Barbara Lee Introduces Bill Calling on Plan from Bush to End Poverty
(Washington, DC)– In the wake of the devastation of hurricane Katrina, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Oakland) introduced a bill calling on the Bush administration to create a poverty eradication plan.“If anyone had any doubts that there are two Americas, hurricane Katrina and our government’s shameful response to it have made the division clear for all to see,” said Lee. “The brutal truth is that people died in New Orleans because they were poor, and the indifference to the most vulnerable among us is not isolated to this tragedy, it is part and parcel of a systemic problem that our nation must overcome.”
Nearly 30 percent of the population of New Orleans was living below the poverty line. 21 percent of the households earned less than $10,000 a year. 84 percent of the people living in poverty in New Orleans were black.
Overall, almost 36 million Americans are living below the poverty line, which the Census Bureau defines as $14,680 per year for a family of three. More than 15 million are living in extreme poverty, which is defined as less than half of poverty income.
Lee’s bill affirms the obligation of the United States to improve the lives of the millions of Americans living in poverty and extreme poverty, and calls upon President Bush to submit a plan to eradicate poverty by 2010.
“Since President Bush took office, the number of poor people in America has grown by 17 percent. In 2002-2003 the number of children living in extreme poverty grew by half a million. That is the real state of the ownership society,” said Lee. “America has been shocked by the images that have exposed this terrible divide in our nation. It is up to us now to decide whether our government has a responsibility to help improve the lives of the millions of Americans who are living in poverty, or whether we will abandon them to the dirty water to fend for themselves.”
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