[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 178 (Wednesday, December 9, 2015)]
[House]
[Pages H9187-H9192]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
POVERTY AND ITS IMPACTS ON AMERICAN FAMILIES
The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Curbelo of Florida). Under the Speaker's
announced policy of January 6, 2015, the gentlewoman from California
(Ms. Lee) is recognized for 60 minutes as the designee of the minority
leader.
General Leave
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and
insert extraneous material on the subject of this Special Order.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from California?
There was no objection.
Ms. LEE. Mr. Speaker, first, I want to thank my friend and colleague
from New Jersey, Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, for her tireless
work on so many issues, and for allowing us to use the Congressional
Progressive Caucus' time tonight to organize this Special Order on
poverty and its impacts on American families.
Also, I would like to recognize my friend and colleague from
Missouri, and thank our cochair of the Congressional Black Caucus'
Poverty and Economy Task Force, Congressman Cleaver, for his leadership
on poverty, opportunity, housing, and so many issues that he cares
about and has been a champion about for so many years.
Also, to our colleague and our good friend and whip, Mr. Hoyer, his
unwavering commitment is very evident in making poverty a priority for
this body.
Also, to Leader Pelosi, I want to thank her and recognize her for her
commitment to the most vulnerable, and for reminding us constantly that
20 percent of America's children continue to live below the poverty
line.
So this evening, I rise as the chair of the Democratic Whip's Task
Force on Poverty, Income Inequality, and Opportunity, and cochair of
our Congressional Black Caucus' Task Force on Poverty and the Economy
to call on all of our colleagues, and our country, really, to refocus
our efforts on programs and policies in funding that help lift
Americans out of poverty, but also to remember that there is a safety
net that has to be preserved until we can do just that: People want to
work; people want opportunity.
I invite all of our colleagues to join us tonight in creating a
national strategy to eradicate poverty once and for all.
Mr. Speaker, I am going to hold my remarks and yield to my friend and
colleague from Ohio (Ms. Fudge), former chair of the Congressional
Black Caucus and member of the Education Committee and the Ag
Committee. She has been, consistently, since she has been in Congress,
and before she came to Congress, worked and spoke on behalf of the most
vulnerable in our country.
Ms. FUDGE. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
I just want to say that there is no one in this Congress who works
harder and puts in more time trying to find a way to come back and
eradicate poverty than Barbara Lee. It is my pleasure and my privilege
to work with you every day. I have learned so much from you, and I just
want you to continue to do the people's work, and I appreciate it.
Mr. Speaker, I rise to address a topic that many of us know far too
well, and that is poverty. I see its impact on the people of the 11th
Congressional District every day.
My district has some of the Nation's most impoverished cities. The
overall poverty rate is 28 percent. Out of the 435 Congressional
districts in the United States, my district is one of the top 20
poorest districts in America.
Nearly 200,000 of my constituents live in poverty. I see and talk to
poor people every day. Mothers and fathers without jobs, families with
little to no access to healthy food or adequate housing, and children--
yes, Mr. Speaker, children--who are in overcrowded classrooms with
outdated textbooks.
Poverty is the source of our Nation's most persistent social and
economic issues. It permeates our entire society and has victimized too
many Americans for far too long.
We don't need another committee hearing on hunger or poverty to tell
us what we already know. We know what the problems are and how to
address them.
My colleagues and I have been proactive in finding solutions to
eradicate poverty in this, the wealthiest country in the world. I have
introduced bills supporting initiatives to feed children and families,
fought to protect safety-net programs, and insisted Congress develop
policies that create jobs that pay a living wage.
The majority in this House has not been a willing participant. Some
Members believe that if you don't work, you are lazy. Others believe
that poor people are looking for handouts.
Let me be clear, Mr. Speaker, none of that is true. The people I have
spoken to are not looking for a handout. They simply need a hand up, a
job to take care of their families and pay their bills. The dignity of
work is what we all want.
{time} 1745
We must put aside politics and pass policies that give everyone a
fair chance at the American Dream. When we do not work together, our
constituents suffer.
FDR said: ``The test of our progress is not whether we add more to
the abundance of those who have much; it is whether we provide enough
for those who have too little.''
We must act now.
Ms. LEE. I thank the gentlewoman for her very powerful statement and
for, once again, her leadership.
I want to remind this body that she has been such an active advocate
on behalf of those needing that safety net of SNAP and food stamp
benefits and for making sure that people have the right to eat in this
country regardless of how much money they have.
Again, I thank Congresswoman Fudge.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to the gentlewoman from Connecticut (Ms.
DeLauro), the ranking member on the Appropriation Committee's Labor,
Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
Subcommittee, on which I am honored to serve. Every day she is a
champion on behalf of all of those who we are discussing tonight in
terms of making sure they have an opportunity to live the American
Dream.
