Representative Barbara Lee, Along with Rev. Jim Wallis and CAP President John Podesta, Announces 112th Congress Kickoff of the Out of Poverty Caucus
Media Contact: Joel Payne, (202) 225-2661
Water-Only Briefing This Morning to Continue Hunger Fast Against Budget Cuts That Hurt Efforts to Curb Poverty
Washington, DC – Representative Barbara Lee, along with Rev. Jim Wallis, Founder of Sojourners, and John Podesta, President and CEO of the Center for American Progress (CAP), announced the kickoff of the Congressional Out of Poverty Caucus for the 112th Congress. They also met this morning to discuss the need to preserve and strengthen programs in the federal budget that help eradicate poverty.
Representative Lee, a co-chair of the Out of Poverty Caucus, along with 4 other co-chairs, Representatives Joe Baca, G.K. Butterfield, John Conyers and Mike Honda, is kicking off this caucus with the goal of making anti-poverty efforts a focus of the 112th Congress. To date, 39 members, including the co-chairs, have committed to join the Out of Poverty Caucus.
“43.6 million people right here in America wake up in poverty every day, and many of those people are from communities of color and other vulnerable populations. We cannot allow Congress to turn a blind eye to this growing epidemic in our own backyard,” said Representative Barbara Lee. “With today’s kickoff of the Out of Poverty Caucus, we are underscoring our shared commitment to addressing poverty and the plight of the poor and the needy as we craft a federal budget and as we debate every piece of legislation that will come before us in the 112th Congress.”
“At the ‘Out of Poverty Caucus’ briefing it was clear that the time for moral leadership on the budget has arrived,” said Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners. “The budget proposed by Congressman Ryan will gut the most important programs for the poor and will give the rich even more tax breaks and benefits. That is simply unacceptable to many of us in the religious community. It is immoral and un-American.”
“The Ryan Budget is clear on its priorities: deep cuts to programs assisting the most vulnerable to pay for more tax breaks for millionaires,” said John Podesta of CAP. “This caucus is setting forth an alternative vision of shared prosperity and opportunity for all.”
Last week, Representative Lee joined Rev. Wallis and a coalition of 40 organizations that represent 30,000 people to take part in a one-day hunger fast to protest recent proposed budget cuts that would drain funding from critical anti-poverty and anti-hunger programs. Today’s breakfast briefing was water-only in continued observance of the hunger fast which several members of Congress and many members of the faith community are currently participating in.
A website for the Out of Poverty caucus will launch later this spring with updated information on caucus membership, its mission and legislative remedies to address poverty in America.
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