Maxine Waters, Keith Ellison call for poverty hearings
WASHINGTON -- Democrats on the House Financial Services Committee want their Republican colleagues to hold hearings to discuss ways to reduce poverty.
In a letter sent Monday to committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), Democratic members cited the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson's "War on Poverty" and called for hearings on ways to improve accountability in the financial system, expand access to financial services and invest in locally based development programs.
The gap between the rich and the poor in America has become a chasm, the Democratic members wrote. Today, 20 percent of the income in our country goes to the top 1 percent of Americans. The top 1 percent holds about 40 percent of the countrys wealth. This inequity trickles down into our communities, our housing and rental markets, and our financial system, where a lack of access to banking services often causes households to take on large debt burdens.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the committee, and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) organized the letter, signed by the panel's 27 Democrats. The committee includes 33 Republicans. .........................(more)
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