Date: 2011-11-14
Speaker: JACKSON LEE (democrat)
Chamber: H
State: Texas

And I would argue vigorously that it is disappointing that we have not been listened to and members of the Congressional Black Caucus and the Democratic Caucus. and even today the supercommittee is speaking about not fulfilling the promise of putting the revenue on the table necessary to counter the cuts. I. frankly. dont want sequestration. The vulnerable will be hit the hardest with all of the cuts that are pointed toward Medicare. Medicaid. Social Security. food stamps. and others that they allege that are protected. but I would argue that aspects of it are not. I made a public commitment to my veterans last Friday that I would not allow for my vote and my support one iota of veterans benefits to be cut. Im so tired of people talking about that were not willing to look at Medicare. Medicaid. and Social Security. No. I am not willing to look at it as it has been proposed by my Republican friends. They know full well how they can cut this. They can follow the Affordable Care Act and close the doughnut hole on Medicare part D. the most expensive. heinous. insulting affront to spending money in the United States of America that was voted on in the Republican majority. Medicare part D that all seniors hate. Our Affordable Care Act. if allowed to be implemented. would close the doughnut holethats one way of doing itand seniors would jump for joy. In addition. if you start talking about provider benefits. Im going to publicly say I oppose it. Why? Because I cannot trust the knife. What does the knife do? It goes in and slashes hospitals and home care and others possibly. And when you slash it. you do jeopardize seniors who are in hospitals. We have to find a way to cut the waste. fraud and abuse. and weve determined that waste. fraud and abuse can save us billions of dollars. So out of my lips. I will not support cutting Medicare. Medicaid. and Social Security. or discretionary funding. I will support the creation of 8 million jobs. I will support investing in Americas people. I will support getting rid of atrisk children. meaning not getting rid of them but their condition. so that we dont have to find atrisk children. What a disgrace that we take that in such a way that we categorize. These are atrisk children. these are poor children. and we just accept it. Theyre numbers. Well. atrisk children are impoverished. malnourished. dont have good health care. and are victims. And they can be victims of the most heinous sexual predator story. act. of our recent times. Even weve heard of the faith institution that has been under such siege that has made changesthe Catholic Church spoke out todaybecause it is a disease. it is an epidemic. and it comes out of poverty and vulnerability. And if we dont cut out the vulnerability of our children and familiesand in this great country. even the Bible says the poor will always be with us. but they also say be busy until He comes. And that means we should be busy until the Lord comes. for those of us who believe. should be busy until He comes. making the corrections that we have to make. So I want to thank the gentlelady for allowing me to join her and to express. as the chairwoman of the Congressional Childrens Caucus. the work that should be done. the work that weve done on the issues of bullying and obesity and on nutrition. And areas like that are added to this work that has been done by the Congressional Black Caucus. And I just simply say: Is anybody listening? Because we have the solution. And if they would only listen. 8 million jobs. children who are protected. and families who can get back on their feet and begin to invest back in this country. With that. I thank the gentlelady for yielding. Madam Speaker. I stand today with my colleagues from the Congressional Black Caucus to discuss the recent on poverty and healthcare. Together. we stand. firmly committed to combating poverty. eliminating hunger. and providing health insurance for all our citizens. I am. as we all are. deeply troubled by the report issued by the U.S. Census Bureau. 1 of every 6 Americans are living in poverty. totaling 46.2 million people. this highest number in 17 years. In a country with so many resources. there is no excuse for this staggering level of poverty. Children represent a disproportionate amount of the United States poor population. In 2008. there were 15.45 million impoverished children in the nation. 20.7% of Americas youth. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates that there are currently 5.6 million Texans living in poverty. 2.2 million of them children. and that 17.4% of households in the state struggle with food insecurity. In my district. the Texas 18th. more than 190.000 people live below the poverty line. We must not. we cannot. at a time when the Census Bureau places the number of American living in poverty at the highest rate in over 17 years. cut vital social services. Not in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis and persistent unemployment. when so many rely on federal benefits to survive. like the Supplemental Nutrition Access Program (SNAP) that fed 3.9 million residents of Texas in April 2011. or the Women. Infant. and Children (WIC) Program that provides nutritious food to more than 990.000 mothers and children in my home state. The Census Bureau also reported there are 49.9 million people in this country without health insurance. This is an absolute injustice that must be addressed. We can no longer ignore the fact that nearly 50 million Americans. many of them children. have no health insurance. Texas has the largest uninsured population in the country. 24.6% of Texans do not have health care coverage. This includes 1.3 million children in the state of Texas alone who do not have health insurance. or access to the healthcare they need. It is unconscionable that. despite egregiously high poverty rates. Republicans seek to reduce spending by cutting social programs that provide food and healthcare instead of raising taxes on the wealthiest in the nation. or closing corporate tax loopholes. Perhaps my friends on the other side of the aisle are content to conclude that life simply is not fair. equality is not accessible to everyone. and the less advantaged among us are condemned to remain as they are. but I do not accept that. That kind of complacency is not fitting for America. I firmly believe that all Americans can come together to protect the most vulnerable citizens in the nation. to provide relief for the poor and the hungry. because 46 million of our fellow countrymen living in poverty. 15 million of them children. is simply unacceptable. I urge my colleagues in Congress. and people across the nation. to look at what unites us rather than what divides us. We are linked by our compassion. and bound by the fundamental edict of the American dream that says we will strive to provide our children with a better life than we had. We can. and we must reach a compromise that will not cut valuable services from those who need government the most.