[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17336]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          STRUGGLING FAMILIES

  (Ms. SOLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. SOLIS. Mr. Speaker, today I rise to highlight the struggle of 
American working families. The Census Bureau reported that American 
families are living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to make ends meet 
and going deeper into debt, even as they are working harder and are 
more productive.
  Housing costs and interest rates are skyrocketing. The income of 
American families continues to stagnate even as health care, energy and 
college costs keep going up. The number of Americans without health 
insurance has risen by 16 percent to 46 million people, equal to the 
population of 24 States and the District of Columbia.
  This includes more than one-third of my constituents in east Los 
Angeles and the San Gabriel Valley, not to mention the 5 million more 
Americans living in poverty under this administration.
  We need a new direction to help America's working families achieve 
the American dream, not more tax breaks for the wealthy oil 
corporations. I urge my colleagues to please reject the failed economic 
policies of the Republican Congress and instead honor hard work, fair 
wages and economic growth.

                          ____________________