Believe it or not, 22 percent of children in America are living below the poverty line. And while child poverty may not seem high on the priority list of a national campaign, six of the nation’s leading child advocacy groups, including the Children’s Health Fund, want to make it one.
The groups sent a letter to both campaigns asking for their plans to tackle child poverty. To follow up, Chris Jansing spoke to Dr. Irwin Redlener, co-founder of the Children’s Health Fund, about the campaigns’ responses. First, he described the obstacle of awareness, saying, “The issue of children and poverty is basically invisible even though it has such an enormous impact.”
Dr. Redlener noted Mitt Romney’s failure to address the issue at all, and said, “when you want to cut down on Department of Defense budgets, you ask military experts. But people seem to cut back on programs for children ‘willy nilly,’ without even ever speaking to people who have expertise in this area.”
Redlener also told Jansing & Co. that even though child poverty is a widespread issue in swing states and elsewhere, we likely won’t hear about it during tonight’s debate – which is a big part of the problem.
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