it benefit from utilizing their skills to their full potential. If
the military does not use any and all resources at its disposal for ensuring it functions at its full
potential, then national security is weakened.
45
Dan Tessler
Conclusion
The United States armed forces should be concentrating on protecting the nation throughout
the world. In discriminating against would-be recruits and existing service members based
on their sexual orientation and their gender, the military only serves to weaken itself and its
mission. Necessary skills of gay men and women are completely lost to the military as they are
discharged, and the knowledge and abilities of female service members are not used to their
full potential. Recruitment statistics for recent years even show that military standards have
had to be lowered in order to meet quotas. Instead of resorting to this, the armed forces should
alter or repeal these discriminatory policies. By establishing equality throughout the American
military, the country’s fighting force would be strengthened and be made better equipped to
meet the rigorous demands it faces in the wars and conflicts and threats of today.
Sources
Bender, Bryan. “Obama seeks assessment on gays in military.” The

Boston Globe, 1 February 2009.
“Foreign Affairs and Defense Issues: US Military.” PollingReport.

com, http://www.pollingreport.com/defense.htm#Military.
Kiefer, Heather Mason. “Gays in Military: Public Says Go Ahead

and Tell.” Gallup, 21 Decemcer 2004, http://www.gallup.com/
poll/14419/Gays-Military-Public-Says-Ahead-Tell.aspx.
“Military Personnel: Financial Costs and Loss of Critical Skills

Due to DOD’s Homosexual Conduct Policy Cannot Be Completely
Estimated.” US Government Accountability Office, February 2005.
Norris, Michele. “Two Opposing Views on Women on the

Battlefield.” National Public Radio, 3 October 2007, http://www.
npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14960494.
“Policy on women in combat bears no relation to reality

[editorial].” USA Today, May 12, 2008, http://blogs.usatoday.com/.
oped/2008/05/policy-on-women.html.
46
meeting the demands of war
Powers, Rod. “FY 2008 Military Recruiting Statistics: Overall

Year.” About.com, Oct. 13, 2008, http://usmilitary.about.com/
od/2008recruitingstatistics/a/september.htm.
Putko, Michele M., Douglas V. Johnson II, eds. “Women in Combat

Compendium.” Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College, 24
January 2008.
“Same-Sex Marriage, Gay Rights,” PollingReport.com, http://www.

pollingreport.com/civil.htm.
47
state elected judiciary:
reducing corruption
Elizabeth
Gauvey-Kern
by moving towards an
2011 appointed judicial model
“But when you come to the bench, to the solemn

functions of justice, what has the will of the people
to do there? The will of the people withdraws at once.”
—Vann Cott, prominent legal scholar, mid 1800s
Background
In all successful democracies two structures of government are required: 1) populace-bound