Ms. DeLAURO. I thank my colleague, Congresswoman Lee, for organizing
this effort this evening. It isn't just this evening. Every day, 24
hours a day, in her heart of hearts, she knows what her mission is
here. That is to make sure that there is a better life for our families
and to make sure that there is a better life for our children. It is an
honor to work with her on these issues.
Mr. Speaker, there is a saying that the strength of a nation starts
with the strength of its families. The child tax credit was created in
1997 to help working families afford the expense of raising children.
As we all know only too well, the cost of child-rearing goes up every
single year.
According to the latest figures from the Department of Agriculture,
the average two-parent, low-income household will spend more than
$218,000 per child up to the age of 18. Middle-income families will
spend even more. We in this body have an obligation to do what we can
to help households cope with these mounting costs.
Today the child tax credit helps improve the lives of some 38 million
families. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, in
2013, the child tax credit alone lifted 3.1 million people out of
poverty, including 1.7 million children. The child tax credit, together
with the earned income tax credit, lift more children out of poverty
than any other Federal program.
Thanks to the 2009 expansion of the credit, a household with two
children and one full-time minimum wage earner receives a total credit
of about $1,812 per year. That is a real help to families who might
otherwise struggle just to make ends meet. Unfortunately, each year,
the value of that credit declines with inflation as the cost of raising
a child increases each year.
In the last big tax deal, Congress made the estate tax cut both
permanent and indexed to inflation. The beneficiaries of the estate tax
are one-tenth of a percent of the people in this Nation. It strictly
benefits the children of the wealthy. I don't want to deny them
benefits, but I want us to consider the children in low-income
families.
[[Page H9188]]
Congress should do the same for working families with the child tax
credit. We should provide a cost-of-living increase as costs go up for
raising children. By the end of this decade, the simple measure would
save an estimated 750,000 children from falling back into poverty.
Another statistic, my colleague from California, is that there are
about 7,450 estates in the United States that benefit from the estate
tax. If we indexed--provided a cost of living--for the child tax
credit, 19 million children could be lifted out of poverty. Where is
our balance? Where is our sense of right and wrong?
The value of indexing our anti-poverty programs cannot be
understated. Because Social Security benefits are indexed, the rate of
seniors in poverty has been relatively stable, at close to 10 percent
for the last four decades. Because SNAP benefits--food stamp benefits--
were re-indexed in the 2008 farm bill, families saw the value of their
benefits stabilize.
The biggest economic challenge facing our country today is that far
too many hardworking people are still not earning enough to make ends
meet. Middle class wages are stagnant or are in decline. We need to do
whatever we can to support working people.
No family in our country should have to struggle to raise a child. By
indexing the value of the child tax credit--providing the cost of
living--and making the expansion permanent, we would help millions of
parents afford these costs by giving them a permanent tax break, which
helps families and does not lose its value over time.
This year, at this time, we should reaffirm our Nation's support for
its hardworking families. We should provide them with the same benefit
that we provided the children of the 1 percent when we made the estate
tax exemption permanent and indexed it to inflation.
The fact of the matter is that the families that we are talking
about--and these are not my words, but those of Economist Mark Zandi,
who was the economist for John McCain.
When he was asked what would be most stimulative in our economy, he
talked about food stamps because people spend that money. He talked
about extending unemployment benefits because people spend that money
right away and engage and drive our economy. He also talked about the
refundable tax credits, like the earned income tax credit and the child
tax credit, because people will spend that money and use it to drive
our economy.
I want to say a thank you to my colleague from California. It is an
important discussion. I thank the gentlewoman for organizing it and for
always being there to make sure that those of us who serve here do not
forget and that we keep our focus where it should be, on the sons and
the daughters and the children of working families, of low-income
families, and of middle class families.
Ms. LEE. I thank the gentlewoman from Connecticut for that very
poignant statement and for her tremendous leadership each and every
day.
Also, I want to thank the gentlewoman for laying out what the choices
are in terms of our priorities and the fact that we know how to
eliminate, really, poverty if we just have the will to. So I thank the
gentlewoman for laying it out.
Mr. Speaker, I yield to my friend and colleague from New Jersey,
Congresswoman Watson Coleman, who each and every day is so consistent
with her votes and her voice in terms of doing what is right for
children, for the American people, for her constituency.
Once again, I thank her for giving us the time this evening to talk
about poverty because that certainly is a priority of hers. With the
Progressive Caucus, she has just hit the ground running and has really
captured this moment to talk about the issues that the American people
care about.
Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding and for
organizing, coordinating, this opportunity for this discussion. I thank
the gentlewoman because she is the most vibrant and is the strongest
voice for those who are the most vulnerable in our communities across
this Nation.
Mr. Speaker, poverty isn't just a problem in America. It is a crisis.
We are not doing enough about it.
