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Pelosi Sends Letter to Speaker Ryan Joining Poor People’s Campaign in Calling for an End to Policies Harming America’s Children

September 6, 2018

Contact: Ashley Etienne/Henry Connelly, 202-226-7616

Washington, D.C. – Today, Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi sent a letter to Speaker Paul Ryan joining the religious and moral leaders of the Poor People's Campaign in calling for an immediate end to policies that do harm to children.
Leader Pelosi wrote, "Disturbingly, the last 20 months of policymaking in Washington have represented a profound moral failure at the expense of children in every corner of America, from rural towns to urban centers… I enclose the Poor People's Campaign letter calling on you to convene a bipartisan hearing this month to shine a light on policies that have done harm to our children. It is my hope that politics are set aside, and that GOP House leadership join Democrats to forge solutions that will halt the damage."
Full text of the letter can be found below:
September 6, 2018
The Honorable Paul Ryan
Speaker of the House
H-232, United States Capitol
Washington, D.C. 20515
Dear Speaker Ryan,
This week, the religious and moral leaders of the Poor People's Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival sent a letter to congressional leaders calling for an end to policies in Washington that do harm to our children.
As I often say, the three most important issues facing the Congress are our children, our children, our children. Indeed, Members of Congress have no more sacred duty than defending our young people's health, education and economic security, and ensuring a clean safe environment in which they can thrive and building a world at peace in which they can reach their fulfilment.
Yet, disturbingly, the last 20 months of policymaking in Washington have represented a profound moral failure at the expense of children in every corner of America, from rural towns to urban centers. As the Poor People Campaign letter states, "From the border to the dining room table, children are being harmed by policies that put them last, placing boulders in their path. The violence perpetrated against children in these times is a moral emergency…. Somebody has been hurting our children and it has gone on far too long and we won't be silent anymore."
I enclose the Poor People's Campaign letter calling on you to convene a bipartisan hearing this month to shine a light on policies that have done harm to our children. It is my hope that politics are set aside, and that GOP House leadership join Democrats to forge solutions that will halt the damage done by:
Efforts to gut funding for life-saving initiatives for children's health, including Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP);
Attacks by this Administration and Congress on the clean air our children breathe and the clean water they drink;
The White House's barbaric family separation and indefinite family detention policies, which are child abuse;
Secretary DeVos' efforts to tear away the promise of a quality, affordable education for all, no matter their zip code;
The failure to raise the minimum wage, and other policies that have abandoned the needs of America's children and working families.
As Dr. King declared 55 years ago in Washington, "Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy… Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children." Let us honor those words, and move forward together to create real progress that honors our obligation to our nation's children.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.
best regards,
NANCY PELOSI
Democratic Leader
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