Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman Introduces Resolution Commemorating 60th Anniversary of War on Poverty

Washington, D.C. (January 17, 2024) — Today, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman, along with Rep. Barbara Lee, introduced a resolution commemorating the 60th anniversary of the War on Poverty. The landmark initiative — a cornerstone of President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Great Society — established a series of programs to support struggling Americans, leading to a 30 percent decline in poverty in the first five years after some of its key policies were adopted.

Despite the promise shown by these measures, diseases of despair remain pervasive throughout the United States. As of 2022, 37.9 million Americans were impoverished, and the child poverty rate doubled between 2021 and 2022 following the expiration of the expanded child tax credit.

“Sixty years ago, President Lyndon B. Johnson declared before a joint session of Congress a War on Poverty,” said Rep. Watson Coleman. “This remarkable series of antipoverty programs wove new and lasting cords into the social safety net, providing essential support for millions of Americans for decades to come. However, the War on Poverty has not yet been won, and it falls to this generation to establish once and for all a floor beneath which no American can sink: a universal standard of dignity and prosperity befitting the wealthiest country in the world.”

“As Chair of the House Democratic Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity, I’m proud to stand with my colleague, Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman in commemorating the 60^th anniversary of the War on Poverty,” said Rep. Barbara Lee. “While we recognize the immense progress made, let’s be clear: there is still work to be done. Now more than ever, we must fight to ensure that in the wealthiest nation in the world, no one is left behind. It’s time for Congress to commit to remedying the shortcomings of the initial War on Poverty and invest in our communities, so every family has the opportunity to live the American Dream.”

“Sixty years ago, President Johnson declared the nation would wage a War on Poverty by harnessing the power of public policy to fight an injustice and problem that weakens our country. Over the decades, we succeeded in many ways. Yet we have so much further to go. It’s time for Congress to acknowledge the continuing need to end poverty in our country. It’s time for Congress to acknowledge that allowing poverty to exist in the United States is a policy choice. And it’s time for Congress to act and build a society where every one of us can thrive,” said Indivar Dutta-Gupta, president and executive director of the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP).

“We have the resources to abolish poverty in America several times over,” said Matthew Desmond, author of Poverty, by America and Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City. “Our failure to do so is not from a lacking in ability, but from a wanting of the will. In the 60 years since the War on Poverty was declared, America has experienced exponential economic growth, yet only a few reap the benefits of this prosperity. It’s up to all of us to work together to tear down the systems that perpetuate poverty, and finish what President Johnson started six decades ago.”

While work continues to finish what the War on Poverty started, it is important to remember a key lesson of this initiative: poverty is a policy choice and direct, targeted aid programs can have a profound effect on reducing poverty in America.

The resolution is co-sponsored by Reps. Barbara Lee (CA-12), Henry C. “Hank” Johnson (GA-04), Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), Bennie G. Thompson (MS-02), Mary Sattler Peltola (AK-00), Kevin Mullin (CA-15), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (CA-30), Jan Schakowsky (IL-09), Eleanor Holmes Norton (DC-00), Morgan McGarvey (KY-03), Jill Tokuda (HI-02), Gwen Moore (WI-04), Troy A. Carter, Sr. (LA-02), Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), David Trone (MD-06), Terri A. Sewell (AL-07), and Alma Adams (NC-12).

Full resolution text can be accessed here.