government, government that accurately reflects the will of the people and is held accountable
by them; 2) constitution-bound government, government which is independent of public opinion
and thus can hold society to the documents laid down in its founding. In the federal system
this is accurately reflected. The presidency and the congress make up the populace-bound
government, while an independent appointment-style-judiciary holds society accountable to its
founding documents. However, in 39 of the 50 state governments, there is a disconnect in this
relationship. In these 39 states, the judiciary is elected, not appointed, thus pushing the branch
of government towards the populace-bound side, leaving constitution-bound government
ominously empty. From the 1980s on, state judicial elections have become highly politicized.
Campaign donations to these elections have doubled in the past several years. The issue has
increasingly generated discussion and debate in law forums and newspapers across the nation,
and on March 3rd it hit the Supreme Court floor. Hugh Caperton, a small time West Virginian
coal miner was run out of business by coal conglomerate, Massey Energy Company. When
Caperton took his case to court the jury awarded him 50 million dollars. Massey appealed, but
that’s not all the company did. At this time the state Supreme Court judicial election was taking
place. Massey spent 3 million dollars in campaign donations on a little known West Virginian
lawyer, Brent Benjamin. When Benjamin won, the justice refused three times to recuse himself
from the case, and instead cast the deciding vote on Massey’s behalf.
Discussion in the Supreme Court hearing centered on the question of “forced recusal.”
Should justices be forced to recuse themselves not only when they have a “personal stake in
the outcome,” as the law now states, but also if there is a substantial “probability of bias”?
The court was sharply divided on the issue. Justice Roberts, underlining the conservative
viewpoint, expressed his concern that forcing justices to recuse themselves would stifle judicial
independence and could not be adequately limited. “Probability is a loose term,” Justice
Roberts warned, “What percentage is probable? 50%? 10%?” The liberal viewpoint, perhaps
best expressed by Justice Stevens, argued that judicial independence was being threatened by
leaving judges beholden to big campaign donors and interest groups. Further, the constitutional
right to a free and fair trial was clearly under attack. “Is it your opinion that the appearance of
impropriety could never be strong enough to raise a constitutional issue?,” questioned Justice
Stevens, “No matter how extreme the facts? We’ve never had a case this extreme before.”
Analysis
Is limiting judicial independence a dangerous game to play? Who would make these decisions
of “probability of bias”? Could they really be impartial? Furthermore, how could it be
limited? Is there a probability of bias if a newspaper or organization endorses a candidate?
However, it is clear that without action, an individual’s right to a free and fair trail will
be recklessly abandoned. The answer, I believe, lies not in “forced recusal,” but in judicial reform,
the movement from an elected to an appointed judiciary for all states. Thus ensuring the
balance all successful democracies must maintain between populace-bound and constitution-
bound government.
50
state elected judiciary
This is not an idea without precedent. Many of these state constitutions originally called
for appointed not elected judiciary. Furthermore, when the constitutional change was made
in a Jacksonian wave of government distrust, shortly thereafter, the movement to elected
judiciary was regarded as a grave mistake by the great legal thinkers of the time and the
populace at large.
The 1821 Constitution of New York State called for the judiciary to be appointed by the
governor and confirmed by the state senate. However, in the mid-1840s a wave of Jacksonian
populist distrust of government swept the nation and many states switched from an appointed
to elected judicial model; among these, New York State, with the new 1846 constitution.
However, by the close of the Civil War, once enough time had passed for the full
ramifications of the new constitution to take hold, the legal and political community at large
was agreed that a grave mistake had been made. “I do not believe in the election of judges
—it is one of the greatest wrongs ever inflicted on a free society,” said one New York district
attorney. And in 1867, a constitutional convention was called to address the issue.
The Constitution of 1846, though intended to bring about a greater accountability among
the judiciary to the electorate, instead forced judges under the wing of corrupt party bosses.
William Tweed, of the infamous “Tweed Ring,” was among the worst. With his influence, he
unseated many longtime justices of unparalleled moral standing and replaced them with his
cronies. The system was so corrupt that it was filling with criminals. In 1860, one district attorney
explained that at a judicial nominating convention he attended a number of the delegates were
convicted felons.
The goal of the 1867 constitutional convention was to restore judicial independence
by complete reform. William Evarts, foremost legal thinker of the time, called the convention
a “reinstallment of the judiciary.” In 1869, a referendum was ratified passing many judicial
reforms including the elongation of judicial terms. However, the 1873 referendum to return
to an appointed judiciary, which the great legal minds of the day had identified as the root of
corruption, failed to pass the popular vote in New York State.
Though many states were able to return to appointed judiciary through referendum, there
remain 39 states whose legal systems are still grounded in this mistaken Jacksonian Populist
formula. And problems continue to arise. Caperton vs. Massey Coal was not the only case
51
brought before the Supreme Court regarding elected judiciary. There have been many other
cases involving campaign donations and resulting judicial bias, and in 2002 a case came before
the court regarding speech rights of judicial candidates.
Conclusion
The very idea of moving from elected to appointed judiciary seems undemocratic. After all,
democracy, both in definition and in entomology, means rule by the people. However, to protect
all people, not just those in the majority, the founding fathers put forth a constitution and a
free and independent judiciary who could protect it. Arguments can be made for an elected
judiciary. However, when these theories were put to the test in the mid-1800s, the effects were
catastrophic.
Sources
Lerner, Renée Lettow. “To Independence: Reform of the Elected

Judiciary in Boss Tweed’s New York.” 2007.
Totenberg, Nina.“High Court Weighs Judicial Ethics.” NPR, 2009,