In September, the Census Bureau released the newest data on the
number of Americans living below the poverty line. The report further
confirms what my colleagues and I have been trying to get the majority
in this body to acknowledge, and that is that poverty may be one of the
greatest challenges facing our Nation right now.
The median household income stayed the same. The poverty rate
remained the same as well. Women and minorities did worse than the
average. Overall, nearly 15 percent of American families--almost 47
million people--earn less than $24,000 a year.
The fact that terrifies me the most is that the way we calculate the
poverty rate has several inherent flaws, and when you dive deeper into
the numbers on this issue, you come up with a picture of an America
that is deeply broken.
The poverty rate is just a snapshot of a single year. Last year, for
example, 22 percent of all children lived in families that fell below
the poverty line, something we should be embarrassed by in not devoting
more resources to fixing.
But childhood lasts more than 1 year, and when you look at the span
of childhood, you find that nearly 40 percent of our children have
spent at least 1 year in poverty, double what we see in a single year.
We have more children who are living in poverty than in most developed
nations.
That alone should serve as a wake-up call to all of my colleagues on
the other side of the aisle who so frequently invoke the need to
protect our children's futures when they are debating bills here on the
floor.
In case that is not enough, here is another indicator: The number of
people who are living in high poverty areas--better known as slums--
doubled between 2000 and 2013. That is a very big deal because living
in an impoverished community fundamentally changes the futures of
children.
Study after study has found that they are more likely to be poor
later in life, less likely to achieve in school, less likely to find
jobs, less likely to achieve the milestones that are necessary to
change their trajectories, like graduating from high school and
attending college, and they are more likely to end up in one of our
penal institutions.
The biggest problem, Mr. Speaker, is that we are not doing enough to
fix poverty. In fact, in some cases, we are making it worse. Take
housing assistance programs, for example.
We leave it up to the States to dole out funds for low-income housing
programs. These States then place the overwhelming majority of low-
income developments in already low-income areas, depriving those
families of quality schools, of access to jobs, and of a variety of
social services that more affluent communities benefit from.
At home in New Jersey, I have fought hard against just such
discrimination with legislation that required all communities to build
affordable homes. We need the same kind of initiatives at the Federal
level, laws that will ensure affordable housing exists beyond urban and
lower income boundaries, that will give working families access to
child care, that will lower the cost of college, and that will increase
wages.
We also need to think about what it really means every time we deny a
cost-of-living increase or refuse to give Federal workers the pay they
deserve. Groceries still cost more every year. Rent still goes up. Bus
fare gets higher. We are asking them to do more with less because we
are unwilling to enact policies that actually work. That is flat out
wrong.
Mr. Speaker, for many of the challenges facing our Nation, we have
yet to find a clear solution. Poverty isn't one of those. With the
willpower to act, we could eradicate poverty and build a stronger
future for generations to come.
I thank the gentlewoman from California.
Ms. LEE. I thank the gentlewoman from New Jersey for her very
eloquent statement, but also for laying out a pathway out of poverty.
It is comprehensive. We have to do this together in an integrated
approach. Whether it is child care, whether it is housing, whether it
is SNAP benefits, whether it is higher education, whether it is K-12,
Congresswoman Watson Coleman has laid out the intricacies of what we
mean when we talk about pathways out of poverty.
[[Page H9189]]
I thank the gentlewoman very much for taking us to the next level in
terms of how we need to really view our strategies.
Mr. Speaker, I now yield to the gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer),
our Democratic whip, who has really insisted that we, as a body, look
at how we develop our pathways out of poverty within the context of our
Task Force on Poverty, Income Inequality, and Opportunity, because it
takes opportunity to help lift people out of poverty.
Again, I thank the gentleman from Maryland for making this a priority
for this body and for continuing to beat the drum on behalf of those
who have the least.
Mr. HOYER. I thank the gentlewoman for yielding.
No one more than Congresswoman Barbara Lee in this House has been
focused on how we lift those in poverty out of poverty and into the
middle class.
{time} 1800
Of course, as she so well says, it will be good for those in poverty,
but it will also be good for all the rest of us. They will help build a
better economy. They will help grow jobs, and they will help America be
stronger.
Mr. Speaker, I am honored to join my friend, Chairwoman Barbara Lee
of the Democratic Whip's Task Force on Poverty, Income Inequality, and
Opportunity, for this Special Order.
I also want to thank Chairman Cleaver of the CBC's Poverty and
Economy Task Force for the work that it has done in this area.
Mr. Speaker, poverty is bad for your health. Poverty is bad for your
mental health. Poverty is bad for children. Poverty is bad for
families.
More than 50 years after President Johnson declared unconditional War
on Poverty, 46 million Americans are still struggling in poverty. That
is not to say we haven't made some progress. There are programs we have
adopted.
Frankly, Medicare is a tremendous poverty program. Our seniors are
better off, and far less of them are in poverty because of Medicare.
