[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 13110]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         OUT OF POVERTY CAUCUS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from New 
York (Mr. Towns) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, as the ranks of the unemployed continue to 
swell, all eyes have been focused on the plight of the middle-income 
working Americans. Many of their fortunes have changed dramatically for 
the worse. Many have lost their homes to foreclosure, many have seen 
their retirement accounts all but disappear, and, sadly, many of those 
who have been out of work for months have fallen below the poverty 
level.
  From 2006 to 2009, more than 7 million Americans joined the ranks of 
the poor. Next week, on September 13, the Census Bureau will publish 
its annual report on poverty and income. We expect dire news again. 
These are not just poor people; they are poor Americans. The vast 
majority of poor people in this country are not poor because they are 
lazy and don't want to work or to do better. Many people are poor 
because they grew up in poverty and could not find the means to escape. 
They were trapped by failing schools, broken families, poor nutrition, 
and hopeless conditions.
  In recent years, we have witnessed a dramatic increase in the number 
of children living in poverty. It looked like we were making progress 
at the turn of the century when the child poverty rate dipped to 16 
percent. By 2009, the rate has risen to 21 percent, with 15.5 million 
children living in poverty. This disturbs me greatly. Children who grew 
up in poverty are more likely to be poor during adulthood. Children who 
were born in middle class families have a 76 percent chance of being 
middle class. Poor children only have a 35 percent chance of escaping 
poverty.
  On Friday, September 16, in conjunction with the National Association 
of Social Workers, I will be conducting a forum on The Future of New 
York City's Children. One thing we will be doing is taking a look at 
what we are doing for children in poverty. This is still the greatest 
nation on Earth. We are still the richest nation on Earth. There is 
just no good reason why so many of our citizens are living in poverty. 
We must do better.

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