Census data shows nearly one in two Americans live in poverty, and now
the Congressional Budget Office warns things could soon get worse if
President Obama and Congress remain at an impasse over the 2013 fiscal
budget. House Republicans are calling for cuts to food aid, healthcare
and social services, while protecting funds for the Pentagon. We discuss
poverty with Peter Edelman, who resigned as assistant secretary at the
Department of Health and Human Services over then-President Bill
Clinton’s signing of the 1996 welfare reform law that threw millions off
the rolls. "Basically, right now, welfare is gone," Edelman says. "We
have six million people in this country whose only income is food
stamps. That’s an income at a third of the poverty line. ... Nineteen
states serve less than 10 percent of their poor children. It’s a
terrible hole in the safety net. Welfare has basically disappeared in
large parts of this country." Now a professor at Georgetown University
Law Center, Edelman has written a new book, "So Rich, So Poor: Why It’s
So Hard to End Poverty in America." "I’m very much supportive of
Occupy," he adds. "The idea ... of the 1 percent and the 99 percent ...
all fits together. We really should be all one country."Video
Source: Democracy Now!
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