Poverty and Homelessness? In the 6th District? I’m confused…

On 11.13.09, In Ben Lowe, Economic Justice, Peter Roskam, Poverty, Veterans, By RSR

I thought Henry Hyde and Peter Roskam had licked those problems years ago by pretending they don’t exist.

But here I read that Ben Lowe, our new Democratic Candidate for the House of Representatives in the 6th District went to a forum on “Homelessness in DuPage County” yesterday at the Wheaton Public Library and Ben reports that poverty and homelessness are still with us after all:

According to DuPage County Continuum, there are approximately 41,000 residents who are living below the poverty level and a solid quarter of these are children. A One Night survey conducted on January 22 2009 found 659 homeless people in the county that night (which, thanks to the increased efforts of groups like the ones above, is actually down from 766 in 2007!). Even so, in a district with as many financial resources as ours, this is 659 too many people without a roof over their heads.

And of course the poverty statistic understates the problem because the Federal poverty level is set so low: for a family of 4, $22,050. Can you imagine the difficulty of trying to feed clothe, and house a family of 4 here in DuPage County on just $22,050.

So, Ben, I’m wondering whether you happened to run into Peter Roskam at the meeting. You would have recognized him: an angry man with a receding hairline carrying handcuffs and a large stack of paper. I feel certain he must have been there -in his hometown,  with a problem this serious affecting his district. But then the Bears were playing…

I have to say, I think I’m developing a serious crush on our new candidate. Not only has he acknowledged the existence of poverty and homelessness here in our district but he thinks that government (which really just us banding together to manage things that we can’t manage as individuals) might actually be able to contribute to a solution:

Based on further suggestions from our panelists, here is what I agree the government can do to help more, especially during these tough economic times:

  • We must make Housing Choice Vouchers more accessible and dramatically reduce the waiting list (the wait can be up to 5 years for those that qualify)
  • We need to reform Medicaid We must invest in more affordable housing
  • We need to offer programs that help retrofit and upgrade old low-income housing units so that they save energy (and thus money) and make for healthier homes
  • For our veterans: we have great camps training civilians to be soldiers; we need to invest just as seriously into programs that help transition soldiers back into civilians.

I am anxious to hear Representative Roskam’s plan but I have a sneaking suspicion it will involve a repeal of the estate tax.

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As Unemployment Rises, Peter Roskam Votes to Eliminate Food Programs

On 10.19.09, In Economic Justice, Peter Roskam, Poverty, Unemployment, By RSR

Even as the overall health of the economy shows signs of improvement, the unemployment rate in Illinois rose to 10.5 in September, the highest rate since 1983, and Illinois lost over 14,000 non-farm jobs. That’s in addition to over 306,000 jobs lost since August 2008 due to the Bush recession.

With so many families in trouble, we might expect our Congressman to be taking action to provide aid to those hit by job losses. Here in the 6th District, our Republican Congressman, Peter Roskam has been gleefully citing these statistics to make political trouble for President Obama. But utterly devoid of empathy for those who are suffering, Roskam hasn’t lifted a finger to help those families. In fact, he’s been doing his best to make things worse.

We have already written about Peter Roskam’s vote in September against the extension of unemployment benefits for those whose benefits are about to end.

This month, Peter Roskam voted to eliminate a number of key federal food assistance programs.

The vote came on October 7 on the conference report for HR 2997, Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2010. Peter Roskam voted no.

In voting against the conference report, Roskam voted to eliminate the following programs which are critical to meeting the nutritional needs of those experiencing economic hardship:

Child nutrition programs. The child nutrition programs included in S. 1406 provide funding for the National School Lunch and School Breakfast Program, Summer Food Service Program, and Child and Adult Care Food programs. These programs serve nutritious lunches and breakfasts to children attending school or residing in other institutions. The purpose is to improve the health and well-being of the nation’s children. H.R. 2997 would provide $16.85 billion in mandatory budget authority for child nutrition programs, which is $58 million more than the President’s budget request and $1.9 billion more than the enacted Fiscal Year 2009 level.

Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). The WIC program provides assistance to pregnant, breast-feeding and post-partum women and infants, and children up to age five who are at nutritional risk because of inadequate nutrition and inadequate income. H.R. 2997 would provide $7.25 billion in discretionary budget authority for this program, which is $525 million less than President’s budget request and $392 million more than the enacted Fiscal Year 2009 level, excluding emergency appropriations. Additionally, it is important to note that $487 million in contingency funds will be available in Fiscal Year 2010 making a total of $7.7 billion available for the WIC program.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Food Stamps). The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program provides assistance to needy persons and families to alleviate hunger and malnutrition and increase their food purchasing power. H.R. 2997 would provide $58.2 billion in mandatory budget authority for this program which is $3.07 billion below the President’s budget request and is $4.3 billion more than the enacted Fiscal Year 2009 level.

