It Is More a Matter of Will

The following is from Congressman Rush Holt's newsletter:

Half a century ago, 26 percent of Americans endured, in the words of President Johnson, the “squalor and misery” of poverty. Many politicians claimed at the time that their misery was natural, even inevitable – that any economy will have winners and losers, and that government can do nothing to address that fact.

But President Johnson knew better. And so 50 years ago this week, he launched the “War on Poverty,” kick-starting programs as varied as Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Head Start and others.

And what has been the effect? As a recent Columbia University study revealed, today’s poverty rate – when properly measured, taking into account the effects of government efforts – is about 16 percent, down by 40 percent since the War on Poverty began.

This success can be traced to the programs created or improved by President Johnson. Without Medicare and Social Security, for instance, half of seniors would live in poverty today and would lack any type of health insurance. Food Stamps now keep four million people out of poverty.

Although President Johnson’s coinage may have been a misuse of the word “war” (a misuse repeated in many other government efforts to confront challenges, problems, or threats – cancer, drugs, or terrorism), he intended the effort to be massive. In fact, beyond Medicaid, the programs amounted to only 1.5 or 2 percent of GDP – a large sum to be sure, but not as huge as implied by the critics of these programs. In the wealthiest country in the world, with one of the largest GDPs per person, and with tens of millions of people looking for a way out of poverty, we could do more.

Yet today many in Congress are instead embracing the old and disproven claim that government is helpless in the face of poverty. These skeptics, mostly Republican, have already cut Food Stamps by $5 billion – and they’re trying to cut it by another $40 billion. About 57,000 students have been kicked out of Head Start, and only about one in ten children eligible for Head Start is now enrolled in the program.

Eliminate poverty? Maybe, maybe not, but it is more a matter of will than of our ability to devise programs to confront the problem. Can we muster the compassion to say, "We will not accept this in the United States!"?

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I hope you find this weekly newsletter, the eGenda, to be engaging and informative. I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you regularly about my votes, my services, and the issues that affect Central New Jersey – as well as to share important information during emergencies like Hurricane Sandy.

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Sincerely,

Rush Holt
Member of Congress