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=101389475.
52
filling in the future:
the need for
rehabilitation &
reintegration of former
Lily Mandlin
2010 child soldiers in uganda
Background
For the past twenty-two years, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), a rebel group from Northern
Uganda, has waged an insurgent war against President Museveni and his army, the Uganda
People’s Defense Force (UPDF). The LRA has been supported by the Sudanese government
and tolerated by the Democratic Republic of Congo. Their mission is somewhat unclear but is
related to the treatment of the residents of Northern Uganda, the Acholi. However, the people
of Northern Uganda, also known as Acholi-land, have born the brunt of the violence inflicted by
the LRA. The LRA continually practices scorched earth policies, loots and steals from the Acholi,
and most significantly, abducts Acholi children to serve as part of the LRA forces.
These children are brutalized and forced to perform extremely difficult manual labor and
domestic work, sexually service other members of the LRA, and kill members of the UPDF,
civilians, and “disobedient” fellow child soldiers. The children who are released or escape
from the LRA find themselves without homes, family, or community, and with extraordinary
emotional scars, as well as physical aliments.
Uganda existed under a protectorate of the British government until 1962. Between the
years of 1962 and 1986, the Republic of Uganda endured many leaders and tremendous
political unrest. Since January of 1986, however, President Museveni has ruled over the country1
1
“Northern Uganda: Understanding and Solving the Conflict,” ICG Africa Report no.77 (Nairobi/Brussels:
International Crisis Group, 2004), 29.
Lily Mandlin
and this period has been considered by some to be one of relative stability. This “stability”
can only be true when considered in light of the previous twenty-four years in which different
political factions vied for leadership using military force.
President Museveni and the National Resistance Army overthrew the government of
Tito Okello in January 1986. This coup created dissatisfaction in Northern Uganda because
Okello was from the North.2 The aggression against his government hurt Acholi pride, caused
resentment, and planted the seeds for the LRA insurgency. Joseph Kony is leader of the
insurgency, and his efforts are a direct continuation of prior rebels.3 For many years, while the
LRA’s tactics were recognized as brutal and the Acholi people feared them, they simultaneously
saw them as the only group willing to stand up to Museveni on behalf of their grievances.4
Analysis
While the conflict in Northern Uganda remains widely underreported, several governmental
and non-governmental organizations have taken interest in this area and the key issue of
rehabilitating child soldiers. Save the Child Alliance, The International Rescue Fund, Christian
Children’s Fund, World Vision, UNICEF, and other smaller organizations have either set out to
help build programs or study the population through interviews. Several rehabilitation facilities
exist in Northern Uganda, most notably are those run through World Vision Rehabilitation
Center: The Gulu Orphans Rehabilitation Project, Gulu Save Our Children Organization (GUSCO),
and the Gulu Referral Hospital. These projects focus on several methods of psychosocial
development such as education, vocational training, therapy, artistic representations, and
sports play. While these activities are valuable and commendable, they fall short of filling the
vast needs of the population of child soldiers.
Despite efforts from various groups, including Save the Child Alliance, to form working
groups to understand this population, the appropriate methods remain largely elusive. Success
is not well predicted. It seems that the lack of results stems from the fact that the population
2
“Northern Uganda: Understanding and Solving the Conflict,” 2.
3
Ibid, 12.
4
Ibid, 9.
54
filling in the future
of child soldiers is diverse. As the background of the conflict and the discussion of child soldiery
indicated, the experiences of child soldiers in the Northern Uganda conflict are diverse. Child
soldiers played many roles and also served as soldiers at varying developmental stages. Gender
differences and well as regional placement also affected treatment. It is then logical that these
differences in circumstances as soldiers affects the appropriateness of treatment for these
children and young adults as they try to become civilians again.
A comprehensive, cross-district, and cross-country evaluation should take place. This
evaluation should center on the question of what kind of services best helps ameliorate the
negative affects of each different experience. In addition, the current programs that are taking
place in Uganda and in other nations for child soldiers, and children of conflict in the larger
sense, should be examined. Each program’s strengths and weaknesses should be discussed.
Non-governmental organizations compete for funding and the public narrative, which often
undermines their work. In this case, there have been some attempts for more comprehensive
studies and collaboration, but the results have not been fruitful. In addressing this issue, a
serious evaluation of the various demographics needs to take place with cooperation among
the several groups that work in the area and in similar regions. Many scholars feel as though
there has been no such “serious evaluation” of the situation and that the effectiveness of these
programs is assumed rather than studied.5 It might be helpful to bring in outside coordinators
who do not have affiliations with the specific groups and can work on a scholarly level to
identify the needs and best solutions for these children.
In addition, these programs need to have more input from the children and communities
that benefit from them. A community’s ownership of these children will come from their
assumption of the responsibility for their treatment and their successful rehabilitation. While
much of psychosocial programming seeks a reunification of the child with the family, in most
of these cases, there is no family for the child to rejoin. It then becomes the community’s task
to find a way for these children to be integrated into the community. It is important to respect
the indigenous social structure of the various ethnic groups in these districts of conflict. This
Acholi-based issue has spread to include areas where other ethnic groups exist. In addition,
5
Ilene Cohn, Guy S. Goodwin-Gill, Child Soldiers: The Role of Children in Armed Conflict (Oxford: Clare-
don Press, 1994), 133.
55
Lily Mandlin
organizations need to assess, on a local level, what resources are available and what resources
might be attained through a coalition of interested parties. Material support such as livestock,
educational materials, farming tools, and home building supplies are crucial for reintegration.
Basic needs must be met in order to have the affects of the reintegration be long lasting.6
The need for material support speaks to the overarching issue of development in Northern
Uganda. The economy of an already impoverished area continues to be hindered by the
ongoing conflict. Human capital, safe land for laboring, and community trust are necessary
to develop the land. It is, of course, crucial that this conflict end as soon as possible. However,
in the meanwhile, the people of Northern Uganda can work to strengthen their population of
workers, their skills, and their communal ties, to enable productivity in the future. A positive
influx of skilled and motivated workers from former child soldiers who have been helped and
trained through programs designed by their communities will help undermine the conditions
which led to conflict and misery.
Some fear that psychosocial programming will be wasted on many of these former child
soldiers. The exhaustion model indicates that former child soldiers will seem rehabilitated and
capable of coping until additional stressors compound their trauma. A break will then occur,
and they will be unable to cope any longer and be more difficult to reach than ever before.7
While this is certainly a possibility, it is less likely to occur if the eternal stressors, which have
plagued this area for decades, are lessened.
Conclusion
In providing psychosocial programming to former child soldiers, organizations must

