In Opposition to the Republican Anti-Poverty Agenda
Floor Speech
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Ms. SEWELL of Alabama. Mr. Speaker, last week, a group of 8 Republicans traveled to the House of Help City of Hope, a private residential drug and alcohol treatment program here in Southeast DC. There they unveiled their proposal to reduce poverty in America. Make no mistake: the Republican Party has simply repackaged the same proposals that have locked our most underserved populations in poverty for generations. I appreciate the group's advocacy for drug and alcohol treatment, but it is misguided and offensive to associate poverty with addiction. We should not be surprised that they are clinging to the tired narrative that victims of poverty are too lazy or irresponsible to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps. The ``bootstraps'' narrative leaves out the reality that too many children in America are born without bootstraps to parents who never had bootstraps themselves. In the cycle of poverty, opportunity rarely presents itself. From the schoolhouse to the workplace, children from wealthier and well-educated families arrive at every door with a very different set of skills and expectations than those from underserved backgrounds. For example, research suggests that children from low-income families hear 30 million fewer words than their wealthy peers by the age of 3. Other studies show that less than 50 percent of children living in poverty arrive at school prepared with the math and reading skills, emotional and behavioral control, and the physical well-being necessary to learn. These gaps persist into adulthood. These are not excuses. They are facts. The children of the wealthy are provided tutors, lawyers, contraceptives, therapy, and more when they stumble socially, physically, and academically. Their less affluent counterparts are instead met with financially struggling parents, probation officers, and ill-access to basic health services. Social scientists call the protections afforded to wealthier children in times of trouble ``air bags.'' It's time to dispel the blanket notion that the poor are to blame for their poverty. The government has a role to play, and for many, it is the star of the show. When opportunity presents itself in low-income communities, it comes via a Head Start teacher, an after-school program, a Job Corps coach, a Pell grant, a Social Security check, a child tax credit, and through other resource programs implemented during and after the War on Poverty. Our friends across the aisle want the American people to believe that the effective anti-poverty programs of the War on Poverty have been a waste of taxpayer dollars. In truth, the safety net's effectiveness at reducing poverty has grown nearly ten-fold since 1967. Pell grants, senior centers, the breast and cervical cancer early detection program, grants to improve water and waste disposal systems, Job Corps, and the Foster Grandparent program are just some of the programs that have been effective in helping millions of Americans into the middle class. Despite the progress made under these programs, the Republicans deem them all as welfare. The Social Security program has lifted 27 million Americans out of poverty, including 1.6 million children yet Republicans have proposed to privatize and cut the program. The Earned Income Tax Credit has lifted 9 million working Americans out of poverty and has reduced poverty for 22 million more. Despite these tremendous benefits, the Republicans did not include this program in their proposal. The SNAP program, which the proposal cuts, has lifted 10 million Americans out of poverty and 5 million more out of deep poverty. Seventy percent of Americans will turn to the safety net at some point in their lifetimes. Attempts to cut these programs are rooted in dangerous and misguided ideology. I was sent to Congress to build upon programs that work and craft new proposals to create ladders of opportunity into the middle class for my constituents. On the contrary, the Republican blaming strategy is not ``A Better Way''--it's the wrong way. On behalf of the hardworking Alabamians I represent, I urge all of my colleagues to reject this dangerous agenda.
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