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Charles Rangel on Welfare & Poverty

Dem./Lib./Working-Families


Make taking people out of poverty our #1 priority

It's critically important today to make talking people out of poverty our number 1 national priority. Why? Because poverty is disproportionately visited on our most valuable resource, people under the age of 21. To compete with massive faster-growing economies like China and India, or better educated, socially secure economies like Japan and the European countries, we will need all our young people heading for higher education and training instead of the military, prison, or jobs flipping hamburgers.
Source: A Bad Day Since, by Charles Rangel, p.259 , Aug 5, 2008

Architect of Harlem Empowerment Zone legislation

The creation in the early years of the Giuliani administration of the Harlem Empowerment Zone would lead to the controversial ridding of that neighborhood of its street vendors.

Rudy Washington: When Giuliani was elected in 1992, he had announced he was doing the Empowerment Zone. Charlie Rangel was one of the architects of the legislation and had designated Harlem being in the Empowerment Zone. When Rudy really looked closely at the legislation, he started thinking, Why should it all go to Harlem? That's not the only community in need. He said, "The South Bronx [a depressed area of abandoned buildings] should share in this." Charlie Rangel said no. From day one we were at war with Charlie Rangel. But we controlled a hundred million dollars; we controlled the application and Charlie Rangel was down there in Washington.

Source: Giuliani: Flawed or Flawless, by D. & G. Strober, p.156-157 , Jan 16, 2007

Voted YES on instituting National Service as a new social invention.

Congressional Summary:Generations Invigorating Volunteerism and Education (GIVE) Act:
    Adds to National and Community Service Act of 1990 (NCSA) purposes:
  1. providing year-round opportunities in service-learning;
  2. involving program participants in emergency and disaster preparedness, relief, and recovery;
  3. increasing service opportunities for retiring professionals;
  4. encouraging service by individuals age 55 or older and continued service by national service alumni;
  5. focusing national service on the areas of national need.

Proponent's argument to vote Yes:Sen. BARBARA MIKULSKI (D, MD): [In developing national service over many years] we were not in the business of creating another new social program. What we were in the business of was creating a new social invention. What do I mean by that? In our country, we are known for our technological inventions. But also often overlooked, and sometimes undervalued, is our social inventions.

We created national service to let young people find opportunity to be of service and also to make an important contribution. But not all was rosy. In 2003, when I was the ranking member on the appropriations subcommittee funding national service, they created a debacle. One of their most colossal errors was that they enrolled over 20,000 volunteers and could not afford to pay for it. That is how sloppy they were in their accounting. I called them the "Enron of nonprofits."

And they worked on it. But all that is history. We are going to expand AmeriCorps activity into specialized corps. One, an education corps; another, a health futures corps; another, a veterans corps; and another called opportunity corps. These are not outside of AmeriCorps. They will be subsets because we find this is where compelling human need is and at the same time offers great opportunity for volunteers to do it.

Opponent's argument to vote No:No senators spoke against the amendment.

Reference: Serve America Act/GIVE Act; Bill H.R. 1388 ; vote number 2009-H169 on Mar 31, 2009

Increase the earned income tax credit.

Rangel co-sponsored increasing the earned income tax credit

Provisions Relating to Earned Income Credit: Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal the supplemental young child credit and revise and increase the earned income credit.

Source: Tax Simplification Act (H.R.13) 1993-H13 on Jan 5, 1993

Support school breakfast for low-income children.

Rangel signed bill favoring school breakfast for low-income kids