[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 13 (Tuesday, January 24, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Pages S438-S440]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               STATE OF THE UNION ESSAY CONTEST FINALISTS

 Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I ask to have printed in the 
Record some of the finalist essays written by Vermont high school 
students as part of the seventh annual State of the Union essay contest 
conducted by my office.
  The material follows:


          EMMA CARLSON, ST JOHNSBURY ACADEMY JUNIOR (FINALIST)

       America is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. 
     Home to world-leading companies in technology, consumer 
     goods, pharmaceutical, and financial industries, the U.S. has 
     a gross domestic product of 18.56 trillion dollars. And yet, 
     poverty impacts people in both rural and urban areas who are 
     working for minimum wage, elderly people who must live on a 
     fixed income, and those who have lost their jobs. For a 
     country as rich and resourceful as ours, we have the ability 
     to solve the complex situation of poverty if we work together 
     as a nation to find a solution.

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       Despite all of our wealth, we still have nearly 15% of 
     people living below the poverty line. In 2016, the poverty 
     threshold for a family of four is $24,036 per year. These 
     individuals are forced to make difficult choices between 
     paying for food, medicine, heat, gas, or rent. Today we are 
     seeing increase in the loss of manufacturing jobs, causing 
     many additional people to become unemployed and drop below 
     the poverty line. We are losing these jobs due to 
     technological advances that have replaced a lot of workers, 
     while other jobs have been moved to lower-cost countries 
     because the labor to perform those jobs is much cheaper. 
     Another cause of long term poverty is the lack of access to 
     high-quality early education. In addition, children of 
     families in poverty do not consistently receive a college 
     education, and therefore, lack the skills and opportunities 
     to acquire a well-paying job in today's economy.
       Poverty in America needs to be solved for every individual 
     to receive opportunities to live a quality life. There are 
     several political debates as to how we can most effectively 
     reduce poverty, and as a result, very little gets 
     accomplished toward achieving this goal and poverty continues 
     to be on the rise. The first step toward helping to lower 
     poverty rates is to create more jobs in America. The majority 
     of companies in the U.S. are small businesses. If the 
     government can help small businesses thrive, it can create 
     more jobs for those in poverty. By pulling families out of 
     poverty, it gives their children better opportunities to 
     receive a quality education, making it easier for them to get 
     jobs to support their future families. This can help to break 
     the vicious cycle of children being born into poverty without 
     any control over it. In addition, we need to make a basic 
     college education available and affordable to any citizen who 
     is willing to obtain one. Without addressing the fundamental 
     needs of education and jobs, the cycle of poverty in America 
     will not be resolved.
       Our politicians need to recognize that poverty is a serious 
     problem, and must work together on common goals towards 
     defeating it. There are many solutions and sometimes there 
     will need to be compromises as to what the best solution may 
     be. If we do not solve this poverty problem, our nation will 
     continue to decline and overall living conditions will become 
     worse for a lot more people.


    MASON CHARLEBOIS, VERGENNES UNION HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR (FINALIST)

       We do not live in a democracy anymore. We live in an 
     oligarchy obscured by the word democracy. For too long our 
     country, a nation established upon ideals of impeccable 
     freedoms and liberties, has discarded the will and 
     determination of the American people. The rich get richer 
     while the poor grow poorer and there seems to exist no hope, 
     no persistence, and no optimism in the people, but instead 
     there resides feelings of despair and anguish. Why would I 
     blame them? Today in our nation's capital, almost every bill 
     that is made, every law that is passed, every donation given 
     proclaims in a final respect, a refusal to aid the poor and 
     middle class of the United States. The loyalties, affairs, 
     and interests of our government no longer lie with the 
     American populace, but with immense multinational 
     corporations and the wealthy who value profit over people.
       If you don't believe me, allow me to introduce some 
     daunting numbers. According to Inequality.org, ``Income 
     disparities have become so pronounced that America's top 10 
     percent now average nearly nine times as much income as the 
     bottom 90 percent.'' But wait, there's more. They also 
     mention ``Americans in the top I percent tower stunningly 
     higher. They average over 38 times more income than the 
     bottom 90 percent.'' Citizens of the United States, this is 
     the most critical issue of the century and possibly the 
     history of America. This is not something that can be 
     disregarded as irrelevant because this not only hurts you, it 
     hurts every aspect that makes this country for the people.
       So, what can we, the American people, do to vanquish this 
     unjust society that we find ourselves giving in? First, we 
     start by establishing a tax on institutions that make more 
     than $1,000,000 a year. For years, these monarchs of trade 
     and commerce have sneaked through loopholes in legislation 
     and haven't been paying their taxes. This is unacceptable in 
     the country this great nation of America. Secondly, we 
     dissolve major institutions or establishments that are taking 
     advantage of Americans every single day. Wells Fargo, Capital 
     One and Citigroup are just some of the financial institutions 
     paying their fair share. Finally, it is vital for Americans 
     to be educated on these issues in the first place. That is 
     why I support a universal childcare schooling program where 
     no one will be denied access to education based on their 
     annual income. When we have an informed public, we will be 
     one step closer to ``the people's'' victory: your victory.
       To close, I would like to introduce a quote from the late 
     Thomas Jefferson who said ``Experience demands that man is 
     the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply 
     no milder term to the general prey of the rich on the poor.'' 
     Change never takes place from the top down. It takes place 
     when people, just like you and me, rise up in peaceful 
     protest and say we want a different America. We want change.


