Weekly Grades for Administration on Poverty: B-
Have you noticed that when the CEO is in Europe or the Middle East, the Executive Branch does not accomplish much domestically? Obama was in Germany, France, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt this week, and very little happened from the White House to address poverty. Here are a few things from 1800 Pennsylvania Ave. with the lead being the full court press on health care reform. Obama talked about it in the weekly video address. He sent a letter to Sen. Kennedy outlining his plans, and there was the release of information on the cost of not reforming health care to our economy. The administration is serious about reform, but please do not listen to the insurance companies and big pharma. They have lied to us for decades, and their only interest is staying in business. They force us to make health decisions based on costs and not the advice of doctors. They told us that HMOs would control costs for everyone. LIES, LIES, and more LIES. At NEOCH, our health care goes up 8 to 18% per year no matter if the economy is depressed or booming. They just lie to America, and they fear government funded health care more than swine flu in a TB isolation ward. Many fell for their propaganda in the 1990s, but we are a lot smarter about health care at this point.
America bought a car company last week. That has to be worth something toward ending poverty. If we could just buy a health care company and about 100 million apartment units, we would be set. VP Biden held another middle class task force meeting--still waiting for the "How do I get into the Middle Class Task Force" meeting. Points off for every meeting of the middle class task force. The Veterans Administration held a hearing on Capital Hill regarding ending homelessness among veterans. I don't know how I missed it, but the VA recently updated their website with an entire section of resources for homeless veterans. This is a very good upgrade, and it is maintained regularly. Senator Schumer of NY introduced the "Homes for Heroes Act of 2009" last week (S. 1160). The bill would provide $200 million to HUD for supportive housing for very low income veterans. The bill would also provide 20,000 new housing vouchers for homeless veterans. Senator Brown is already a co-sponsor.
There were a number of new initiatives announced to address the housing crisis in the Gulf region. There were additional vouchers, additional funds, and the selling of FEMA trailers to home owners. The problem is that there is just not enough affordable housing in the region. Until we get into the business of building large numbers of affordable housing developments (apartments, scattered site houses, mixed use owner/occupied complexes, and senior housing) there will not be enough space for all the low income people in the region.
I have to mention that Dr. Jill Biden did some volunteering last week to assist the troops. The big four will always get a few extra points if they are out volunteering. There was a great deal of discussion and tangible ideas presented to make government more transparent last week. There was a hearing in Congress to look at the reform of Section 8 housing program. Senators from the Banking committee urged support of the 2010 Federal budget and especially the "robust" appropriations for housing. Ohio's Senator Brown signed onto this letter urging his colleagues to support additional housing funds. Finally, there seems to be a new approach at HUD to enforce fair housing laws. HUD has refused to certify one county in New York's consolidated plan, which is the road map for a community accepting government dollars and planning to reduce housing disparities, discrimination, affordability issues. This is a huge step forward. Check out the National Low Income Housing Coalition's website under Memo to Members for last week for more details.
On Tuesday, we will go over the syllabus for the next semester of issues still lacking in the struggle to end poverty in America.
Brian
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