Commodity Assistance Program. The Commodity Assistance Program provides supplemental food to infants and children as well as prepared meals to low-income households. H.R. 2997 would provide $248 million for this program, which is $14.6 million more than the President’s budget request and is $17.2 million more than the enacted Fiscal Year 2009 level.

I really find it hard to fathom how a man with any conscience at all could choose to play political games at a time like this and ignore the suffering of his brothers and sisters. Fortunately, the measure passed without Roskam’s vote and is expected tobe signed into law shortly by President Obama.

I’d encourage you to contact Roskam to register your displeasure, but quite frankly that would be useless. This man is unconcerned with anything but political advancement and aiding his corporate campaign donors. He is blind to the suffering and hardship that exists amongst his constituents.

Ellen in the 10th has a good post with some stats fleshing out the degree of economic hardship here in Illinois.

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Peter Roskam Throws Hissy Fit on House Floor Over Taxes on Dead Rich Folks

On 05.22.09, In Economic Justice, Estate Tax, Middle Class, Peter Roskam, Poverty, By RSR

Received a Tweet from Peter Roskam  wanting to know what I thought about his floor speeech regarding the estate tax, which Peter and other wingnuts like to call the “death tax”.

Well. I always want to do my part to help my Congressman so here goes.

First off,  I was  pleased to hear him name publicly one by one the interest groups to which he is beholden: U.S. Chamber, National Association of Manufacturers, etc.

I was also impressed by Peter’s emotion, the passion that this issue arouses in him. Thought his hairpiece was going to fly off at the end ;) .

What troubles me deeply, however, is that it it is only taxes on rich people that can get Peter aroused this way.  Not homeless veterans on the streets of DuPage County, not children in Wood Dale without adequate health care, not torture and illegal detention authorized by the President and Vice President in Washington. Nope. Just taxes on rich white people in Wheaton, or in this case, rich dead white people in Wheaton.

The truth about the estate tax, which Peter Roskam is unwilling to share with you, is that the estate tax will affect only 0.24 percent of all people who die in 2009, individuals who die with an estate valued at $3.5 million or more or married couples (heterosexual) with an estate of $7 million or more. What’s really sad is that Peter Roskam has chosen to use his seat in Congress, OUR seat in Congress, to represent the financial interests of only that tiny fraction of the residents of his district.

Repealing the estate tax, as Roskam, would have us do, would cost billions in reduced revenue, necessitating either increased taxes on the poor and middle class or major reductions in spending. Cuts to the bloated defense budget, of course, are off limits, to Peter and his Republican colleagues, so cuts would have to be made for things like college financial aid, food stamps, Medicare, veterans services, childrens’ health care – all those programs to help poor and middle class families that Peter has fought against so vigorously during his time in office. More than likely, it would be a combination of both increased taxes and reduced services that would be required to give this expensive gift to a few very wealthy dead people.

So, thanks, Peter for letting me know about your speech.  I honestly have to say though that I didn’t care for it much.

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Peter Roskam, George Bush Attempt to Block Increased Funding for Food Aid to Poor

On 05.22.08, In Economic Justice, George Bush, Peter Roskam, Poverty, By RSR

The House voted overwhelmingly last week (5/14) in favor of the long-awaited Farm Bill which included substantial improvements in funding of food programs to help the poor.

Among the food program provisions are improvements to the food stamp program:

• Increasing the $10 minimum monthly benefit (unchanged for 30 years) to $14, and indexing it for inflation
• Increasing and indexing the standard deduction for households of three or fewer
• Removing the cap on the deductible amount of child care expenses in eligible households
• Indexing the food stamp household asset limits ($2,000; $3,000 for households with elderly or
disabled), which have gone unchanged for decades
• Allowing more families to save without penalty by excluding education savings and tax-preferred
retirement accounts from food stamp asset limits.

In my opinion any President or Congressman who would oppose these modest provisions for the poor is without heart and without conscience. Peter Roskam voted against them. President Bush then vetoed them today. Then Roskam voted against them again.

There has been a bit of a snafu regarding the veto and the veto override today. It seems that a clerical error resulted in an incomplete copy of the bill being sent to the President so it seems the exercise will have to be repeated. That gives Roskam a chance to vote again and redeem himself. Please call him and ask him to quit being a creep and vote to help our brothers and sisters who are hungry. Roskam can be reached at his Washington office at (202) 225-4561 or in Bloomingdale at (630) 893-9670.

Then go and read Ellen of the Tenth’s post on the farm bill vote. She “scooped” my usual sources and I first learned about the vote last week from her blog. Ellen shares some insight on what its like to depend on food stamps.

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