Pelosi: 'Census Bureau Statistics Don't Lie -- Bush Administration is Failing the Middle Class'

September 30, 2003

Washington, D.C. -- House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today on the Census Bureau's announcement that the number of uninsured Americans rose to 43.6 million last year:

"Today, the Census Bureau announced the largest increase in a decade in the number of Americans without health insurance. This is unacceptable. Far too many children and adults are going without the health care they need. The Bush Administration has not offered serious solutions to the growing problem of the uninsured, only more tax cuts for those who can already afford health insurance.

"Meanwhile, the President proclaimed yet again today that his economic policies are on track. But the 2.4 million Americans who have lost their health care coverage and the 3.3 million Americans who have lost their jobs since President Bush took office know his economic policies are headed in the wrong direction.

"Last week, the Census Bureau reported that median household income declined 1.1 percent between 2001 and 2002 and the number of Americans living in poverty increased for the second year in a row. The Census Bureau statistics don't lie: the Bush Administration is failing the middle class. Incomes for middle-class families are falling while the cost of health insurance is increasing and the number of unemployed and the number of uninsured are rising. The truth is that middle-class families all across America cannot afford President Bush's economic policies."

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