          RAINBOW CHEN, WINOOSKI HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR (FINALIST)

       The ``American Dream'' states that every American has the 
     opportunity to become successful if they work hard. In 
     reality, the American Dream is a blatant lie that falsely 
     guides citizens on an idealistic path. If our country truly 
     wants to make the American Dream a reality, we must provide 
     citizens with the opportunity to best change their lives: a 
     new education system. Education will help us give the poor 
     what they need, help vulnerable children from birth to five, 
     and create a meaningful life for our citizens.
       Right now, a poor citizen has a slim chance of rising to 
     middle or upper-middle class. A study from the Pew Charitable 
     Trust says that 70% of lower income households stay in the 
     lower income bracket; only 30% rise to middle class or high-
     income status. In 2015, nearly 48% of Americans live in low-
     income and impoverished situations, including my own family. 
     Vermont may only have a 12% poverty rate, but disadvantages 
     in resources, opportunities, and financial support have 
     prevented me from reaching the same level of achievement and 
     opportunity as my middle class peers. We need to readjust 
     food stamp and welfare programs to support low-income 
     families. Educational opportunities for the poor must become 
     equitable so that low-income students can perform as well as 
     their middle-class peers. If education becomes equitable, we 
     may see more people working and fewer children suffering.
       A study from Concordia University showed that ``. . . high-
     quality education early in a child's life leads to continued 
     success later in school, at work . . . spending resources 
     toward education earlier in life is much more fiscally 
     responsible than paying later to help a struggling child 
     catch up.'' Our country tends to take early childhood for 
     granted, ignoring the benefits of early education. If we 
     increased paid maternity/paternity leave, children could 
     engage with their families for a longer part of their 
     childhood, helping them become the strong leaders of the 
     future throughout early education and their futures.
       A flaw in the education system consistently prevents all 
     students from achieving their potential. Schools need to push 
     away from what a Purdue University study calls the 
     ``superchicken'' model, which studies the ``best chickens of 
     the coop''. This study showed that after separating the 
     superchickens from the normal chickens, the superchickens 
     pecked each other to death while the regular chickens proved 
     successful regardless of productivity rates. In our 
     educational system, we cannot place the ``smartest kids'' in 
     one system, as it will damage all children's education.
       Overall, education must be changed. Everyone needs access 
     to learning opportunities, an equitable education for the 
     poor and the average, and revitalize public school funding to 
     ensure that all schools receive a fair share of distributed 
     money. Fixing education will allow America to fix poverty, 
     improve early childhood development, and allow more citizens 
     to reach the American Dream. As the best country in the 
     world, we need to create a possible dream, which means fixing 
     the broken rungs in society's ``ladder of success''.


          JESSICA DAIGLE, OXBOW HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR (FINALIST)

       My fellow Americans, I have one question for you. How do 
     we, the United States of America, have the best economy in 
     the world, yet can't afford to give our people basic 
     necessities? We're one of the richest countries in the world, 
     but we can't feed our population, or give them healthcare? 
     Why are so many people living without a roof over their head? 
     We can't run from these problems; we must face them and find 
     a solution.
       First and foremost, we must address our food problem. In 
     2015 alone, 42.2 million Americans lived in food insecure 
     households; 13.1 million were children. How are we supposed 
     to build a strong future if we can't feed our children? In 
     fact, one in five children are at risk of hunger. In Latino 
     and African American societies, it's one in three. This is an 
     urgent problem we must fix. We must stop throwing away edible 
     food and find a way to give it to those without. Every year 
     in the US, 40% of food is thrown away. This equates to $165 
     billion's worth. All of this uneaten food could feed 25 
     million Americans. In order to feed those in need, we must 
     stop wasting resources. We cannot keep throwing away 
     perfectly edible food.
       Healthcare is another demanding issue. In 2014, 29 million 
     Americans didn't have health insurance; that's ten percent of 
     our population. And, in that 29 million, 4.5 million were 
     children. Those statistics are unacceptable. We must find a 
     solution. In 2010, President Obama tried with the Affordable 
     Care Act- commonly known as Obamacare. This worked well, as 
     20 million people were able to get insurance. Yet, 
     Presidential Elect Donald Trump wants to repeal it. If he 
     does, he must instate a new and more affordable healthcare 
     system. We cannot go without it. What would those 29 million 
     people do? They're relying on Obamacare, and can't afford to 
     be without it.
       Homelessness is defined as a social crisis in the United 
     States today, as it should be, considering this fact: on any 
     given night, about half a million Americans experience 
     homelessness. Out of those people, 15% have been homeless for 
     over a year, 50% are over the age of fifty, and 8% are 
     veterans. Not to mention the 1.14 million veterans who are at 
     risk of homelessness. Again, we're one of the richest 
     countries in the world, yet we can't afford to house our 
     population? We can't house those who fought for our country, 
     for

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     our freedom? We must do something. We must create more safe 
     havens or emergency shelters. We can't allow so many 
     Americans to be living in such horrible conditions.
       Clearly, these tasks will be difficult to take on. If we 
     want to boast about our prestigious economy and wealth, we 
     must first fix our problems with poverty in the lower class. 
     We cannot be considered an esteemed country until every last 
     one of us has food, healthcare, and a roof over our 
     heads.

                          ____________________