Medicaid is a critical program to make sure that those who cannot
afford it are, nevertheless, given health care, which is important for
all of us to have healthy citizens with whom we deal on a daily basis.
Ours, Mr. Speaker, may be the wealthiest nation on Earth, but we can
best measure America's economic success not by how many are at the very
top, but how few are stuck at the bottom of the economic ladder. By
that measure, we have a long way to go to fulfill America's promise as
a land of equal opportunity and of success.
Even in 2015, the lines between rich and poor trace the old divides
of race and background, with 29 percent of Native Americans, 26 percent
of African Americans, and 23 percent of Latinos living in poverty.
Poverty also strikes, of course, our rural communities. In fact, in
many respects, there is more poverty in our rural communities than in
our cities and urban communities. It is more visible in our cities
because they are aggregated; although, we ought not to forget that
literally--as I just mentioned about minorities--millions and millions
of nonminorities struggle in poverty every day. Poverty strikes
children at a higher rate, unfortunately, one in five children in
America, as our leader says.
The task force we launched and which Barbara Lee chairs has been
working hard to raise awareness in Congress of these very real and very
difficult challenges of poverty in America and to provoke policies that
help alleviate suffering in the short term while working to eradicate
poverty over the long term.
Speaker Ryan has raised poverty as an issue on which he is focused,
and he has visited areas of poverty in our country. We could recognize
poverty. We can visit those in poverty. But what it is important to do,
Mr. Speaker, and what Barbara Lee is leading us to do, is to adopt
policies that almost eliminate, reduce, and empower those in poverty.
The number one rule on the War on Poverty, of course, ought to be
first, do no harm. This means making sure that we refrain from
disinvesting in the critical programs that serve the poor and help
millions stave off hunger, homelessness, and disease. Mr. Speaker, we
ought to have those criteria in mind when we consider the
appropriations bills, tax bills, and other policies that affect our
people.
Thankfully, the recent bipartisan budget deal prevented the return of
sequestration's severe and painful automatic cuts, which would have
disproportionately harmed the most vulnerable in our economy. Now
Congress has a responsibility to follow that up by passing an omnibus
and avert a shutdown.
However, not doing further harm is not enough. Congress has a
responsibility first and foremost to help create jobs that put
Americans back to work and enable them to rise out of poverty and, as
Congressman Coleman Watson indicated, to make sure that, when we ask
people and give people the opportunity to work, we value that work and
pay them a living wage.
We cannot enable people to rise out of poverty if it keeps lurching
from one manufactured crisis--when I say ``it,'' our policies here in
Congress on budgets, on debt, on investment, and on taxes--to the next.
If we lurch from one crisis to another, we will not be able to succeed
in enabling and empowering those currently in poverty. We need to work
together to invest in education, workforce training, and innovation to
make our workforce more competitive and open doors of opportunity for
those looking to get hired.
We also, Mr. Speaker, need to expand assistance for housing and
nutrition as well as access to health care, especially for children.
Poverty need not be a cycle and should not be a cycle from generation
to generation. That is debilitating certainly for them, but we ought to
all recognize it is debilitating for us, our communities, and our
country.
The promise of America has always been that this cycle can be broken.
That is what we think about America. Even if you are born in
circumstances that are tough, if you work hard and play by the rules,
you can rise above it. We need to make sure that we give them that
opportunity.
We need to take steps to make sure that hard work pays off, that
those who have jobs can earn enough not only to get by, but to get
ahead. This means making child care more affordable for working
parents, enacting paid leave to care for sick loved ones, and raising
the minimum wage.
The new Speaker, Mr. Ryan, has indicated he takes very seriously the
issue of poverty, as I said. I hope we can work together to address
that problem in a serious, responsible, and effective manner. Not to do
so would be a grave disservice to the future of our country and its
people.
One area he has suggested we might find agreement is in expanding the
earned income tax credit to childless adults, which could lift an
additional half a million Americans out of poverty. In addition to
that, we ought to index the ITC, we ought to index the child tax
credit, and we ought to index the opportunity tax credit so that we can
empower and enable those who are working, those who have children that
we want well-cared for and safe to be more productive citizens.
I thank, again, Chairwoman Barbara Lee and all of the members on the
Democratic Whip's Task Force on Poverty, Income Equality, and
Opportunity and the CBC's Poverty and Economy Task Force, led by my
good friend Representative Cleaver, for all the work they are doing to
wage this War on Poverty with the determination and purpose this
challenge requires.
I thank the gentlewoman for her leadership.
Ms. LEE. I thank our whip for that very important statement.
A couple of things I would like to just comment on, Mr. Hoyer, that
you mentioned. In terms of ``first, do no harm,'' a couple of years
ago--and this was with bipartisan support--in all of our appropriations
bills, we put in language that said that we will do nothing in this
legislation that would increase poverty. We did that on a bipartisan
basis. Also, when Speaker Ryan was the chair of the Budget Committee,
we talked about poverty and tried to determine a way to put into
legislation--it was our job to develop a national strategy to eliminate
poverty.