simultaneously have a very individualized and holistic point of view. Each child and young
adult must be considered within the context of their own experiences with their specific needs
addressed by the appropriate program. This process can only take place through vast research
and collaboration across Uganda and also internationally. In addition, a holistic view of the
6
Lorea Russell, Elzbieta M. Gozdziak, “Coming Home Whole: Reintegrating Uganda’s Child Soldiers,”
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs 7, no. 2 (2006): 61.
7
P.W. Singer, Children at War, (New York: Pantheon Books, 2005), 196.
56
filling in the future
social circumstances of Northern Uganda must be taken into account. The problems, which
set the stage for these atrocities, must be undermined through positive action on the part of
empowered communities. In order move to forward the physical, psychological, and communal
wounds of the former child soldiers of Northern Uganda must be healed, while preparing them
for the uphill battle of redeveloping their society. This complicated process can only take place
through the collaboration of the relevant actors and a commitment to prevent this cycle of
violence from continuing. Each former combatant and citizen of Northern Uganda must feel
empowered to fill in their people’s future.
Sources
Cohn, Ilene, Guy S. Goodwin-Gill. Child Soldiers: The Role of Chil-

dren in Armed Conflict. Oxford: Claredon Press, 1994.
“Northern Uganda: Understanding and Solving the Conflict.” ICG

Africa Report no.77. Nairobi/Brussels: International Crisis Group,
2004.
Russell, Lorea, Elzbieta M. Gozdziak. “Coming Home Whole:

