IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 234 
Affirming the obligation and leadership of the United States to improve 
the lives of the 37,162,000 Americans living in poverty and the 
15,600,000 of those who live in extreme poverty. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
SEPTEMBER 7, 2005 
Ms. LEE (for herself, Mrs. CHRISTENSEN, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. 
OWENS, Mr. RANGEL, Mrs. JONES of Ohio, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. AL 
GREEN of Texas, Ms. MCKINNEY, Ms. KILPATRICK of Michigan, Mr. 
SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. CLAY, Mr. MEEKS of New York, Ms. NORTON, 
Mr. RUSH, Mr. DAVIS of Illinois, Mr. HASTINGS of Florida, Mr. SCOTT 
of Georgia, Mr. CLEAVER, Mr. PAYNE, Mr. CLYBURN, Ms. WATSON, Ms. 
CARSON, Mr. FATTAH, Mr. MEEK of Florida, Ms. WATERS, Ms. JACK-
SON-LEE of Texas, Ms. MILLENDER-MCDONALD, Mr. BISHOP of Georgia, 
Ms. MOORE of Wisconsin, Mr. WYNN, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. TOWNS, Ms. 
EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON of Texas, Mr. JACKSON of Illinois, Mr. 
THOMPSON of Mississippi, and Mr. JEFFERSON) submitted the following 
concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Govern-
ment Reform 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Affirming the obligation and leadership of the United States 
to improve the lives of the 37,162,000 Americans living 
in poverty and the 15,600,000 of those who live in ex-
treme poverty. 
Whereas 8.2 percent of Whites, 11.8 percent of Asians, 22.5 
percent of Latinos, and 24.4 percent of Blacks lived in 
poverty in 2003;
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Whereas the poverty rate was 24.7 percent for Blacks and 
21.9 percent for Latinos in 2004; 
Whereas the poverty rate is the highest in the completely 
rural counties (not adjacent to metro counties), with 16.8 
percent of the population poor; 
Whereas the top 5 most impoverished states according to the 
Census Bureau are Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama, Lou-
isiana, and the District of Columbia; 
Whereas the Bureau of the Census established the poverty 
line for 2003 to be $14,680 for a family of three; 
Whereas extreme poverty is defined as people with income of 
less than one-half of the poverty level; 
Whereas 12,900,000 children under the age of 18 lived in 
poverty in 2003, and the number of children living in ex-
treme poverty rose by 500,000 from 2002 to 2003; 
Whereas a poor child is more likely to leave school at the age 
of 16 with no qualifications than the average middle-class 
child; 
Whereas between 2000 and 2004 the real median earnings 
for female full-time, full-year workers declined by 2.3 per-
cent and for male full-time, full-year workers declined by 
4.4 percent; 
Whereas the average annual cost for attending a public uni-
versity now equals more than 62 percent of the income 
of a working class family; 
Whereas, each year, over 400,000 college-ready, low-income 
students do not pursue their college education because 
they cannot afford the cost; 
Whereas homeless children face more barriers to school en-
rollment and attendance due to a lack of available trans-
•HCON 234 IH 
portation, residency requirements, inability to obtain pre-
vious school records, and a lack of clothing and school 
supplies; 
Whereas the number of uninsured Americans rose to 
45,800,000 in 2004, 860,000 more than in the previous 
year; 
Whereas the Bureau of the Census found 11.1 percent of 
Whites, 18.7 percent of Asians, 19.5 percent of Blacks, 
and 32.7 percent of Latinos had no health insurance in 
2003; 
Whereas the Bureau of the Census found 75.8 percent of 
households with an income of less than $25,000 had 
health insurance in 2003; 
Whereas the Bureau of the Census found 91.8 percent of 
households with incomes of $75,000 or more had health 
insurance in 2003; 
Whereas the number of Americans without health insurance 
has risen for 3 consecutive years; 
Whereas homeless children are in fair or poor health condi-
tion twice as often as other children and have higher 
rates of asthma, ear infections, stomach problems, and 
speech problems; 
Whereas the Department of Agriculture has found that, in 
2002, 34,900,000 people lived in households experiencing 
food insecurity; 
Whereas food insecurity refers to having inadequate access to 
enough food to fully meet basic dietary needs to all times 
due to a lack of financial resources; 
Whereas food insecurity and hunger rates have increased in 
the United States for the third year in a row;
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Whereas, in 2002, the Department of Agriculture found that 
9.7 percent of households with incomes below 185 per-
cent of the Federal poverty line experienced hunger; 
Whereas the Bureau of the Census survey on food security 
has found those at greatest risk of being hungry or on 
the edge of hunger live in households that are headed by 
a single woman, a Latino or Black, or with income below 
the poverty line; 
Whereas households with children experience food insecurity 
at more than double the rate for households without chil-
dren; 
Whereas the Bureau of the Census found that the Federal 
Government’s minimum wage is not enough to live off of, 
yet a single parent of 2 young children working full-time 
in a minimum wage job for a year would make $10,712 
before taxes, a wage which is $3,968 below the poverty 
threshold set by the Federal Government; 
Whereas the Department of Labor records the unemployment 
level at the end of 2004 as being 5 percent for Whites, 
10.2 percent for African-Americans and 6.6 percent for 
Latinos; 
Whereas families with children are among the fastest growing 
segment of the homeless population; 
Whereas 39 percent of the homeless population are children 
and an estimated 1,350,000 children will experience 
homelessness in a year; and 
Whereas on January 20, 2001, President Bush stated ‘‘In 
the quiet of American conscience, we know that deep, 
persistent poverty is unworthy of our Nation’s promise. 
When there is suffering, there is duty. Americans in need 
are not strangers, they are citizens, not problems, but
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priorities, and all of us are diminished when they are 
hopeless. I can pledge our Nation to a goal, ‘when we see 
that wounded traveler on the road to Jericho, we will not 
pass to the other side.’ ’’: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That the President immediately present a 
plan to eradicate poverty by 2010. 
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