[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 298-299]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




               THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE WAR ON 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 to continue with our 
50 floor speeches marking the 50th anniversary of the war on poverty.
  Now, yesterday, we were joined by President Lyndon Baines Johnson and 
Lady Bird Johnson's eldest daughter, Lynda Johnson Robb, to mark the 
50th anniversary of her father's State of the Union speech in which he 
declared an

[[Page 299]]

unconditional war on poverty. She reminded us that this was a 
bipartisan and bicameral effort led by the White House.
  Now, I have shared my own story, reluctantly, in the past of the time 
in my life when I depended on our vital social safety net programs 
during some very difficult times; but my testimony is only one of 
millions of other Americans. Many of you may be familiar with the 
Campaign to Cut Poverty in Half in Ten Years, a project of the Center 
for American Progress, the Coalition on Human Needs, and the Leadership 
Conference on Civil and Human Rights. Now, they are doing phenomenal 
work gathering American stories of those who are living in poverty and 
have been lifted out of poverty, including our own Congressman Pocan's 
constituent, Amy Treptow's story.
  Amy is here today, and I look forward to hearing Congressman Pocan 
read her story later on this House floor. Her story, though, is a true 
representation of the legacy of the war on poverty and the promise of 
the American Dream fulfilled. Her story is not unlike one of my 
constituents in Oakland who visited my office here in D.C. last month. 
After becoming a single mother, Jennifer was forced to stop attending 
her college courses and take a job making minimum wage as a caregiver. 
She relied on CalWIC and food stamps to feed her daughters, and her 
family and friends supported her with her housing and other basic 
needs.
  Today, two of her daughters are graduates of the Head Start program, 
which prepared them to start elementary school where they are currently 
doing very well. And Jennifer was able to finish school and is now 
working to advocate on behalf of other families like hers who had to 
turn to the American people in her time of need. Also, I am reminded 
that one of my former district directors was a graduate of the Head 
Start program. He is doing phenomenal work raising a family and living 
the American Dream.
  These are stories of resilience. They are the stories of millions of 
Americans who are facing homelessness, hunger and unemployment, if it 
weren't for a safety net. In my home State of California, 6.3 million 
people--17 percent--lived in poverty in 2012. And in my district in 
Oakland, California, 18 percent of the residents live below the Federal 
poverty level, including one in four children.
  While the richest segments of our population continue to prosper 
nationally, income inequality traps millions of the working poor in 
poverty. Many low-wage workers must rely on food stamps and Medicaid 
just to survive--which our colleague Congressman Al Green just 
brilliantly laid out--just to survive while CEOs are making 
megabillions with government subsidies.
  As a recent study by the National Poverty Center at the University of 
Michigan showed, in any given month, 1.7 million households live on a 
cash income of less than $2 per day. Now that is comparable to many 
living in the developing world. Yes, $2. I said $2 per day. Now, that 
is here in America, the richest Nation on this Earth.
  In an economy that, despite recent gains, there are three unemployed 
for every one job opening, it is really a shame and a disgrace that 1.3 
million people lost their lifeline as Republicans continue to refuse to 
extend emergency unemployment compensation. Now, these individuals' 
checks should arrive or should have arrived this week. Unfortunately, 
they did not. What in the world are people going to do now? This is 
heartless, it is mean-spirited, and, of course, to add insult to 
injury, many of these people lost about $35 in food stamp benefits last 
November.
  Yes, the economy has gotten better for some, but has left millions 
behind. Fifty years ago, the safety net was put in place just for times 
such as these. That is why it is so important to share stories like 
Jennifer's and like Amy's. Vital social safety net programs are still 
needed. We need to stop this war on the poor. We should have a cease-
fire on the war on the poor. We have a moral and we have an economic 
obligation to make investments in economic opportunity and jobs.

                          ____________________