209 
Emergency Assistance Act as a result of Hurri-
cane Katrina of 2005; and 
(B) in which the sale of flood insurance 
coverage was available under the National 
Flood Insurance Act of 1968 as of August 28, 
2004. 
(2) DIRECTOR.—The term ‘‘Director’’ means 
the Director of the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency. 
(i) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 
(1) FOR
CLAIMS
PAYMENTS.—There are au-
thorized to be appropriated to the Director such 
sums as may be necessary to cover all costs of flood 
insurance coverage made available under this sec-
tion, including administrative expenses and claims 
under such coverage. 
(2) FOR MITIGATION ASSISTANCE.—There are 
authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be 
necessary, for the national flood insurance fund es-
tablished under section 1310 of the National Flood 
Insurance Act of 1968 and for the national flood 
mitigation fund established under section 1367 of 
such Act (42 U.S.C. 4104d), for use only for mitiga-
tion activities under the programs under sections 
1323, 1361A, and 1366 of the National Flood In-
210 
surance Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 4030, 4102a, 
4104c), as appropriate, for eligible structures. 
(j) TERMINATION.—The Director may not enter into 
any contract or policy for coverage under this section ex-
cept pursuant to an application for such coverage sub-
mitted to the Director before the expiration of the 90-day 
period beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act. 
SEC. 1103. PROTECTION OF EXISTING RIGHTS OF MILITARY 
PERSONNEL. 
Nothing in this Act shall be construed to restrict or 
otherwise limit rights set forth in any local, State or Fed-
eral law or regulation affording rights and benefits to mili-
tary personnel or their families. 
TITLE XII—ERADICATING 
POVERTY 
SEC. 1201. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds that— 
(1) 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; 
(2) the poverty rate was 24.7 percent for 
Blacks and 21.9 percent for Latinos in 2004; 
(3) the poverty rate is the highest in the com-
pletely rural counties (not adjacent to metro coun-
ties), with 16.8 percent of the population poor;
211 
(4) the top 5 most impoverished States accord-
ing to the Census Bureau are Mississippi, Kentucky, 
Alabama, Louisiana, and the District of Columbia; 
(5) the Bureau of the Census established the 
poverty line for 2003 to be $14,680 for a family of 
three; 
(6) extreme poverty is defined as people with 
income of less than one-half of the poverty level; 
(7) 12,900,000 children under the age of 18 
lived in poverty in 2003, and the number of children 
living in extreme poverty rose by 500,000 from 2002 
to 2003; 
(8) a poor child is more likely to leave school 
at the age of 16 with no qualifications than the av-
erage middle-class child; 
(9) between 2000 and 2004 the real median 
earnings for female full-time, full-year workers de-
clined by 2.3 percent and for male full-time, full- 
year workers declined by 4.4 percent; 
(10) the average annual cost for attending a 
public university now equals more than 62 percent 
of the income of a working class family; 
(11) each year, over 400,000 college-ready, low- 
income students do not pursue their college edu-
cation because they cannot afford the cost; Whereas
212 
homeless children face more barriers to school en-
rollment and attendance due to a lack of available 
transportation, residency requirements, inability to 
obtain previous school records, and a lack of clothing 
and school supplies; 
(12) the number of uninsured Americans rose 
to 45,800,000 in 2004, 860,000 more than in the 
previous year; 
(13) the Bureau of the Census found 11.1 per-
cent of Whites, 18.7 percent of Asians, 19.5 percent 
of Blacks, and 32.7 percent of Latinos had no 
health insurance in 2003; 
(14) the Bureau of the Census found 75.8 per-
cent of households with an income of less than 
$25,000 had health insurance in 2003; 
(15) the Bureau of the Census found 91.8 per-
cent of households with incomes of $75,000 or more 
had health insurance in 2003; 
(16) the number of Americans without health 
insurance has risen for 3 consecutive years; 
(17) homeless children are in fair or poor 
health condition twice as often as other children and 
have higher rates of asthma, ear infections, stomach 
problems, and speech problems;
213 
(18) the Department of Agriculture has found 
that, in 2002, 34,900,000 people lived in households 
experiencing food insecurity; 
(19) 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 re-
sources; 
(20) food insecurity and hunger rates have in-
creased in the United States for the third year in a 
row; 
(21) in 2002, the Department of Agriculture 
found that 9.7 percent of households with incomes 
below 185 percent of the Federal poverty line experi-
enced hunger; 
(22) 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; 
(23) households with children experience food 
insecurity at more than double the rate for house-
holds without children; 
(24) 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
214 
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 Fed-
eral Government; 
(25) the Department of Labor records the un-
employment level at the end of 2004 as being 5 per-
cent for Whites, 10.2 percent for African-Americans 
and 6.6 percent for Latinos; 
(26) families with children are among the fast-
est growing segment of the homeless population; 
(27) 39 percent of the homeless population are 
children and an estimated 1,350,000 children will 
experience homelessness in a year; and 
(28) 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 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’.’’.
215 
SEC. 1202. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that no later than six 
months from the adoption hereof, the President should 
present a plan to eradicate poverty in the United States 
of America by the year 2015. 
Æ