Reintegrating Uganda’s Child Soldiers.” Georgetown Journal of
International Affairs 7, no. 2 (2006).
Singer, P.W. Children at War. New York: Pantheon Books, 2005.
57
tanf: cutting costs,
Charmaine Chen
2012 leaving the needy behind
Background
In this recession, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) has proven to be an
unresponsive program to increasing need. While TANF has been praised for encouraging single
mothers to work during the prosperity of the Clinton administration, increasing work incentives
is useless when there are few jobs available. State control of the program makes it harder for
families that need such aid to gain access to aid, and states also do not have sufficient financial
or administrative resources to meet with the increased need, causing delays that needy families
cannot afford.
A work incentive program works well in an economy with available jobs. Low-income single
mothers are the ones most affected by cutbacks in the welfare rolls, and the unemployment
rate for women was 10.8 percent in March 2009. This is 3.3 percent higher than the usual
seasonally adjusted unemployment rate.1 Nation-wide unemployment is projected to rise to 8
percent by the end of 2009. TANF programs that require needy families to work or participate
in job-search programs in order to get the assistance they urgently need—such as the one in
Michigan—will only keep them disconnected from welfare when they need it the most.2
1
“Welfare for Bankers,” New York Times, 20 April 2009.
2
“Americans’ Food Stamp Use Nears All Time High,” Washington Post, 26 November 2008.
Charmaine Chen
Analysis
The 60-month time limit imposed by the TANF program3 causes needy families to have to
choose between saving their time on TANF for a crisis or to use it to meet their immediate
needs such as food, housing, and clothing. The use of TANF depends on expectations for the
duration of the recession and the likelihood of gaining a higher level of income in the future.
What could be done to decrease this insecurity would be to provide other forms of support,
such as supplementary nutrition and medical care for families, which have run out of TANF
time but are still eligible according to income limits. While SNAP is an entitlement program that
guarantees nutritional assistance, Medicare requires a lengthy application process for families
not on TANF.
State control is the root of most of the problems with the TANF program. Monthly
income limit requirements vary widely, from $256 in Alabama to $1,933 in Alaska in 2003.4
This difference is disproportionate to the difference in the costs of living in the two states,
and it points towards a great inconsistency in the availability of public assistance throughout
the nation.
With the economic downturn, states also have an incentive to cut back on their welfare
rolls, since they cannot run a budget deficit and must work with a limited federal block grant.
This means that with the recession, when assistance is most needed, states are actually cutting
back on their welfare roll. Despite the fact that welfare rolls have tripled, Federal block grants
have remained at 16.8 billion since the program’s inception. Furthermore, since TANF was
established during a period of economic prosperity, states allocated the federal block grants
originally destined for use in the TANF program to other state funded programs, such as child
welfare. Federal block grants have not increased since the program was implemented, and
these factors, combined with the threefold increase of Americans in need of cash welfare, has
led to states cutting back on their caseloads. This outcome only further harms the beleaguered
poor. For this reason, states are finding ways to block or delay access to TANF, such as in
Michigan, where applicants are required to spend a month in a job search program before
3
Edward N. Wolff, Poverty and Income Distribution (Malden: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 547.
4
Ibid, 548.
60
tanf: cutting costs, leaving the needy behind
receiving benefits.5 Few TANF applicants who are facing unemployment can afford to go a
month without income.
Despite attempts to make the system more efficient, states and counties simply do not
have the financial or administrative resources to meet public assistance needs. In Milwaukee,
the county’s income assistance program budget has decreased by 10 percent with a 10.5
percent increase in the number of applicants.6 This problem is exacerbated by Wisconsin’s state
mandates that require a hopelessly understaffed office to process 95 percent of applications
within 30 days or risk losing all state funding for the program.7 Losing state funding is highly
likely—the state of Wisconsin has already cut the public assistance budget by $2.4 million.8
This discrepancy between state funding and need for assistance is a strong case for federal
government intervention.
In order to meet the increase in need, as well as to compensate for the decrease in
tax revenue and greater expenditure on programs such as TANF, the federal government will
have to take direct control of the TANF program in order to reduce costs. Although states
cannot run a budget deficit, the federal government can.9 Therefore, instead of responding to
a recession with less money for welfare programs as income decreases, the federal government
would be able to balance the decrease in income with an increase in assistance, and thus
relieve poverty more effectively.10 Direct federal control can also lower administrative costs
of giving block grants to states, as there will be less leakage of funds into state-sponsored
programs other than TANF.
To avoid unnecessary national debt, the federal government must respond to tighter
budget constraints with careful spending. The new budget presented by the Obama
administration seeks to spend more on preventive in-kind programs such as SNAP, healthcare,
5
Jason DeParle, “Welfare Aid Isn’t Growing As Economy Drops Off,” New York Times, 1 Febrary 2009.
6
“Demand for public aid swamps staff,” Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, 14 January 2008.
7
Ibid.
8
“Agency Sues over Aid Logjam,” Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, 8 July 2008.
9
“Weave a stronger safety net for the disadvantaged,” The Plain Dealer, 5 November 2008.
10
Ibid.
61
Charmaine Chen
and birth control.11 Preventing healthcare emergencies reduces the cost of healthcare—for
asthma treatments, an outpatient visit cost $251 while an inpatient visit cost $1,324.12
Similarly, the cost of educating and providing teenagers with birth control is significantly lower
than the cost of a teenage single-mother family on the welfare rolls. Cutting back on Medicaid
expenses through preventative medical care would allow funds to be redirected to TANF and
other safety net programs.
Perhaps one of the most costly welfare programs is the Troubled Asset Relief Program,
a cash assistance program for failing banks, which cost $700 billion in the past year alone—
more than 100 times the amount spent on TANF.13 This suggests that welfare reform may not
be the most effective way to reduce the budget deficit. Perhaps by cutting back on bailouts,
the budget deficit could be reduced and greater resources could be spent on meeting the basic
needs of the population.
Conclusion
When the economy was booming, the middle-class supported tax laws in favor of the rich, since
they saw themselves as potentially rich.14 Now, as the unemployed middle class finds itself in
need of the safety net, changing public sentiment may increase support for more progressive
taxation. John Rawls’ theory of the “maximin” has come into play—society’s risk aversion has
resulted in people settling for a lower payoff in the form of higher taxation in order to get a
more certain outcome, in this case, a sturdier safety net.15
In order to effectively respond to this recession, the nation must rearrange its priorities.
Not only is it good to help the poor maintain a decent standard of living in a moral and
compassionate sense, but it is also beneficial as an efficient stimulus to the economy. A lower
income means a higher marginal propensity. The poor will feed more of the money back into
11
“Drilling Down on the Budget,” New York Times, 26 February 2009.
12
Janet M. Currie, The Invisible Safety Net (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2006), 34.
13
“Welfare for Bankers,” 2009.
14
“The belief that the wealthy are worthy is waning,” Los Angeles Times, 19 March 2009.
15
Wolff, 553.
62
tanf: cutting costs, leaving the needy behind
the economy, increasing the government spending multiplier and the effect per dollar of
government spending on the economy. The principles of ethics and economics both converge
on this point, that what is good for the poor is good for the society. With astute spending and
common sense, this recession can repair the imbalances in the United States economy.
Sources
Black, Jane. “Americans’ Food Stamp Use Nears All Time High.”
Washington Post, 26 November 2008, http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/25/AR2008112502553.
html?referrer=emailarticle.
Bosman, Julie. “Newly Poor Swell Lines at Food Banks.” New York Times,
19 February 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/nyregion/20food.
html?pagewanted=2.
Currie, Janet M. The Invisible Safety Net. Princeton: Princeton University