So what you are raising tonight I think is very important in terms of
a window of opportunity for us to work
[[Page H9190]]
in a bipartisan way to begin to really do this in terms of reducing and
eliminating poverty for the 46 million people who deserve to live the
American Dream. I think that this task force and yourself, really, with
Speaker Ryan should be able to do this on behalf of the American
people.
I yield to the gentleman from Maryland.
Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I certainly hope she is correct, and I
believe she is absolutely correct that we can work in a bipartisan
fashion. There is nobody in this House who wants to see people in
poverty. We may have different views of how to achieve the objective of
empowering all of our people to seize the opportunity and to be paid a
living wage and to support themselves and their family in a way we want
them supported. We can work together--I agree with the gentlewoman--in
a bipartisan fashion on that issue. I thank her for her leadership in
achieving that objective.
Ms. LEE. I yield to the gentlewoman from southern California (Ms.
Roybal-Allard), my colleague, friend, and an individual whom I have
known for many, many years who has been consistent over the years on
behalf of supporting pathways out of poverty, the most vulnerable, our
immigrants, our immigrant women, our children. Congresswoman Lucille
Roybal-Allard serves on the Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human
Services, Education, and Related Agencies, which Ranking Member Rosa
DeLauro serves on also. She has done unbelievable work on this
subcommittee, again, being as consistent as she has ever been since I
served with her in the nineties in the California Legislature.
Ms. ROYBAL-ALLARD. Mr. Speaker, I would like to focus on child
poverty. Before I do, I would like to commend my colleague,
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, for her long and steadfast commitment to
addressing the crisis of child poverty in our Nation.
According to the 2015 National Center for Children in Poverty report,
in the United States, more than 16 million children live in families
with incomes below the Federal poverty level. A new study by the Urban
Institute found that almost 40 percent of all American children live in
poverty for at least 1 year before they reach the age of 18.
America's children, who represent 23 percent of the U.S. population,
make up over 32 percent of those living in poverty. Sadly, my home
State of California is an example of this human tragedy. Today, 2.5
million Californians live in deep poverty, and 33 percent of them are
children whose family income is less than $12,000 a year. In my
district alone, 37,000 children live in extreme poverty.
The harmful conditions associated with poverty include substandard
housing, lack of nutrition, overcrowding, and exposure to violence, all
of which can be toxic to a developing child's brain. Research tells us
that, even when experienced for a short period of time, many of the
negative effects of living in poverty stay with children for the rest
of their lives. This includes higher rates of health and developmental
problems, poor academic achievement, and lower rates of high school
graduation.
In addition to the individual tragedy of child poverty, it ultimately
impacts all of us, costing our country an estimated $500 billion a year
in lost earnings, higher crime-related costs, and increased health
expenditures.
Unfortunately, there is a deep void in awareness and government
accountability for the devastating crisis of child poverty in our
country.
{time} 1815
To address this lack of awareness, this year Congresswoman Barbara
Lee and I offered an amendment to the Labor HHS appropriations bill to
fund a comprehensive National Academies of Science nonpartisan analysis
of child poverty in the U.S.
Such a study would enable Congress to better understand the root
causes of child poverty in our Nation. It would provide invaluable
information on how Congress and service providers can improve the
effectiveness and outcomes of poverty-related programs and services.
Fortunately, our appropriations colleagues on both sides of the aisle
agreed with us and unanimously supported our amendment. We are grateful
that it was included in the final House version of the FY16 Labor
Health and Human Services bill.
Our amendment is now part of a package of bills being conferenced
with Senate appropriators. It is our sincere hope that our child
poverty amendment will be included in the conferenced Labor, Health,
and Human Services appropriations bill for FY16.
Mr. Speaker, it is unconscionable that, in the United States, the
richest country in the world, child poverty is destroying the lives of
millions of our Nation's children. We must address this tragedy now. I
thank Congresswoman Lee for organizing this Special Order and for her
relentless leadership in the call to action to end child poverty in
this country.
Ms. LEE. I want to thank the gentlewoman from Los Angeles,
California, for her very powerful statement, but also once again for
her tremendous leadership on the Committee on Appropriations and in her
district on so many issues, especially relating to children. It would
never happen if it were not for Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard on
the subcommittee. Thank you so much.
Hopefully, our amendment will hold in the conference report. But, if
it doesn't, it is certainly not because you haven't worked hard and
have not been committed to reducing and eliminating childhood poverty.
I am pretty confident that we are going to win this one. Thank you
again for being here with us tonight and for your leadership.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to come down and put some charts up in the
well and speak so that the statistics will be very visible before the
public as it relates to the poverty rates in the United States.
