Charles Rangel: “We were talking about war and peace. To me, we are still talking about a moral issue. Here in this great Nation, the…”

“We were talking about war and peace. To me, we are still talking about a moral issue. Here in this great Nation, the richest in the world, we are asking people to work 40 hours, many without sick leave, many without vacations or vacation pay, and--at the end of the day--end up in poverty. There is something terribly wrong with that picture. It seems to me that it goes beyond just doing the right and the moral thing. Even churches and synagogues and mosques should recognize that their membership is going down because you can't pay the rent, buy the food, and still give your money to the religious institutions. Beyond that, what are they going to do with the money? I will tell you: they are going to be able to get nutritional diets for their kids. They will be able to buy clothes for their kids. They can aspire that their kids get a better education and be able to get higher jobs and have higher ambitions. They can make America more productive because they have more self- esteem because being poor is not the worst thing in the world, if you feel that you can come out of that poverty and you have an opportunity to do it. There is something worse going on in this country today. I was privileged years ago to sponsor a bill that we all know is the earned income tax credit, and the earned income tax credit says this shouldn't happen. If you have got a family and, after you follow the Federal formula, you are still poor, why, we will give you a check.…”