[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 116 (Thursday, September 15, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1877-E1878]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   THE POVERTY LEVEL IN OUR NATION IS UNACCEPTABLE--IT IS TIME FOR A 
                                 CHANGE

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, September 15, 2005

  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, I rise tonight to talk about poverty in 
our nation--the harsh reality of which played out painfully for all of 
the world to see after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast region.
  The televised images of hardship, death and despair from New Orleans 
may have opened the doors to this nation's reservoir of compassion--but 
something more than a momentary outpouring of conscience will be 
required to keep those doors from slamming shut again once the 
television spotlights dim.
  Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath revealed the harsh realities of 
poverty in America. The heartbreaking visions of lost children 
searching for their families, elderly people trapped in their homes, 
diabetics suffering without their insulin and corpses floating in the 
streets have the potential to become a transforming event.
  That potential will be realized, however, only if Americans of 
conscience join together in a national movement to end poverty in 
America.
  Once again, a generation of Americans must find within ourselves the 
courage, optimism and organizational skills that will allow us to 
demand an end to the poverty that underscored the New Orleans tragedy--
and to make permanent our demand for positive change.
  The road toward achieving this goal must begin, as all missions of 
change begin, in our personal experience as a people. Consider two 
families who have been transformed by the New Orleans disaster--whom I 
will call the Jones and Smith families. I am using fictitious names and 
relaying a blended story to protect their privacy--but quite frankly 
Mr. Speaker their stories are a common refrain from the Katrina 
fallout.
  Prior to this storm, Mr. and Mrs. Jones lived in public housing with 
their three children. Neither parent had a high school diploma and--as 
a result--they lived in a neighborhood surrounded by unemployment and 
poverty.
  If it had not been for Hurricane Katrina, the Jones family might 
never have met the Smiths, a middle-aged couple who live in an upscale 
suburban home hundreds of miles away.
  The Smiths were haunted by the suffering that they were witnessing on 
their television screen. Called to take action by their church, they 
reached out to the Jones family and gave them a place to live in the 
basement of their home. The impact of their generosity has been 
profound.
  Before the storm and the flood, Mr. Jones had been unemployed due to 
layoffs at the New Orleans oil refinery where he had worked. Now, one 
of Mr. Smith's neighbors, a lumber yard supervisor, has given Mr. Jones 
a job--and the Smiths are helping the Jones family research GED 
programs that can help them get even better jobs.
  Across America, churches and good people like the Smiths are coming 
together to provide the shelter, warm meals, clothing and other help 
that will allow many of the survivors of Hurricane Katrina to rebuild 
their lives. School districts have opened their classrooms to the more 
than 372,000 students displaced by the storm. Government and non-profit 
organizations are holding job fairs to help those who have been 
displaced find employment.
  We cannot remake the past, but we can give meaning to the staggering 
toll of those who have suffered and died as a result of this national 
tragedy. That is what the Smith family is doing, and they deserve our 
applause.
  Yet, if the debacle in New Orleans is truly to become a ``tipping 
point'' that guides this nation toward a more just and humane society, 
something more than individual acts of compassion will be required.
  Consider these facts. In New Orleans before the storm, three out of 
every ten residents lived below the poverty line--and at least 37 
million Americans (including 13 million American children) are now 
living in poverty nationwide.
  In fact, the number of Americans falling into poverty increased again 
last year for the fourth straight year. While the economy grew 3.8%, 
median income has remained flat for the fifth straight year at $44,389. 
Income inequality is at an all time high with 50.1 percent of income 
going to the top 20 percent of households-- where only the top 5 
percent of income earners saw an increase in real income gains in 2004 
according to the Economic Policy Institute.

  Mr. Speaker, it is an undisputable fact that many of the victims of 
Hurricane Katrina were victims of poverty and neglect.
  However, I believe like many of my colleagues that they should not 
have to wait for our compassion until another disaster brings with it 
their televised deaths in our streets.
  At the federal level, we must demand that those who now control both 
the Congress and the White House back up the words of compassion that 
they speak. That is why I have joined House Minority Leader Nancy 
Pelosi in urging that the House Republicans set aside their plan to cut 
the federal budget by $35 billion to help pay for another $70 billion 
tax cut for the rich.
  Americans need to know that, while the Republican leadership 
expresses compassion for this nation's poorest citizens, they are 
planning to cut $10 billion from Medicaid, $9 billion from federal 
student aid, and additional tens of billions of dollars from the 
federal food stamp program, public housing assistance, Head Start, 
public education and job training programs.
  As a nation, we can do better than this. Shortly after the New 
Orleans tragedy touched our Nation, I offered this challenge to the 
Bush Administration and its allies in the Congress.
  ``We cannot allow it to be said by history,'' I declared at a 
Washington press conference, ``that the difference between those who 
lived and those who died in the great storm and

[[Page E1878]]

flood of 2005 was nothing more than poverty, age or skin color.''
  This, I submit, is the continuing challenge of poverty in America--a 
challenge that will continue to test the moral fabric of our Nation. I 
applaud my colleague Representative Barbara Lee, for her tireless 
efforts to shine a bright light on America's economic disparities and 
resultant poverty. I hope that her bill H. Con. Res. 234, serves to 
allow us to begin to discuss and to address solutions to ending poverty 
in this country. To do so, I firmly believe that we have to rethink how 
our federal fiscal and social policies are lending significantly to the 
poverty problem.
  A moral people would take up this challenge. A moral people would 
understand that it is time for a change.

                          ____________________