Letter to Jeb Hensarling, Cammittee Chairman of the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee - Call for Series of Hearings Focused on Poverty

Letter

Dear Chairman Hensarling,

In recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the War on Poverty announced by President Lyndon Baines Johnson on January 8, 1964, we request that the Financial Services Committee commit to holding a series of hearings on strategies to reduce and eliminate poverty. The War on Poverty aimed to reduce joblessness, eliminate inadequate housing and housing discrimination, and address inadequate incomes. A number of the laws enacted and programs implemented since 1964 fall under the jurisdiction of the Financial Services Committee.

The gap between the rich and the poor in America has become a chasm. Today, 20 percent of the income in our country goes to the top one percent of Americans. The top one percent holds about 40 percent of the country's 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.

We would be glad to work with you to hold hearings to explore what we have learned and what else we need to do to improve wages, housing adequacy and affordability and increase access to the financial mainstream. Hearings could examine strategies that improve accountability in the financial system, expand access to financial services in urban, rural, tribal and suburban communities, invest in locally-based community development activities, community development corporations, community development financial institutions, and enable remittances.

We welcome the opportunity to collaborate on hearings that note our successes at reducing poverty and recommend suggestions that strengthen our future.

Sincerely,

Keith Ellison (MN)

Maxine Waters (CA)

Carolyn B. Maloney (NY)

Nydia M. Velázquez (NY)

Brad Sherman (CA)

Gregory W. Meeks (NY)

Michael E. Capuano (MA)

Rubén Hinojosa (TX)

William Lacy Clay (MO)

Carolyn McCarthy (NY)

Stephen Lynch (MA)

David Scott (GA)

Al Green (TX)

Emanuel Cleaver (MO)

Gwen Moore (WI)

Ed Perlmutter (CO)

James Himes (CT)

Gary Peters (MI)

John C. Carney (DE)

Terri Sewell (AL)

Bill Foster (IL)

Daniel T. Kildee (MI)

Patrick Murphy (FL)

John K. Delaney (MD)

Kyrsten Sinema (AZ)

Joyce Beatty (OH)

Denny Heck (WA)

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