Lateefah Simon: “Twenty-three percent of the children of this Nation live in poverty. No other industrial nation has anything like that…”

“Twenty-three percent of the children of this Nation live in poverty. No other industrial nation has anything like that figure; no 23 percent in Great Britain or Canada or France or Germany or Italy or Japan or Norway or Denmark or Sweden or the other countries you could mention. Why, why do 23 percent of the children in this country live in poverty? This is not an act of God. There is no divine intervention that says the children in Iowa and the children in Missouri and the children in Illinois ought to be living in poverty more than children in other countries. It is not the result of a divine intervention; it is not an act of God. It is a result of flawed policies. It starts in this room, my friends, in this Hall where we meet. Will the Wellstone amendment, if it is passed, result in changed policy? No one can know for sure. Even the distinguished Senator from Minnesota, for whom I have such a high regard, cannot know for sure whether this will have any significant result in moving us in the right direction. But it might.…”