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  • 5/13/2025
During a House Oversight Committee hearing last week, Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-CA) spoke of her disapproval for potential cuts to welfare benefits.

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Transcript
00:00Thank you. Ms. Simon?
00:04Thank you, Mr. Chair. I want to thank the witnesses for being here today.
00:12Where do I even, you know, begin?
00:17The issues surrounding families who are low-income and the working poor,
00:22supporting them in their plight, I believe is what we're all here to do.
00:28But this conversation is extremely troubling.
00:31I came to Congress to represent those families, clearly.
00:36One of those families is the Sioux family in my district.
00:40Multi-generational family in the Bay Area,
00:43and they overcame decades of anti-Asian laws and housing covenants to live the American dream,
00:51a family that bought a home and season tickets to the A's,
00:56although they've left, very, very sad.
00:59But for many families, like this family, changes did happen.
01:05The Sioux family incurred medical bills like my family did, divorce,
01:10and the 2008 recession changed everything, broke down their safety net.
01:16Derek So, he lost his home during that period, and his car,
01:20and he couldn't afford rent on his $1,000 a month income that came from disability once he was disabled.
01:29Today, Derek is leading advocacy efforts for dignified, dignified folks who are too low income to afford rent.
01:38And I'm so thankful for that work.
01:39Mr. Chair, I ask unanimous consent to enter into the record,
01:43San Francisco Chronicles Homegrown and Homeless in Oakland.
01:50Well, I hope that can go in without...
01:52Oh, sure, yes.
01:53Thank you, sir.
01:55I just want to say, right here in this building,
01:58the daycare workers make $30,000 a year
02:02to take care of the children, school-age children, of members of Congress.
02:07$30,000 a year.
02:09Suppose two of these folks who work are married.
02:13They're married, working in this capital.
02:16They can't afford a one-bedroom in Washington, D.C.
02:19So few people who make laws for the poor have been poor.
02:23Many of you all know that I was a teen mom.
02:25I went to college.
02:26I got food stamps.
02:28$26 a month.
02:30Every other week, I was at the counter putting back food
02:34because, again, people were making policy for poor folks
02:37who had no idea what it was like having to move through an economy
02:42that didn't understand what it was really like to be poor.
02:46I want to be clear.
02:47Those daycare workers in this building,
02:50don't you think they want a better income,
02:52or do you want for them to leave the daycare here in two years?
02:55You want full economies to shift, have people leave.
03:00Because being poor, to many folks in this room, is a crime.
03:04Being poor or doing, literally working at Walmart,
03:08where you still, when you work at Walmart, do you know,
03:10across this country, you still qualify for SNAP.
03:14These low-wage jobs that folks are working with their bodies
03:18cannot afford, healthcare cannot afford the rents in their community.
03:24I apologize to the folks who are watching this,
03:27who are strong and amazing and dutiful and patriotic folks.
03:32Folks are punching down on you, and it's not just not fair.
03:35It is extremely cruel.
03:37The permanence of poverty in this country is clear.
03:40There is a permanence of poverty of folks who, again,
03:42are working day in and day out,
03:44and in my district cannot afford $2,400
03:47for a two-bedroom, for a one-bedroom.
03:52I just want to be cured.
03:53The reality is, and I've been there, being poor is hard.
03:57Being poor is hard.
03:59And the federal government should not be making poverty harder.
04:04When we ask a family that's paying 50% of their income
04:08to rent to afford childcare, I have been there,
04:11and elder care, and medical insurance.
04:14We are sentencing them to lifelong debt,
04:18housing insecurity, and hunger.
04:20I want to be clear that any reduction in SNAP,
04:23any reduction in Medicaid,
04:26any reduction in housing benefits for the working poor,
04:29or services that could be the difference between life and death,
04:34or living on the streets,
04:36for so many vulnerable individuals and families,
04:38is what we're proposing.
04:42President Trump this week, actually last week,
04:46released a budget that would slash housing vouchers,
04:51public housing, housing programs for seniors
04:55and people with disabilities, it's clear.
04:56We've read it.
04:58Cut the LIHEAP, which, regardless, we know,
05:05it helps working families afford heat
05:08in the winter and cool air in the summer.
05:12It would limit homeless individuals
05:14who are at risk of future homelessness
05:18because you want to give a clear-cut cap
05:23on how long these deserving people
05:25need to get out of poverty.
05:27Believe me, I've gotten out of poverty.
05:28It takes longer than two to four years.
05:30My constituents have been clear with me.
05:35They've brought me here
05:36because they're hardworking
05:39and they deserve a government
05:40that's going to work with them
05:42as they move through an economy
05:45that has no idea what it means
05:48to move through poverty.
05:50And I yield back.
05:51I yield back.
05:52I yield back.
06:04I yield back.

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