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Wednesday, May 09, 2007

Poverty, front and center

By Leslie Taylor

37,000,000: Estimated number of Americans living in poverty.

301,792,397: Total U.S. population, as of 10:18 a.m., May 8.

Simple math: Roughly one-eighth of people living in the United States are doing so at or below the federal poverty line -- $19,971 a year for a family of four.

And in a country where the collective net worth of the nation's 400 richest people is $1.25 trillion.

In the years since the United States declared war on terror, the number of people in poverty in the U.S. has grown by 5 million, according to a Center for American Progress report released April 25.

The center, a liberal think-tank headed by former Clinton chief of staff John Podesta, wants poverty out front again, as it was when President Lyndon Johnson made poverty concerns a national priority in the 1960s. The Washington, D.C.-based center has declared a new war on poverty, one that aims to cut the poverty rolls in half over the next 10 years.

The 12-step proposal includes guaranteeing child care assistance for low-income families, raising and indexing the minimum wage, helping former prisoners find stable employment, and creating 2 million new housing vouchers for people who choose to live in areas with good schools, high-quality public services and good employment opportunities.

All are sound recommendations for tackling persistent problems of poverty. But they ring a familiar "Here we are again," possibly increasing the chance that no one will answer this call.

But we are here again, more than a decade after federal welfare reform was enacted, more than 40 years after Lyndon Johnson declared a war on poverty.

The center's proposed strategy already has the ear of Rep. Charles Rangel, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and of Sen. Ted Kennedy, senior Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Both have thrown their support behind the proposal, and in doing so have been quick to work Iraq into the mix.

Kennedy, according to a center news release, said the $2.5 billion a week being spent on the war may be blocking progress in areas that affect poverty.

Rangel pulled no punches. "With the exception of getting the hell out of the Middle East, I can't think of anything more patriotic that Americans can do than to eliminate poverty," he said.

Perhaps their comments were politically expedient sound bites. Let's hope not. Let's hope their words weave their way into the congressional consciousness. Poverty must be part of the discussion on war spending, as it must on education, on health care, on labor, on the environment.

The Center for American Progress formed a task force to prepare this poverty report not long after Hurricane Katrina, when racial and economic disparities here at home smacked us shamefully across the face.

Its anti-poverty strategy is directed at those here at home -- the federal government, state and local governments, businesses, the faith-based community, other volunteer organizations, individuals.

The center isn't expecting any action from the Bush administration; the center is recommending that the next president begin with an executive order declaring the goal of cutting the poverty rolls in half in 10 years and sending legislation to Congress.

For now, the report serves this primary purpose: to make a moral and economic case for why the nation needs to address poverty.

"We hope our report contributes to the discussion and helps lead to action, but there are a lot of other efforts besides our report suggesting a revived interest in acting to address poverty," said Mark Greenberg, the task force's executive director.

Greenberg referred to state and local efforts to combat poverty such as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Economic Opportunity Commission, and anti-poverty legislation, resolutions and campaigns in a number of states, including Connecticut, Minnesota and California.

I asked Greenberg the "what ifs." What if the report fails to spur action, the kind of action Cabell Brand demonstrated 40 years ago when he founded Total Action Against Poverty in Roanoke? What does that say about the nation's priorities? Surely the nation cannot, in good conscience, watch the gulf between the haves and have-nots continue to widen.

Greenberg chose not to answer, apologizing for appearing evasive. He sees a new war on poverty brewing, a climate ripe for progress.

On the Net:

www.americanprogress.org

Taylor is a member of The Roanoke Times editorial board.
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