[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 10]
[House]
[Pages 14534-14535]
[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, as one of the founding members of 
the congressional Out of Poverty Caucus, I rise today in my ongoing 
effort to sound the alarm on poverty.
  As you may know, the census released data showing that 46.2 million 
Americans lived in poverty in 2010. The data also revealed that the 
poverty rate for whites was 9.9 percent in 2010. Worse, the poverty 
rate for African Americans was 27.4 percent. For Latinos, the poverty 
rate was 26.6 percent. For Asian Pacific Americans, the poverty rate 
was 12.1 percent.
  These statistics come on the somber anniversary of the 10 years of 
the war in Afghanistan, which was a blank check that should not have 
been written and that, of course, I could not support. In many ways, 
this war has significantly contributed to these staggering statistics, 
which we know are not just numbers but are human lives. We must create 
jobs. We have to create a way to maintain our social safety net.
  So today I am here to ask my colleagues to join 47 Members of 
Congress and me in a letter to the Joint Select Committee on Deficit 
Reduction, asking them to protect vital programs that comprise our 
social safety net, including but not limited to Medicaid, Medicare, and 
Social Security, as well as the programs that provide the economic 
security and opportunity to millions of Americans.

                              {time}  1030

  None of us envy the work of those members on this Joint Select 
Committee on Deficit Reduction, as they will have to make tough choices 
that affect the lives of millions of Americans.
  However, we should all recognize that for the last 25 years, when we 
have come to deficit reduction agreements, these agreements have, for 
the most part, protected low-income programs. We absolutely cannot 
balance the budget on the backs of the most vulnerable, those people 
facing or living in poverty. This is really a moral obligation that we 
cannot ignore.
  These programs assist the over-46 million Americans living in poverty 
in 2010--men, women, children, young and old alike from all 
backgrounds--in obtaining or maintaining their access to

[[Page 14535]]

basic, mind you, and I am just talking about basic human needs, 
including food, shelter and health care. These vital safety net 
programs both support and create consumers, which results in increased 
demand and job creation. This, of course, reduces our deficit by 
enabling people to participate in this economy.
  And not only that, many of these programs do provide pathways out of 
poverty and opportunities for all. More and more Americans are 
struggling to find work and struggling to make ends meet. And until we 
create jobs, and we have a way, a pathway where people clearly can be 
provided these opportunities, we have a real moral obligation to 
protect these programs. Anything short of this is really un-American.
  In times like these, it's unconscionable to consider cutting programs 
that help those most in need like our Nation's seniors and our Nation's 
children. Asking the Joint Select Committee for Deficit Reduction to 
protect these vital human programs is, though, not enough. We have to 
do more. The most effective anti-poverty program is an effective jobs 
program.
  So while I ask my colleagues to join me on the letter to the Joint 
Select Committee, I am also here to ask Speaker Boehner to move the 
American Jobs Act as soon as possible to begin to create jobs and put 
Americans to work. Americans want to work and they need to work; and 
yet the House leadership is really focused, as an example, on the 
dismantling of environmental regulations. This is not a jobs program 
that puts Americans to work. It's a cynical, opportunistic move in 
order to attack the environment.
  So we have to have as our priority efforts to create jobs that give 
Americans economic security and that grow our economy. Our economy will 
not recover quickly from this Great Recession and, of course, Great 
Depression in many communities of color, including the African American 
community and for those living in poverty, unless we really do provide 
a pathway out of poverty.
  We need to target these programs in areas that need it the most. Many 
of these areas are communities of color, where the poverty rates are 
three times higher than the poverty rate for whites. The unemployment 
rates are also higher in communities of color: 16.7 percent of African 
Americans are unemployed, 11.3 percent of Latinos. And these are just 
the reported statistics. It's clear that we must address these 
disparities as we work to create jobs and opportunities for all.
  So I am asking Members to join us in this deficit reduction letter 
and urge the Speaker and leadership of this House to move the American 
Jobs Act as the first step in jump-starting this economy and putting 
Americans back to work.

     Hon. Patty Murray,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Max Baucus,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. John Kerry,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. James Clyburn,
     U.S. House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Xavier Becerra,
     U.S. House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Chris Van Hollen,
     U.S. House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Jeb Hensarling,
     U.S. House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Dave Camp,
     U.S. House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Fred Upton,
     U.S. House of Representatives,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Jon Kyl,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Pat Toomey,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.
     Hon. Rob Portman,
     U.S. Senate,
     Washington, DC.

       Dear Members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit 
     Reduction:We are writing to request that you protect vital 
     programs that comprise our social safety net, including but 
     not limited to Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, as 
     well as the programs that provide economic security and 
     opportunity to millions of Americans.
       Vital safety net services and programs support those people 
     hit the hardest by the Great Recession. These services help 
     people and families maintain housing or find shelter, keep 
     food on the table, assist in access to health care, and 
     support those looking for employment, including the long-term 
     unemployed. Examples of federal programs that provide such 
     services include programs which assist disabled veterans to 
     find an accessible home, ensure seniors receive food to eat, 
     help people access our health care system, connect people 
     seeking jobs with employment, give shelter to homeless 
     families, and ensure that children get meals in school.
       It is imperative that we protect vital safety net programs 
     and programs that provide economic security and opportunity 
     to millions of Americans, including those facing or living in 
     poverty. The Census Bureau released data on September 13, 
     2011, revealing that 15 percent of Americans--46.2 million 
     people across this country--lived in poverty in 2010. This is 
     the largest number of Americans living in poverty since the 
     Census started collecting this data 52 years ago. For our 
     nation's children under 18, 22 percent lived in poverty in 
     2010. That is 16.4 million children who do not know where 
     their next meal is coming from, where they might be sleeping 
     that night, and who are anxious overall about their well 
     being and that of their parents.
       According to the recent Census data release on poverty, the 
     poverty numbers would have been worse had it not been for key 
     federal programs like unemployment insurance, food stamps. 
     and Medicaid (Census Bureau slide 25 located at http://
www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/pdf/2010_Report.pdf).
       For the last 25 years when we have come to deficit 
     reduction agreements, these agreements have protected low-
     income programs. Beyond that, we have a moral and an economic 
     obligation to care for our nation's most vulnerable, those 
     facing or living in poverty. We respectfully implore that as 
     you work through ways that our nation can reduce the deficit 
     that you sustain our nation's safety net programs that assist 
     people in obtaining or maintaining their access to basic 
     human needs including food, shelter, and health care, and 
     that provide ladders to opportunity for struggling families. 
     These programs both support and create consumers, which 
     result in increased demand and job creation. In the end, this 
     reduces our deficit by enabling people to participate in our 
     economy.
       Again, we respectfully implore that as you work through 
     ways that our nation can reduce the deficit that you sustain 
     the vital human needs programs found across the federal 
     government and accomplish deficit-reduction in a way that 
     does not exacerbate poverty or inequality.

                          ____________________