Grading the Administration 17

Weekly Grades for the Administration on Poverty: A-

One more week before the first semester grades come out, and the Administration is finishing strong. This was a good week for the struggle to reduce poverty with an A- for the Administration. If they had passed a better homeless bill this last week, they could have received a solid A. There was the proper balance of issues forwarded as well as action with legislation passed and signed into law. Here is a run down of the positives that led to the "A-" for this week:

1. The Housing Bill to prevent foreclosures and increase funding for homelessness was signed into law on Thursday. You can read a complete summary of the bill and the positives and negatives from this new law in our blog entry from yesterday.
2. HR 2346 passed out of the Senate referred to as the Disaster Recovery from the Hurricanes, and will go to conference committee. The Senate version included additional funds for housing vouchers. This is three years overdue, but a good step.
   
3. Sec. of HUD Donovan testified in support of the Section 8 voucher reform bill. This is a good bill that will help to fully fund and make needed changes in the Section 8 affordable housing programs.
   
4. The President issued the standard Memorial Day speech about the sacrifice made by those serving in the military. The one big change was that President Obama urged the rest of the population to volunteer to help out those serving the country. He mentioned taking food to a VA facility or helping homeless veterans. "That can mean sending a letter or a care package to our troops overseas. It can mean volunteering at a clinic where a wounded warrior is being treated or bringing supplies to a homeless veterans center," President Obama said on Saturday. Any call to remind people of the need to volunteer is helpful.
   
5. The President signed a bill "Weapons System Acquisition Reform Act" into law. This will hopefully reduce waste and fraud within the Defense budget, and we hope this will help to move money from guns to butter in the federal budget.
   
6. The Credit Card reform bill was also signed into law this last week. Again, debt is keeping many in our society poor, and while this law will not take effect until 2010, it is still a valuable tool in the struggle to reduce poverty.
   
7. Finally, Data.gov was introduced as a new website that details how tax dollars are being spent. There is not a lot of data on it at this point, but it is a good start that when populated should be helpful.

This is finals week for the administration. We will have one last grade for the semester and then grades will be summarized and a first semester grade will be issued.

Brian
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