[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13599]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                POVERTY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, I rise today as the founding 
member and a cochair of the Congressional Out of Poverty Caucus. The 42 
members of the caucus work every day to ensure that we meet our 
economic and, yes, our moral obligation to the most vulnerable across 
this Nation--those people facing or living in poverty.
  Yesterday, the United States Census Bureau released data showing that 
2.6 million more Americans fell into poverty, making it 46.2 million 
people living in poverty in America. This is the highest number since 
the Census Bureau started keeping these records in 1959. Fifteen 
percent of Americans lived in poverty last year. The poverty rate among 
African Americans in 2010 was 27.4 percent; for nonwhite Hispanics it 
was 26.6 percent; for Asian Pacific Islanders it was 12.1 percent; and 
for non-Hispanic whites it was 9.9 percent.
  Digging deeper into the disparities, the data reveals that the real 
median income declined for white and black households between 2009 and 
2010. Real median income for each race and Hispanic-origin groups have 
not recovered to the pre-2001 recession all-time highs.
  According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities, the Census 
data reveals that both the number and percentages of people living in 
deep poverty hit record highs, meaning that some 20.5 million Americans 
had cash incomes below $11,000 for a family of four. In addition, the 
Census reports that the median household income fell 2.3 percent, or 
$1,100, in 2010.
  Those at the bottom of the income scale have lost far more ground 
than those at the top. Income inequality continues to grow at alarming 
rates. We know that this crisis is even worse in communities of color.
  The national average of children living in poverty in America is 20 
percent. That's outrageous. For African American children, it's 36 
percent; for Latino children, it's 31 percent. That's hard to believe. 
The median net worth of white families in 2009 was 20 times greater 
than that of the average black family, and 18 times greater than the 
average Hispanic family.
  These are not just statistics. These are real human beings who 
deserve an opportunity to live the American Dream, which to our dismay, 
unfortunately, has turned into a nightmare for millions. So the Out of 
Poverty Caucus cochairs, Congressmen Baca, Butterfield, Conyers, Honda, 
and myself, sent a letter to the President asking him to address our 
Nation's job crisis, which is a national emergency, through a bold 
package of direct investment which is aimed at our Nation's most 
vulnerable--those facing or living in poverty. We asked that he 
consider including programs like the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund, 
which gets money out of the door across the country efficiently and 
effectively, and it puts people to work. We asked for job training at 
communities affected by the Great Recession, which of course is the 
depression for these communities, and we asked for programs that will 
help train and put our Nation's young people to work.
  We are pleased and thankful that in the President's jobs bill he did 
embrace some of our suggestions, including building on programs like 
the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund and on the job training, youth 
employment, extension initiatives, and extending unemployment 
compensation, but we also still believe that unemployment compensation 
must be extended to those who have exhausted their benefits after 99 
weeks until we create these jobs, because there are four individuals 
looking for one job. After 99 weeks, these individuals are no longer 
eligible for unemployment compensation. So we're asking that H.R. 589 
be considered, which is a bill by Congressman Bobby Scott and myself, 
to extend this unemployment compensation by 14 weeks. That's the least 
we can do.
  Make no mistake about it, people are suffering. Children don't have 
enough to eat. People want and need jobs, as we saw during the 
Congressional Black Caucus' very important and successful jobs tour and 
the Congressional Progressive Caucus' Speak Out for Jobs Now tour. 
People want our economy to grow, but they know that they need a job to 
do this.
  Our country needs full employment for people to turn the economy 
around. More and more people are falling into poverty than ever 
before--from all walks of life and educational backgrounds.
  The Out of Poverty Caucus will continue to sound the alarm about the 
growing crisis of people living in or facing poverty. I want to remind 
everyone that many middle-income people are on the verge of falling 
into poverty. As we say, many are one paycheck away from poverty. It is 
critical that America returns to the land of opportunity for all.

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