OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

War on Poverty

Floor Speech

Date: Jan. 9, 2014
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Unemployed and Low-Income Entitlements and the Safety Net

Ms. SCHAKOWSKY. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to commemorate the 50th anniversary of President Johnson's announcement of the war on poverty.

I recently had the opportunity to visit the Lyndon B. Johnson Presidential Library and Museum in Austin, Texas, and I was astonished by just how much he and the Congress were able to accomplish during his time in office. Since 1967, poverty has declined by more than a third. Still, 49.7 million Americans live in poverty, including 13.4 million children, but the war on poverty and the programs really worked. Here are some of them:

Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Head Start, school lunch, child nutrition, migrant assistance, Job Corps, legal assistance, small business and rural loans, and Indian reservation programs.

All of those were put into effect and really worked.

Dana Milbank had an article today in The Washington Post where he said, And what is the response to the 50th anniversary? It is the Republicans declaring war on the war on poverty, as they have for the last 50 years.

It is time for us to work together and continue to end poverty.


Source
arrow_upward