Andre Carson: “more than 10 years have passed since the Republican Party issued its ``Contract With America.'' This week Congress will…”

“more than 10 years have passed since the Republican Party issued its ``Contract With America.'' This week Congress will vote on budget cuts and sacrifices that only middle-class America is asked to bear. These budget cuts have less to do with deficit reduction than they have to do with making the richest among us more comfortable in the face of bad economic times, massive health care costs and unfunded mandates passed on to State and local governments. Sadly, Mr. Speaker, middle America is waking up to the bad news that Democrats have long known, and that is that the budget choices put forth by Republicans show that Republicans have a ``Contract on America.'' In the release of The Status of Working Families in Indiana, Indiana has had a dramatic increase in the number of persons in poverty during the past few years and has seen household incomes decline for the sixth year in a row. Job growth has been slow and wages have continued to be stagnant. The poverty rate for children in Indiana has jumped sharply in the past 3 years from 10.5 percent in 2002 to 18.5 percent in 2004. Indiana's childhood poverty rate is now greater than the Nation's, which is 17.8 percent. Employment: From May, 2000, to January, 2002, Indiana lost 122,000 jobs due to the national economic slowdown and recession. Since September, 2003, Indiana has been on the road to recovery, but as of July, 2005, it was still 46,000 jobs below the level reached 5 years ago.…”