Ed Markey on Welfare & Poverty Democratic Representative (MA-7)

Sponsored maintaining SNAP nutrition assistance program.

• WHEREAS hunger is a serious threat to individual dignity, productivity, learning, economic prosperity, health, and development;
• WHEREAS food insecurity means that people face an ongoing struggle against hunger;
• WHEREAS 50.1 million people lived in food insecure households in 2011;
• WHEREAS the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP), established in the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, is the nation`s first line of defense against hunger and food insecurity;
• WHEREAS SNAP served more than 47.5 million individuals in October 2012;
• WHEREAS the SNAP benefits average less than $1.50 per individual per meal;
• WHEREAS SNAP participation rises when the economy is weak;
• WHEREAS millions of Americans need to turn to SNAP as a way to feed themselves and their families;
• Whereas SNAP is an efficient public-private partnership that runs on the regular channels of commerce--regular retail food stores and electronic benefit transfer (EBT) systems;
• WHEREAS every dollar in new SNAP benefits generates up to $1.79 in economic activity
• RESOLVED that Congress should not propose any reduction in the availability or amount of benefits provided under the supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) in effect under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008, and that the House of Representatives should reject any proposed legislation that includes any provisions that reduce the availability or amount of benefits provided under SNAP.

Fully fund Head Start; Job Corps; and WIC food program.

Making appropriations to begin a phase-in toward full funding of the special supplemental food program for women, infants and children (WIC) and of Head Start programs, and to expand the Job Corps program for the year ending September 30, 1994.

Reduce the concentration of wealth & wage inequality.

Economic inequality is the result of two and a half decades of government policies and rules governing the economy being tilted in favor of large asset owners at the expense of wage earners. Tax policy, trade policy, monetary policy, government regulations and other rules have reflected this pro-investor bias. We propose the introduction or reintroduction of a package of legislative initiatives that will close America’s economic divide and address both income and wealth disparities.

The Progressive Caucus could take the lead in the formation of a national leadership steering committee to put this dramatic issue before the public through coordinated media campaigns and local education and action forums. The political program should be concerned with:
• Reducing wage inequality: We are proposing initiatives to both raise the minimum wage floor and prevent the tax code from subsidizing excessive compensation.
• Asset-building initiatives: The government has historically given land to citizens. Unfortunately, the programs were discriminatory toward people of color and kept a whole generation of people off the asset-building train. We are proposing a universal asset building approach that will dramatically reduce the number of “asset less” households and reduce the disparity of wealth for all Americans.
• Addressing the over concentration of wealth and power: The concentration of wealth is a problem because it distorts our democracy, destabilizes the economy and erodes our at our social and cultural fabric. Too much concentrated wealth leads to too much concentrated power and begins to undermine our participatory democracy.