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WASHINGTON - April 30 - The number of Black
children living in extreme poverty is at its highest level in 23
years, according to an analysis released today by the Children's
Defense Fund. Despite several years of a booming economy, nearly
one million Black children in 2001 lived in a family with an annual
income of less than half the federal poverty level (disposable
income below $7,064 for a family of three). The Bush
Administration plans to dismantle Head Start, block grant Medicaid
and the Children's Health Insurance Program, and slash and freeze
crucial services designed to help these poorest children.
Recent studies show overall poverty has declined among Black
children, but fail to show the record-breaking increase in extreme
poverty among these children. Today's analysis further shows that
safety nets for the worst-off families are being eroded by Bush
Administration policies, which cause fewer extremely poor children
of all races to receive cash and in-kind assistance that could help
these families.
Children's Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman said
these numbers are clear indicators that, as a country, we must
invest in children now instead of passing irresponsible tax breaks
for the rich.
"It is shameful that one million Black children are left behind
in extreme poverty," said Edelman. "It is hard to be poor. It is
harder to be an extremely poor Black child in America when our
president who says we should Leave No Child Behind(r) is proposing
massive new tax breaks for the richest Americans."
The Bush Administration claims its plan to dismantle, eliminate,
cut and freeze essential services for children to pay for massive
new tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans will spur the economy.
The most recent Economic Report of the president, which the
president's own Council of Economic Advisers issued in February
2003, explicitly acknowledges that tax cuts are unlikely to pay for
themselves -- let alone pay for investments in children and working
families.
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