Press, 2006.

DeParle, Jason. “Welfare Aid Isn’t Growing As Economy Drops Off.” New
York Times, 1 February 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/02/
us/02welfare.html.
Edelman, Peter, Mark Greenberg, Harry J. Holzer. “Weave a stronger safety

net for the disadvantaged.” The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), 5 November
2008, http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2008/11/weave_a_
stronger_safety_net_fo.html.
Folbre, Nancy. “Welfare for Bankers.” New York Times, 20 April

2009, http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/welfare-for-
bankers/?scp=1&sq=welfare&st=cse.
Gabler, Ellen. “Agency Sues over Aid Logjam.” Milwaukee Wisconsin

Journal Sentinel, 8 July 2008, http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/
pi/29442779.html.
—“Demand for public aid swamps staff.” Milwaukee Wisconsin

Journal Sentinel, 14 January 2008, http://www.jsonline.com/watchdog/
pi/29563879.html.
63
Charmaine Chen
Hiltzik, Michael. “L.” Los Angeles Times, 19 March 2009,

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-hiltzik19-
2009mar19,0,351773.column.
Hoze, Corey. “State’s takeover plan is wrong approach.” Milwaukee

Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, 9 February 2009, http://www.jsonline.
com/news/opinion/39337622.html.
Stout, David. “Drilling Down on the Budget.” New York Times,

26 February 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/27/
washington/27web-welfare.html?emc=eta1.
Wolff, Edward N. Poverty and Income Distribution. Malden: Wiley-

