Lynda Johnson Robb Joins Congresswoman Barbara Lee to mark President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s 50th Anniversary of War on Poverty
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 8, 2014
Contact: Carrie Adams (202) 225-2661
WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee was joined by Lynda Johnson Robb, the eldest daughter of President Lyndon Johnson, at an event she hosted to mark the 50th anniversary of President Johnson’s declaration of the War on Poverty.
Announced in his January 8, 1964 State of the Union Address, the War on Poverty created federal initiatives to eliminate and alleviate poverty as part of the Great Society, including Head Start, Job Corps, Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps (now Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program), and the Civil Rights Act.
“We are here today, 50 years after President Johnson declared an ‘unconditional war on poverty’ to redouble our efforts, to recommit, and to say that the values that created Medicare, Medicaid, Headstart, the Food Stamp Act, and so many effective anti-poverty programs are the values we still have today. Though some say that we have lost this War on Poverty, their tactics would return us to a dog-eat-dog society. That isn’t who we are as a nation,” said Congresswoman Lee.
“We will continue to work for the common good, and redouble our efforts to eradicate poverty, and invest in building on the great work of people like President Lyndon B. Johnson.”
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Follow Barbara Lee on Facebook and Twitter at @RepBarbaraLee. To learn more, visit lee.house.gov.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee is Chair of Democratic Whip Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity, Co-Chair of the Out of Poverty Caucus, and Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Task Force on Poverty and Economy. Her “Half-in-Ten” legislation HR 2182 seeks to eliminate poverty in the United States, beginning with the initial goal of cutting it in half in ten years through inter-agency collaboration.