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Congressmen Brady and Evans ask House Appropriations leadership to help find funding to alleviate major poverty issues impacting the Districts’ children

December 1, 2016

PHILADELPHIA --- In a joint letter to House Appropriations Committee Chair Hal Roger (R., KY-5) and Ranking Member Nita Lowery (D., NY-17), Congressmen Bob Brady (D., PA-1) and Dwight Evans (D., PA-2) outlined major poverty issues in their Districts that have a direct impact on children. They stressed, “We hope that in this drastically different new political climate with several competing priorities, that we can still ascertain ways to both alleviate and find permanent solutions to the problems plaguing our Districts the most.”

The issues highlighted are:

Aging Home and Lead Paint

Requesting restoration of Federal funding for lead abatement. Philadelphia has had to cut over 60% of positions used to monitor and enforce lead paint laws and restrictions. Nearly 2,700 children in Philadelphia tested positive for harmful lead levels in 2015.

Child Nutrition

Need to maintain or increase federally subsidized school meals. H.R. 5003, the Improving Child Nutrition and Education Act of 2016, would severely limit the number of children receiving free and reduced lunches.

Education

Need for increased funding. The Philadelphia School District ranks lowest in terms of funding per student and has the highest enrollment of low income students.

In closing, Brady and Evans stressed bipartisanship. “Though it remains to be seen what direction many of President-elect Trump’s policies will take, we are hopeful that we will be able to find common ground with his Administration on some of the above issues and restore robust funding so the children in Philadelphia and our Districts have a brighter future. We look forward to the coming Congress and finding bipartisan solutions.”

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