[Congressional Bills 110th Congress] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office] [H. Con. Res. 198 Introduced in House (IH)] 110th CONGRESS 1st Session H. CON. RES. 198 Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States has a moral responsibility to meet the needs of those persons, groups and communities that are impoverished, disadvantaged or otherwise in poverty. _______________________________________________________________________ IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES August 1, 2007 Ms. Lee (for herself, Mr. Baca, Mr. Butterfield, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Grijalva, Mr. Hare, Mr. Honda, Ms. Kilpatrick, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Solis, Ms. Watson, and Ms. Woolsey) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform _______________________________________________________________________ CONCURRENT RESOLUTION Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States has a moral responsibility to meet the needs of those persons, groups and communities that are impoverished, disadvantaged or otherwise in poverty. Whereas poverty is a deep, structural problem that implicates our value system and our educational and economic institutions; Whereas a widely acknowledged definition of poverty is the lack of basic necessities of life such as food, shelter, clothing, health care, education, security, and opportunity; Whereas policy initiatives addressing poverty have not kept pace with the needs of millions of Americans; Whereas the failure of America's ability to meet the needs of its poorest was acutely seen during Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma in August 2005; Whereas many experts believe that the lack of an equitable distribution of housing choices across the country leads to isolation and concentrated poverty that makes low-income individuals and families vulnerable to catastrophic natural or man-made disasters like the Gulf Coast hurricanes; Whereas the economic disparities that have exacerbated restoration of impoverished communities in the Gulf Coast region continue to persist in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; Whereas the number of Americans living in poverty has risen by over 5,000,000 since 2000; Whereas there were 37 million Americans living in poverty in 2005; Whereas the official poverty rate in 2005 was 12.6 percent; Whereas 24.9 percent of African Americans, 21.8 percent of Hispanics, 25.3 percent of Native Americans, 10.9 percent of Asian Americans, and 8.3 percent of Whites lived in poverty in the United States in 2005; Whereas in 2005 a family of 4 was considered poor under the U.S. Census Bureau's official measure if the family's income was below $19,971; Whereas the poverty rate for children 18 years and younger (17.6 percent) remained higher than that of 18-24 year-olds (11.1 percent) and that of people 65 and older (10.1 percent) in 2005; Whereas the number in poverty increased for people 65 and older by almost 400,000 since 2000; and Whereas in international poverty comparisons, a common approach is to ask what share of the population has income below 50 percent of the Nation's median income. Using this measure the United States poverty rate at the turn of the 21st century ranked 24th of 25 countries, with only Mexico having a higher percentage rate: Now, therefore, be it Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate concurring), That it is the sense of Congress that the United States should set a national goal of cutting poverty in half over the next 10 years using a strategy that promotes good jobs at livable wages. <all>