A date has not yet been set but sometime in the coming weeks On Wednesday, Jan. 27th the President of the United States will appear before Congress to offer his State of the Union address.
This president inherited the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, two wars and a global climate change crisis. On all fronts, the president has made progress (though progressives often wish for quicker action and are frustrated at the slow legislative pace and the obstacles set in place by the GOP, the same folks who created much of the mess the president is trying to clean up).
One issue that I hope the president addresses during the State of the Union is growing poverty in America. "The official poverty rate in 2008 was 13.2 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2007," reports the Census Bureau, but the number is likely higher. More Americans are also going hungry today than in previous years. People are suffering in great numbers because of economic policies adopted during the previous administration that cut taxes on the richest Americans, cut programs for those trying to escape poverty, and which offered no detailed proposals on how to reduce poverty as unemployment grew.
President Obama came into office promising to reduce poverty in half over ten years, That is a doable goal. The Center for American Progress developed a list for proposals for doing just that in 2007 that the Obama campaign largely adopted.
Already the president has taken steps to reduce poverty that should be noted.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (that the President passed with little Republican support) included broad investments to alleviate the poverty made worse by the economic crisis.
- To fight hunger, the Act includes a $20 billion increase for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps, as well as funding for food banks and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC);
- The Act also provides for $2 billion in new Neighborhood Stabilization Funds to help maintain ailing neighborhoods and $1.5 billion in Homelessness Prevention Funds to keep people in their homes or rapidly rehouse them;
- The Act increases funding for the Community Services Block Grant by $1 billion;
- The Act increases the Weatherization Assistance Program by $5 billion to help low income families save on their energy bills by making their homes more energy efficient;
- The Act increases job training funds for those who need them most, with $3.95 billion in additional funding for the Workforce Investment system, which will support green job training, summer jobs for young people, and other opportunities;
- The Act provides increased income support, including an increase of $25 per week for Unemployment Insurance recipients and incentives for states to expand unemployment insurance eligibility, as well as an extra $250 payment to Social Security and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries and new resources for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program; and,
- The Act provides tax breaks to working families through the Make Work Pay and Child Tax Credits. These changes will reduce the marriage penalty and provide a larger credit for families with three or more children.
The State of the Union address gives the president a perfect opportunity to re-affirm his commitment to cut poverty in half. His words along with additional concrete proposals would offer hope to millions of Americans now suffering from despair and heartache.
That's the message I wrote to the president today:
Download Letter to President Obama Re Poverty and the State of the Union Address
I encourage you to write the president as well and ask him to use the State of the Union address as an opportunity to outline his plans for reducing poverty in the coming years.
