Washington, DC - Congressman Ed Towns (D-Brooklyn) expressed his concern today over new data released by the Census Bureau showing a growing number of people in the U.S. who are living in poverty and are uninsured.  According to the Bureau, the number of people living in poverty increased by 1.3 million, bringing the total number of Americans
living in poverty to 36 million.

"It is just another sad sign that the current economic policies of this Administration are not working," said Towns.  "The President likes to say that we are turning the corner but with more people in poverty looks to me like we are still heading in the wrong direction."

Another sign of the sluggish economy is that real income fell slightly for the third year in a row.  The typical American family is making $1,535 less annually since the President took office.   

"If we are truly going to change the direction of the economy we need to change our economic policies," said Towns.  "We need to invest and reward hard working families by making child care more affordable, fully funding our educational priorities and providing targeted tax relief instead of providing huge windfalls for the wealthiest Americans."

Towns noted that when President Clinton left office, the economy was booming and the number of uninsured had decreased for the first time in 12 years. However, the recently released Census numbers show that the number of people without health insurance nationwide went up by 1.4 million, which is the third annual increase in a row.  In fact, over 5 million people have lost their health insurance since the current President took office.

"This brings the total number of uninsured Americans to 45 million," said Towns.  "The research shows that uninsured people are not getting proper health care and often wait to get treatment until their condition gets dire.  Obviously, this is not good for the uninsured person but it also creates a strain on our hospitals that treat these patients."

Towns says he supports efforts to increase health coverage by lowering the cost of health insurance for small businesses through a new tax credit, extending health insurance coverage to 7.5 million parents through Medicaid and S-CHIP, and helping older Americans buy into Medicare earlier.   

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