First, let me just say, Mr. Hoyer, our whip, talked about the 50th
anniversary this year of President Johnson's War on Poverty. Now, this
War on Poverty included such initiatives as Medicare, Medicaid, Head
Start, the Higher Education Act, and the Department of Housing and
Urban Development. There was a very important immigration bill--you
name it--50 years ago.
This legislation, the War on Poverty, really has helped to reduce our
poverty rates in the United States. Poverty has fallen from 26 percent
in 1967 to 15 percent in 2015. Yet, we have a long way to go. It is not
time to end this War on Poverty.
Actually, it is time to increase our efforts to make sure that the 47
million people living in poverty have access to all of these
initiatives that were begun 50 years ago that really have lifted
families out of poverty and have prevented families from moving into
poverty. That is very important to remember about this 50th year
anniversary.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, for example, SNAP,
that has kept nearly 5 million Americans, including 2.2 million
children, out of poverty in 2014. That is why we do not want to see any
more cuts to this program.
Social Security benefits kept 1.2 million children out of poverty in
2013. Medicaid kept nearly 3 million people out of poverty in 2014.
Programs beyond the War on Poverty, like the earned income tax credit
and the child tax credit, which Congresswoman DeLauro and Whip Hoyer
spoke about, these two initiatives, these two policies and programs,
have kept nearly 10 million Americans, including 5 million children,
out of poverty in 2014 alone. These programs strengthen our economy,
increase opportunity for families, and provide millions of Americans
with pathways out of poverty.
We have tried to make sure that our Republican colleagues understand
these facts and not gut these critical programs because they are
extremely important. We do not need to continue to fund tax breaks and
giveaways to corporations and the well-connected while so many people
are still living below the poverty line.
Stealing aid to the poor and handing more to the rich is really
shameful and utterly unacceptable. We need to come together to really
begin to recognize that we have got to lift people out of poverty and
create a level playing field so that everyone can have the opportunity
to live the American Dream. Cuts to these programs not only cost
[[Page H9191]]
our government more money--the taxpayers, in the long run--but it is
really morally wrong to cut these programs.
Now, as a former food stamp recipient myself and public assistance
recipient, I know firsthand just how important these safety net
programs are. I would not be here today if it were not for that
lifeline, that bridge over troubled waters, that these types of
programs extended to me when I was a single mother, on welfare, raising
two amazing sons, trying to get my life together so that I could move
on and take care of my family and live the American Dream.
Believe me, I know. No one wants to be on food stamps. No one.
Everyone wants a good-paying job that allows them to provide for their
family and contribute to society. They want to take care of their kids.
There are bumps in the road, yes, and now the economy has turned around
for many, but not for all.
That bridge over troubled waters is needed now more than ever. I hope
that, in the negotiations in this omnibus bill, we are going to make
sure we remember these people and not raid the programs that keep
people out of poverty and provide a safety net. As Mr. Hoyer said,
let's do no harm in this bill and let's help people move into the
middle class.
We must recommit ourselves to combating poverty and inequality once
and for all. It really is a disgrace when you look at these charts,
when you see the percentage of people living below the poverty line,
and this is in the wealthiest and most powerful country in the world.
It is a challenge to all communities. Communities of color, of
course, are disproportionately impacted and affected, but American
Indians, Alaska Natives, African Americans, Latinos, Asian Americans,
Asian Pacific Islanders, Whites living below the poverty line in
Appalachia and rural America. There are people living in poverty all
over the country.
I come from California. Close to 17 percent of the population of
California, mind you, is living in poverty. That is almost 2 percentage
points higher than the national average, and that is in California.
While many people believe that poverty only touches cities and urban
communities, as our whip indicated, our rural communities continue to
be plagued with persistent poverty while lacking many of the resources
found in cities, such as public transit, food banks, and access to
critical workforce training.
According to the United States Census Bureau, 85 percent of our
Nation's persistent poverty counties, defined as 20 percent or more of
a population living in poverty, are in rural America.
Mr. Clyburn, our Democratic Assistant Leader, has laid out a formula
for years--10, 20, 30--which would direct and target Federal resources
to these counties and to these areas that would lift people out of
poverty. We need to really understand where people are and make sure
that our tax dollars go to those communities to lift people out of
poverty.
More than one-third of rural Americans and one in four rural children
live in poverty in 2015. These statistics are appalling. Poverty
touches our population that really needs help the most, including our
children and our seniors.
In 2015, more than 6 million seniors--now, that is 15 percent of all
people over 65 years of age--are living in poverty. Even worse, while
children make up just 23 percent of the population in the United
States, they account for one-third of all Americans living in poverty.
That is one in five kids. That is just plain wrong.
I would like to inquire, Mr. Speaker. How much time do I have
remaining?
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The gentlewoman from California has 15
minutes remaining.
