Congressional Joint Economic Committee Hearing: Leave No Family Behind

With More than 37 Million Americans Reported to Be Living in Poverty According to the Census, Can Better Federal Guidelines Help State and Local Governments Reach More Families in Need?

U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer and Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, Chairman and Vice Chair respectively of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC), held a hearing on poverty in the United States on Thursday, September 25, 2008.   The JEC hearing entitled, “Leave No Family Behind: How Can We Reduce the Rising Number of Americans Families Living in Poverty?”, featured Mayor David N. Cicilline and poverty experts examine whether the outdated federal poverty measurements are preventing resources from reaching families and elderly Americans and what legislation may be appropriate to drastically reduce the number of U.S. families living in poverty.  Since 2000, the number of Americans living in poverty jumped by 5.7 million to 37.3 million; and the poverty rate rose to 12.5 percent in 2007. 

Representative Carolyn B. Maloney, (D-NY), Vice Chair of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC)

Mayor David N. Cicilline, Providence, RI 

Rebecca M. Blank, Robert V. Kerr Senior Fellow, Brookings Institute

Angela Glover Blackwell, CEO, Policy Link, Co-chair, Half-in-Ten Campaign

John W. Edwards, Jr., Chairman of the Board of the Community Action Partnership

Robert E. Rector, Senior Research Fellow, Domestic Policy, The Heritage Foundation