Blackwell, 2009.
64
american
Jeffrey
Bizinkauskas
coordination
2010 for climate change
Background
The United States must assemble a strategy for energy and climate change policy that effectively
coordinates domestic and international political action. There are organizational difficulties
inherent in rousing domestic public support and passing meaningful reform legislation, as
well as in forging international cooperation and abatement responses. A multi-layered political
approach is required to inspire agreement among nations, between individual countries, within
the U.S. government, and among America’s institutions, politicians, and people. President
Obama has a crucial role to play in this quest, but success will ultimately depend on the
persuasiveness and momentum of the argument for reform and the capacity of self-motivated
actors to see the mutual benefits of cooperation.
Analysis
Presidential Leadership
The upcoming United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change negotiations in
Copenhagen this December makes 2009 a make-or-break year for our global response to
climate change. If the United States is to have any international credibility at these negotiations
and be in a position to shape a meaningful climate change agreement in its interests and in
the collective interest of the planet, it will be necessary to initiate a new domestic energy policy
Jeffrey Bizinkauskas
before the Copenhagen talks begin. Passing legislation for an aggressive cap and trade program
will be crucial, because putting a price on carbon will signal to the world that the United States
is committed to reform. Through executive branch regulatory discretion under the Clean Air Act,
additional regulations to the transportation and electricity industries would begin important
reform in the two sectors that produce more than 70 percent of U.S. CO2 emissions. To catalyze
efforts throughout the entire government, President Obama should establish a National Energy
Security Council within the Executive Office of the President to draft a national energy security
strategy and coordinate its implementation across federal agencies, Congress, the private
sector, and other countries. Because climate change will affect almost all aspects of public and
private life, the President’s Cabinet should work in concert with their respective bureaucracies
to implement, monitor, and improve economy-wide carbon abatement responses.
Congressional Statute
Because two-thirds of the House and Senate are needed to pass international treaties, while a
simple majority of both houses is sufficient to ratify a statue, the President should coordinate
with Congress the creation of a Climate Protection Authority. Congress would draft statutory
conditions for international energy policy before Copenhagen so that the U.S. position would
be clear to other negotiators. Inherently flexible, this framework would facilitate future
negotiations with other nations, and possibly even lay the foundation for a multilateral carbon
trading organization with a structure similar to the GATT/WTO framework.
International Diplomacy
The U.S. should attempt a layered diplomatic approach—seeking a consensus on ambitious
commitments with the top eight carbon-emitting countries, bilateral agreements with China,
and a substantial multilateral UN Framework Convention on Climate Change agreement.
The political influence of an “E-8” would be secured through annual meetings of respective
heads of state, and the streamlined high-level engagement outside of the UN would provide
productive dialogue and leadership for others to follow. In engaging China in a bilateral energy
reform relationship, the U.S. should help China’s government convert to a clean energy sources,
increase industrial efficiency, and implement a functional regulatory system for stricter emissions
66
american coordination for climate change
standards. Because Chinese leadership recognizes that its rapid industrialization has resulted in
severe environment degradation, there exists tremendous opportunity to seek mutual gains in
transitioning China to renewable, sustainable sources of energy.
Conclusion
Restructuring the energy foundation of our entire world could be the ultimate test of our
most recent developments in science, technology, communication, and human understanding.
Fortunately, a variety of converging factors have created the very political window necessary
for a reform effort of such monumental proportions. Growing public acceptance of an ever-
growing scientific consensus on climate change provides a broad and vocal base of support;
new U.S. leadership is energized and motivated to take up the political struggle for concerted
action; and the world economic collapse has the positive unintended consequence of potentially
facilitating a massive economic re-conceptualization toward a development model based upon
clean, renewable energy.
Sources
Antholis, William, Nigel Purvis. “The Case for a Climate Protec-

tion Authority.” The Brookings Institute. http://www.brookings.edu/
opinions/2009/0127_climate_change_antholis_purvis.aspx.
Burke, Sharon, Christine Parthemore. “Remodeling the U.S. Government for

Energy Security: Initial Findings from the Big Energy Map.” Working Paper:
Center for a New American Security.
Northrop, Michael, David Sassoon. “What Obama Must Do On the Road to

Copenhagen.” http://www.e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2116.
Kopp, Raymond J. “Recent Trends in U.S. Greenhouse Gas Emissions:

An Introductory Guide to Data and Sources.” Resources for the Future:
Washington, D.C.
Stern, Todd, William Antholis. “A Changing Climate: The Road Ahead for the
United States.” The Washington Quarterly 31, no. 1: 175-188.
67
the cardinal direction
wesleyan university
public policy jounrnal
volume 1 spring 2009
design by catherine gavriel

http://www.catherinegavriel.com
Sponsored by the Wesleyan University Chapter

of the Roosevelt Institute
THE ROOSEVELT INSTITUTE is a non-profit, non-partisan

national network of campus-based student think tanks. Its
members conduct policy research on the pressing political issues
facing our world, from environmental protection to equality under
the law to trade and taxes. The Roosevelt Institute connects the
fruits of that research to the policy process, delivering sound,
progressive proposals to policymakers and advocacy groups at
all levels of government.
http://www.rooseveltintitution.org
Wesleyan University
Middletown, CT
http://www.wesleyan.edu