Ms. LEE. I would like to in just a minute yield to my colleague from
Florida (Ms. Graham), who would like to take the floor and talk about
poverty in her own community. She has been such a tremendous voice on
eliminating poverty and working to lift those who live below the
poverty line out of poverty.
We know that families around the country living on the minimum wage
have to make choices each and every day. She knows that. She is here to
speak to that. I really appreciate her presence tonight on the floor.
I yield now to the gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Graham).
Ms. GRAHAM. Congresswoman Lee, I really appreciate you inviting me
and allowing me the opportunity to speak tonight on this very important
subject.
I am incredibly grateful for the work you are doing to highlight this
issue and end poverty in America. Thank you on behalf of my district
and all the districts across the country.
Twelve of the 14 counties I represent are rural counties that face
many unique challenges, like access to social services, access to
quality education, and access to health care. All of these issues are
complicated by a cycle of poverty. This is especially prevalent in
areas like Gadsden County, where more than 26 percent of the population
live in poverty.
It is unacceptable for one in every four Americans to live in poverty
in any part of our country. We must do more to help rural families
break the cycle of poverty and move into the middle class.
One program that is successfully working to do this is the United
States Department of Agriculture's StrikeForce Initiative for Rural
Growth and Opportunity. Since its inception in 2010, StrikeForce teams
have collaborated with more than 500 community partners and public
entities across 20 States to bring targeted assistance to rural areas
experiencing chronic poverty.
StrikeForce efforts have helped direct over $16 billion in
investments to create jobs, build homes, feed kids, assist farmers, and
conserve natural resources in the country's most economically
challenged areas.
As the USDA considers expanding StrikeForce into more States, I urge
them to bring this program to Florida, especially to north Florida and
Gadsden County. Farmers in rural communities are the backbone of our
State, and StrikeForce will help develop our economy, create jobs, and
fight rural poverty.
Again, thank you, Congresswoman Lee, for bringing attention to this
important issue. I look forward to working with you to end poverty
across our country.
Ms. LEE. I want to thank the gentlewoman from Florida for that very
important statement and for once again raising the issue of rural
poverty and the StrikeForce and the fact that we know how to eliminate
poverty.
We just need the political will to do that. I know your constituents
are very proud of you, and you are waging a noble fight each and every
day on their behalf. Thank you for being here this evening.
There are a couple more statistics which I would like to discuss for
just a few minutes. That is the issue of raising the minimum wage. We
know that raising the minimum wage is not only good for our hardworking
families, but it also makes economic sense, too.
{time} 1830
According to the Economic Policy Institute, raising the minimum wage
to $12 an hour by 2020 would lift more than 35 million Americans out of
poverty--that is just to $12 an hour. But in many parts of the country,
even $12 is not sufficient. We are mounting campaigns around the
country for $15 an hour. In some communities and States, you can barely
get by on $15 an hour, but raising it to $12 is a step forward. Just
raising the minimum wage is a step forward.
So many poor people are working. They are part of the working poor.
They are working two jobs, and they still have to rely on SNAP
benefits, Medicaid, and Section 8 housing.
People who work should not be poor, and so we have got to have a
living wage. We have got to raise the minimum wage and get to a living
wage so that everyone in our country can live the American Dream, as we
continue to say, and so that opportunity can be provided for everyone.
Some people are working two jobs and barely can make it with children
because their wages are stagnant and they are just too low to be able
to survive in this American society. So raising the minimum wage to a
living wage is a critical strategy. It is a critical policy that this
body should embrace and pass.
I yield to my colleague from Georgia Congressman Johnson, who has
been a
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steady voice on so many issues since he has been here in Congress,
especially on behalf of the most vulnerable in our society: the poor
and the working poor. His voice and his work has certainly been a major
contributor in terms of our task force growing to over 100 members.
Thank you again for being a member of the task force and for what you
do each and every day.
Mr. JOHNSON of Georgia. Mr. Speaker, it is my honor and my privilege
to serve alongside you, Congresswoman, with all of the bigness of your
heart and the care that you have for people, particularly those who are
on their way up. You don't have anything against those who are already
in place and doing well, but your heart is constantly on display toward
those who are less fortunate. I am just privileged and honored to join
you in that quest.
Today has been a great day. This morning, we celebrated the 150th
anniversary of the passage of the 13th Amendment abolishing slavery in
America. And to think back 150 years and look at the 100 years it took
from that point to get to the point where we could pass a Voting Rights
Act here in America, and then from that 50-year point up to today to be
addressed by an African American President of the United States shows
what kind of values we have in this country, what kind of opportunities
we have in this country.
And so I am just filled with great tidings during this holiday
season; however, I am not carried off by the winds of prosperity that
may have come to some of us while to others the winds of prosperity
have passed us by for various reasons, despite all of the progress that
we have made as a people.
