•HCON 19 IH 
Whereas extreme poverty is defined as people with income of 
less than 1⁄2 of the poverty level; 
Whereas 12,896,000 children in the United States under the 
age of 18 lived in poverty in 2005, and the number of 
children living in extreme poverty rose by 87,000 from 
2004–2005; 
Whereas, between 2004 and 2005, the real median earnings 
for female full-time, full-year workers declined by 1.3 per-
cent and for male full-time, full-year workers declined by 
1.8 percent; 
Whereas, in 2005, an estimated 33 percent of the homeless 
population are children and an estimated 1,350,000 chil-
dren will experience homelessness in a year; 
Whereas homeless children face more barriers to school en-
rollment and attendance due to a lack of available trans-
portation, residency requirements, inability to obtain pre-
vious school records, and a lack of clothing and school 
supplies; 
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 number of uninsured Americans rose to 
46,577,000 in 2005, 1,272,000 more than in the previous 
year, and the number of Americans without health insur-
ance has risen for 4 consecutive years; 
Whereas the Census Bureau found that more than 25 percent 
of households with an income of less than $25,000 did 
not have health insurance in 2005, whereas 91 percent 
of households with incomes of $75,000 or more had 
health insurance; 
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•HCON 19 IH 
Whereas the Department of Agriculture has found that, in 
2005, 35,100,000 people lived in households experiencing 
food insecurity, meaning that they did not have adequate 
access to enough food to meet basic dietary needs to all 
times due to a lack of financial resources; 
Whereas the Census Bureau survey on food security has 
found those at greatest risk of being hungry live in 
households that are headed by a single woman, a Latino 
or African-American, 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 Department of Labor records the unemployment 
level at the third quarter of 2006 as being 4.1 percent 
for whites, 9.2 percent for African-Americans and 5.3 
percent for Latinos; 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. 
Where there is suffering, there is duty. Americans in 
need are not strangers, they are citizens, not problems, 
but priorities. And all of us are diminished when any are 
hopeless. And 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 it is the sense of Congress that— 
(1) the United States has an obligation to im-
prove the lives of the 36,950,000 Americans living in 
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•HCON 19 IH 
poverty and the 15,928,000 of those who live in ex-
treme poverty; and 
(2) the President should immediately present to 
Congress a comprehensive plan to eradicate poverty 
by 2015. 
Æ 
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