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volume 1 fall 2009

the views expressed within

11 an argument for acknowledging persecution

15 improving global emissions trading under

25 reassessing connecticut’s wic program in

33 weswind: bringing wind turbines

37 growing pains: food stamps and food

43 meeting the demands of war:

49 state elected judiciary: reducing

53 filling in the future: the need for

59 tanf: cutting costs, leaving the needy

With hope for the future,

Anderson, John E., Atrayee Ghosh Roy. “Eliminating Housing Tax

Currie, Janet M. The Invisible Safety Net. Princeton: Princeton University

FreKing, Kevin. “Analyst differ on public housing fix.” The Seattle

Hossain, Farhana, Amanda Cox, John McGarth, Stephan Weitberg.

Husock, Howard. “Housing Goals We Can’t Afford.” The New York

Retsinas, Nicholas. “Renters deserve a better shake.” The Boston

Simmons, Anne M. “Lancaster proposes limiting Section 8 housing.”

Spivack, Miranda. “Rights Groups Allege Rental Discrimination,”

Wolff, Edward N. Poverty and Income Distribution, 2nd ed. Malden:

The Department of Homeland Security. “INS Asylum Gender Guidelines.”

Bohmer, Carol. Rejecting Refugees : political asylum in the 21st century.

Butler, Judith, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Who Sings the Nation-State?

Dowty, Alan. Closed Borders: The Contemporary Assault on Freedom of

Enloe, Cynthia. Bananas, Beaches, and Bases; Making Feminist Sense of

Ericson, Connie M. “In re Kasinga: an Expansion of the Grounds for Asylum

Freedman, Jane. Gendering the International Asylum and Refugee Debate.

General Assembly of the United Nations. “Universal Declaration of Human

Kaplan, Caren, Norma Alarcon, Minoo Moallem, eds. Between

Kenney, David Ngaruri, Philip G. Schrag. Asylum Denied: A Refugee’s

Lewis, Hope. “Reconceiving Reality: Women and International Law.”

Lister, Ruth. Citizenship; Feminist Perspectives. New York: NYU Press,

Nussbaum, Martha. “Women and Equality: the Capabilities

Oxford, Connie G. “Protectors and victims in the gender regime of

Randall, Vicky, Georgina Waylen. Gender, Politics, and the State.

Rosenblum, Marc R., Idean Salehyan. “Norms and Interests in US

Seith, Patricia A. “Escaping Domestic Violence: Asylum as a Means

U.S. Department of Justice. “In re R-A, Respondent.” The U.S.

Wallace, Rebecca M. “Making the Refugee Convention Gender

“Who We Are.” Refugees International, http://www.

participant. While the current U.S. administration appears to be in support of an international

Auffhammer, Maximilian, Richard T. Carson. “Forecasting the Path

Donehower, Jonathan. “Analyzing Carbon Cmissions Trading: a

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Currie, Janet M. The Invisible Safety Net: Protecting the Nation’s

DeParle, Jason. “Welfare Aid Isn’t Growing as Economy Drops

Dorschner, John. “Low Medicaid payments lead to lack of dental

Eckholm, Erik. “States Slashing Social Programs for Vulnerable,”

“GHA Survey Reveals Economic Crisis, Medicaid Underfunding

Goldstein, Amy. “States Cut Medicaid Coverage Further.”

Harms, William. “An economic downturn impacts social services’

King, Charles. “Healthcare cuts are actually critical Medicaid reforms”

“National Governors Association Calls for Medicaid Funding to be

“Recession may exacerbate Medicaid problems.” Pharmacy News,

Rovner, Julie. “Opponents Support Expanding Medicaid Coverage.”

Wolff, Edward N. Poverty and Income Distribution. Malden: Wiley-

tables detailing food costs of wic program

Table 1: Average Food Cost Per Person on WIC

October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009 Difference in

WIC Agency Level Spreadsheets. www.fns.usda.gov.