As it stands now, Congresswoman, it is not a Black or White thing; it
is a people thing. We have more Caucasian Americans living in poverty
than we have African Americans. So poverty is not a discriminator when
it comes to national origin, when it comes to race, or when it comes to
sex.
The fact is we have more women living in poverty and we have more
children living in poverty. There is nothing to be joyful about that.
We have more elderly people falling into poverty today.
My heart cries out for Caucasian Americans between the ages of 45 and
60 who, studies show, are meeting an early and untimely death at their
own hands--suicide. Also, alcoholism and drug abuse are ravaging that
particular demographic, as well as liver disease and other chronic
ailments.
It all, I would posit, stems from the sense of hopelessness that
pervades the people at this particular time. We see all of the
prosperity. We see the prosperity of the few, the top 1 percent. You
can look at the top 10 percent and see the concentration of wealth in
this country. You see it, you watch the TV, and you aspire for all of
the goods that are displayed to you on TV, but yet there is a sense of
hopelessness about you being able to achieve that, despite the fact
that you are working two and three jobs and still qualify for food
stamps and other social services.
We are realizing that, despite the hard work and the effort, the
playing field is not level and the game is skewed in favor of the few
on top at the expense of the masses on the bottom, and so something is
wrong with that picture. That is an imbalance that we need to correct.
So that is why I am so happy to work on the Out of Poverty Caucus.
Some say, ``Why try? It can never be done''; but I am one of those
who say that, if we don't try, it won't be done. If we try, it can make
a difference.
I think that with the proper people in place to make the policy
decisions that we make here in Congress, there is so much that we can
do to relieve poverty in this country and to offer opportunity for
people who only want to work hard and play by the rules. They long for
the day to return when they can look at their children and their
grandchildren and rest assured knowing that the opportunities for them
will be at least, if not greater than, those that existed for
themselves.
And so our job is to make things better on the ground for people. Our
mission is to help those who need help. There are always going to be
some people who need it, and there is nothing wrong with helping
somebody who needs help. In fact, that is what living is all about:
serving your fellow man. That is why I am here. I know that is why you
are here, and I am just happy to serve with you.
I would add that it has been 51 years since 1964 when President
Lyndon B. Johnson launched the War on Poverty, an ambitious set of
initiatives to increase access to education, spur job growth, and
improve nutrition and health to our poorest Americans. Fifty-one years
later, it is estimated that up to 45 million Americans live in poverty.
In the greatest Nation on Earth, there are 45 million starving
children, impoverished seniors, and families that struggle every day to
obtain the bare necessities to survive.
I know how it feels because, for 1 week, I tried to exist on the food
stamp challenge with you, Congresswoman, and that was tough. I got off
of it after, I think, about 5 days. To try to exist on what we give the
average food stamp recipient is quite tough.
In Georgia, 25 percent of the people who are 50 or older and whose
income level is less than $22,000 a year struggle with hunger. In my
district, that is an important issue, because in DeKalb County, 10
percent of the people live below the poverty line, and the majority of
those are children. In Rockdale County, it is 13 percent.
Ms. LEE. I thank the gentleman for his message of hope tonight and
for reminding us of the fact that poverty does take its toll on the
mental health and well-being of the human spirit.
I want to thank all of the Members who participated. I hope we can
move in a bipartisan fashion to address some of the major, major issues
that this body knows that it can address if it so chooses.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Ms. EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I would like to
offer remarks on poverty and income inequality in America in light of
our recent budget discussions. In the world's most rich and powerful
nation, more than 46 million Americans live in poverty. In Texas, 18
percent of residents live in poverty and 25 percent of children under
18 live in poverty. In Dallas, TX, the number of low-income people rose
41 percent between 2000 and 2012.
These numbers are staggering in a nation, state, and city with such
wealth. Congress can and must do more to create opportunity for people
who live in poverty. Passing a strong federal budget with anti-poverty
programs, creating educational opportunities for students who come from
low-income families, ensuring children and families have adequate food,
advocating for a higher minimum wage, and keeping our federal health
programs strong are just a few examples of the ways Congress can help
lift these individuals and families out of poverty.
We know that these programs work. The Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP) kept almost 5 million Americans, including
2.2 million children, out of poverty last year. Medical kept almost 3
million people out of poverty last year and that number continues to
increase as more states expand Medicaid. The Earned Income Tax Credit
(EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) helped to lift 10 million
Americans, including 5 million children, out of poverty last year.
Anti-poverty programs not only help families rise above and stay out
of poverty, they keep families contributing to the economy on a daily
basis. Rather than keeping low-income Dallasites, Texans, and Americans
on a tightrope where they are one medical emergency, job loss, or large
car expense away from dipping into poverty, we must bolster our
resources. During the very year that we celebrated the 50th anniversary
of several War on Poverty programs enacted by President Johnson, we
must make it easier and not more difficult for working families in this
country.
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