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Contact: Ayofemi Kirby
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The Congressional Black Caucus Discusses Lifting Americans Out of Poverty

On June 3, 2013, Congressional Black Caucus Members discussed “Lifting Americans Out of Poverty” and the ongoing effort to maintain funding for anti-poverty programs that support millions of families across the country. Nearly 46 million people live in poverty in America and around 16 million of them are children. For communities of color, the numbers are more staggering with close to 27.4 percent of African Americans (11 million people) living in poverty.  In 2013, the poverty line for an individual is $11, 490 and is $23,550 for a family of four.

  View highlights of the Twitter chat here. Watch and read CBC Members’ remarks below:

 Rep. Steven Horsford (NV-04): “The Congressional Black Caucus comes before this body and the American people for the next hour to talk about important issues facing our country. Tonight, we will discuss the problem of poverty in America, and what we can do to bring more Americans into the middle class, from SNAP to the earned income tax credit, from Head Start to TRIO, we have effective programs that reduce poverty and open up opportunities for people in the low-income bracket. Unfortunately these programs are often the first targeted for cuts. When you are worrying where your next meal is going to come from, you probably don’t have a lot of time to lobby Congress. Well, here tonight, we’re here to speak to these important issues.”

CBC Chair Marcia Fudge (OH-11): “As more Americans slip below the poverty line, federal anti-poverty programs are essential. Yet over the last year, conservatives on and off the Hill have begun to spin a story of how anti-poverty programs have done nothing but foster a culture of dependency. On Capitol Hill, lawmakers have used this over and over again, giving them license to place social safety net programs on the chopping block. While the Republicans’ budget retains tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans, it places Social Security and Medicare on the chopping block. House leadership will send the Farm bill to the floor that reduces total spending by almost $40 billion over 10 years and most of the cuts come from SNAP. This bill alone would cut off nearly two million people from SNAP. Making matters worse, anti-poverty programs around the country are reducing services because of sequester. Our communities cannot continue to face cut after cut while Washington does little to create economic opportunity.”

Rep. Barbara Lee (CA-13): “It’s truly unacceptable that 46 million people in our country live in poverty. Sixteen million are children. In communities of color, poverty rates are even worse. A staggering 27% of African Americans are living in poverty. And so the Congressional Black Caucus, through the leadership of our Chairwoman Fudge, has made the eradication of poverty a key priority. Our policies and programs have not kept pace with the growing needs of millions of Americans. It is time that we make a commitment to confront poverty head on and create pathway ways and provide opportunities for all.”

Rep. Keith Ellison (MN-05): “There are people in this Congress who believe that hard work should be rewarded, who believe that when people get up in the morning, pound it out all day to put food on the table for their families, that it is nothing less than an insult for somebody else, who’s living in plenty to look back on them and say, you’re not working hard enough, you’re not doing quite enough. The fact is, sometimes hard working people need the help of their government. There’s no shame in that, there’s nothing wrong with that.”

Rep. G.K. Butterfield (NC-01): “Mr. Horsford, I don’t know much about your state of Nevada, but I can tell you about my state of North Carolina, and I can tell you, these are some tough times. These are tough times for poor people. These are tough times for rural communities all across America. I represent one of the poorest districts in the whole country. One in four people in my district, Mr. Speaker, including 36% of children, live at or below the poverty level. That’s a statistic that is worth bearing. I want to repeat it, 36% of the children who live in my congressional district live below the poverty level, and that is unacceptable. The poverty problem in America is actually getting worse, at a time when it should be getting better, it is actually getting worse. There’s a huge difference, a huge gap between the haves and have nots.”

Rep. Gwen Moore (WI-04): “If we fail to invest in young people — I mean starting out with starving them – you know, I’m still reeling from the comments of my colleague, Barbara Lee, because the food stamp bill that is before us, would have nearly a quarter of a million students lose their free lunch program. And the majority of folks who are served by the food stamp program, you know, are not these welfare queens or slick hustlers. They are elderly, children and disabled people.”

Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (NY-08):  “Working families and middle class folks and those who aspire to be part of the middle class are still struggling. In many instances they’ve been left behind. Now it’s often been said that when Wall Street catches a cold, many low-income Americans get a fever. Well, we know that in 2008 Wall Street in fact got the flu, and ever since many low-income communities across this great country have been dealing with economic pneumonia. That’s bad for the country, it’s bad for our democracy and we here in the country ought to do something about it.”

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