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The Federal Government Should Set a Goal to
Eliminate Child Poverty in Twenty Years
House of Representatives - House Committee on Ways and Means
October 26, 2005

The following are prepared remarks that McDermott spoke from as he offered an amendment at the Committee on House Ways and Means markup meeting on the Budget Reconciliation Recommendations for Fiscal Year 2006.

I look at the reconciliation measure before our committee and I think to myself, ‘Now, we're taking away the table scraps.’

The Republican Budget Reconciliation measure isn’t reconciliation at all; instead, it is simply a divorce from reality.

As written, Republican reconciliation is a declaration of surrender in the war on poverty, leaving 12.5 million casualties: American children who will go to bed tonight-- if they have a bed at all-- in poverty. And we’re about to turn help into helpless.

America faces serious problems, made worse yet again by another devastating hurricane. And we sit here and act for the cameras and the reporters like we are rising to the occasion. Instead, I believe Republicans want America to take the bait.

Tax cuts for the rich will solve all of our economic problems. We've heard it before and we'll hear it again today. The wealthiest Americans will solve America’s problems. Just give them America’s money and let them reconcile responsibility.

The record over the last five years of transferring America’s wealth to America’s wealthiest proves an investment in America’s middle class, the nation’s working poor, and our most vulnerable and disadvantaged citizens, especially 12.5 million children, was never made.

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I’d like to draw your attention to the video screens.

This first slide shows the outcome of current Republican economic policy. Wages and earnings for those at the top continue to soar, while real wages for the parents that pack their lunch and their kids’ lunch every day struggle to meet the added costs of healthcare, housing and education.

The next slide looks at workers at the very bottom of the income bracket. It shows that a full time worker earning the current minimum wage cannot come close to raising a family out of poverty.

Full time, at minimum wage, is a sentence to full time economic poverty in this country. In fact, the minimum wage as a percentage of poverty is at its lowest level in a half century.

Given these two trends, it should come as no surprise that American poverty is climbing again. It’s always been tough for single parents. One of ten families with a single dad is likely to be in poverty. Almost one in three families with single moms is in poverty.

Poverty rates have risen nearly every year since 2000. And every year since 2000, this Republican Congress justified another tax cat than benefited the greedy at the expense of the needy.

No ordinary America is left out of this equation. Poverty even among married, two parent families is also on the rise.

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And it should, of course, come as no surprise that child poverty is climbing again. After dropping in the late 1990s, child poverty has risen every year for nearly half of a decade now.

As a physician, let me tell you something. Poverty has direct, dire consequences on the physical and mental health of children. Poor children are more likely to suffer from chronic health problems, like asthma and anemia. It is associated with poor nutrition and poor motor skills.

Children in poverty have lower cognitive scores and lower school achievement. And those children who experience persistent poverty are more likely to be poor, as adults. Poverty diminishes economic opportunities for children and stunts their economic mobility.

It’s clear from our debate already, that there isn’t much in Republican reconciliation that Democrats find responsible. Taking from the poor and giving to the rich is not an American value, nor a policy that the American people will agree with, long after today.

For now, we have to find common ground for the good of the nation. I think we can accomplish this goal with a bold vision that every American can embrace, regardless of party.

Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment which would declare the stated policy of the federal government to eliminate child poverty in 20 years, and cut it in half within 10.

We can disagree about how child poverty can be reduced, and we certainly do. But, before we continue to propose solutions to problems, I think we should first all agree that 12.5 million American children living poverty is a problem, and agree to confront it head-on, together.

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My amendment would also establish a bipartisan commission to help Congress consider ways in which federal programs can reduce child poverty, and inform us about whether we’re on track to meet the reduction goals we can adopt here, today.

12.5 million American children have been stranded by an economic hurricane. They deserve a rescue plan just like the people in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and now Florida. Thank you.

Mr. Chairman, I’d like to draw attention again to the monitors. The stats tell the story. This chart here indicates the amount of social spending industrialized nations spend to combat poverty.

As a percentage of GDP, you can see that the United States spends the least of nearly any developed country.

If we add a set of data which shows how each of these countries does in combating poverty, we get an interesting picture.

The United States has the second highest rate of poverty than any other developed country.

We’re the richest, most affluent nation in the history of mankind, and yet we sit here knowing 12.5 million American children live in poverty and cope with its effects. We can and should do better.

But we’re doing worse.

Despite the growing number of children living in poverty, the amount of federal dollars assisting children has been sliced in half since 1995, the beginning of the Republican contract with some Americans.

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If the Congress adopts the Republican Budget Reconciliation package, TANF, SSBG, and Child Care spending will have declined in real, inflation adjusted value in every year from 2001 to 2010. We have 12.5 million American children living in poverty today. How many more will it be in five years?

Mr. Chairman, we have a fundamental choice before us today: will the federal government use the funds entrusted to us by the taxpayers to feed the hungry, or enrich the wealthy?

I ask every member on this panel to consider this: Are we better off with 12.5 million American children spending another day in poverty, so that rich Americans can spend another day adding to their wealth by doing nothing new, except counting the money?

In the last five years, no one beat an altruistic path to the poor and vulnerable. That’s our job and its time we reconcile responsibility. America is a country with a heart, not a wrecking yard for hope.

We put a man on the moon.

We can put food on the tables of 12.5 million American children that today live in poverty. It’s time to declare that the richest nation on earth will not accept anything less than the eradication of child poverty before our children grow up.

I urge passage of my amendment, which is a declaration of war against child poverty in America.

This is one war, long overdue.