Rep. Barbara Lee: "American Families Deserve Better than Failed Trickle-Down Economics"
Washington, DC – Congresswoman Lee released this statement following the Kemp Forum on Expanding Opportunity, in Columbia, South Carolina hosted by Speaker Paul Ryan and Senator Tim Scott:
“Today’s poverty forum in Columbia clearly showed that the Republican Party lacks any serious ideas for combatting poverty.
Instead of real solutions, all we heard were the same, old talking points repacked as so-called ‘compassionate conservatism.’
We know what works to combat poverty.
Yet time and again, Republicans have gutted the programs that effectively reduce poverty in our nation. As a member of the Budget and Appropriations Committees, I’ve seen my Republican colleagues slash critical investments in job training programs, affordable childcare, financial aid for college students and other vital safety net programs. These actions are in line with the Ryan Budget, an extreme austerity proposal that experts have decried because it would create more poverty.
In fact, just this week, Republicans voted, for the 62nd time, to strip more than 22 million Americans of healthcare coverage and put millions of families one illness or injury away from bankruptcy.
American families deserve better than the same failed trickle-down economic policies.
As the Chair of the Democratic Whip Task Force on Poverty, Income Inequality, and Opportunity, I call on Speaker Ryan – and all Republicans – to join Democrats in advancing proven, evidence-based policies that will create ladders of opportunity into the middle class for millions of families.”
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Congresswoman Lee is a member of the Appropriations and Budget Committees, the Steering and Policy Committee, is a Senior Democratic Whip, former chair of the Congressional Black Caucus and co-chair of the Progressive Caucus. She serves as chair of the Whip’s Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity.