[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[House]
[Page 63]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1030
                                POVERTY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from 
California (Ms. Lee) for 5 minutes.
  Ms. LEE of California. Mr. Speaker, first of all, let me just say to 
the prior gentleman who spoke, Mr. Jones, that I appreciate him 
continuing to call for the end of the war and occupation of Afghanistan 
and bringing our young men and women home because, of course, we know 
that this war has created undue hardship, so many deaths, and really 
has been the longest war in our lifetime. And so thank you, Mr. Jones, 
for your leadership.
  I am the founder of the Congressional Out of Poverty Caucus, and I 
just have to rise today on behalf of the caucus to continue to talk 
about the tide of poverty that is sweeping our country.
  As we begin now the second session of the 112th Congress, we must do 
more to help the millions of Americans living in poverty, looking hard 
for a job, and working hard every day to move up the ladder of 
opportunity and earn their share of the American Dream.
  Mr. Speaker, on January 4, The New York Times reported that economic 
mobility--the ability to work hard and make your fortune from humble 
beginnings, which is the fundamental cornerstone of the American 
Dream--is getting harder and harder to achieve in America. Americans 
have fallen behind and are increasingly cut off from their dreams of 
having a job and supporting their families.
  How in the world did this happen? The failed policies of the past 
administration only helped the richest among us become richer and 
concentrated greater wealth into the hands of a wealthy few. And today, 
House Republican leadership has failed to address the needs of most 
Americans.
  The only way that our economy can recover and reduce poverty is to 
create jobs and to expand access to the economic opportunities. We find 
that the lack of opportunity and economic mobility is worse at the 
bottom, and without a real commitment to change, it will only get 
worse.
  The Republican-led Congress has been too beholden to their extremist 
Tea Party base to reach the necessary compromises to move our Nation 
forward and to begin the hard work of rebuilding and growing our 
economy for all Americans.
  Now, President Obama did stop the economy from going off a cliff, and 
Congress must work with the President to put our Nation back on the 
road to recovery and growth.
  We continue to have unacceptably high unemployment, and we all know 
that the rates of unemployment and the rates of poverty in our minority 
communities continue to be about twice the national average. But even 
these painful and these shameful statistics may not completely show 
just how much Wall Street has focused their efforts on stripping 
communities of color of the little wealth that they have managed to 
accumulate over the last few decades.
  The Pew Research Center found that minority households were hit 
disproportionately hard by the housing and financial crisis. The Pew 
Center found that from 2005 to 2009, median wealth fell by 66 percent 
among Hispanic households and 53 percent among black households, 
compared with just 16 percent among white households. As a result of 
these declines, the typical African American household now has, mind 
you, just $5,677 in wealth; the typical Hispanic household has $6,300 
in wealth; and the typical white household has $113,000 in net worth.
  So the facts speak for themselves. Wall Street targeted minority 
homeowners and minority communities, and we must respond accordingly.
  It is long past time that we as a Nation enact bold programs and 
policies that ensure that we are a Nation that truly does provide equal 
opportunity and access to the American Dream rather than allowing, for 
example, minorities to be targeted for policies and programs that 
undermine their ability to achieve the American Dream. We must begin 
immediately to have an up-or-down vote on a clean bill that extends 
vital emergency unemployment benefits for the 99 weeks for the millions 
of job seekers who continue to struggle to find a job and are no longer 
eligible for unemployment compensation.
  Mr. Speaker, the majority of Americans who are struggling to find a 
job now are already no longer getting unemployment benefits due to the 
99-week wall. But people want to work. There are four people, however, 
looking for one job, and that is a fact.
  So we need to pass H.R. 3638, the Restore the American Dream Act, for 
the 99 percent, a package of job-creation measures and policy reforms 
introduced by the Congressional Progressive Caucus. This bill would 
significantly boost employment and create jobs in the short term and 
improve the fiscal outlook in the long term. It's the right thing to 
do. Instead, this Tea Party-led Congress has wasted an entire year 
without any jobs bills, without extending any new help to the millions 
of Americans in need.
  We can't wait and neither should Congress. Let's help to make sure 
that the poor and the unemployed Americans find good-paying jobs and 
make that our number one priority. We must remove these obstacles to 
reignite the American Dream.

                          ____________________