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OCR Page 1 of 28LEADERSHIP HALL
001
UNIVERSITY of PENNSYLVANIA
Fels Center of Government
Mark Alan Hughes, Ph.D.
Founded in 1937 by Samuel S. Fels
Distinguished Senior Scholar and
3814 Walnut Street
Director, Policy Development Laboratory
Philadelphia, PA 19104-6197
[email protected]
215-620-6886 / Fax: 707-371-2485
September 18, 2000
The Hon. Arlen Specter
United States Senate
711 Hart Building
Washington DC 20510
To MARGY WALLER
2024567431
Dear Senator Specter,
I write to urge you to amend the pending Assets for Independence Act (AFIA) so that low-
income families may use their Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) to purchase
automobiles needed for commuting to work.
That use is disallowed under the current language of the legislation. Yet, research has
shown that having access to a reliable automobile is the crucial difference for many
families in getting and keeping a good job. An automobile is one of the most important
assets a low-income family can have. AFIA should be amended to reflect this basic reality
in the lives of these families.
With your past support, I have long advocated assistance for low-income families to
access distant employment opportunities, first in the Bridges to Work program at HUD and
later in the Access to Jobs title in NEXTEA. While those efforts are important, they focus
exclusively on public transit. It is increasingly clear that automobiles are an essential first
or second step in job access for many, many families.
Indeed, Pennsylvania is a national leader in the use of its TANF funds to support both
automobile operation and purchase by families leaving welfare for work. The
Commonwealth is as well-positioned as any state in the union to make immediate and
extensive use of a car-option IDA.
Perhaps the best place to make this important point would be in the upcoming new
markets legislation, since that whole effort is about accessing economic opportunities. But
at the very least, I hope you and your colleagues can fix this basic flaw in the current
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