“While the integrity of our political process must be beyond reproach, we must at the same time, strive to protect the right to vote for all eligible citizens. I want students to have access to the electorate and be able to easily exercise their civic duty and make their voices heard.”

11% of Americans do not have current government issued photo identification. That number jumps to 18% for those between the ages of 18-24. In the last year, dozens of new voting restrictions have been proposed by states throughout the country that would make it harder for Americans to register to vote and to cast a ballot. 

    Something else has gripped me, too. In the moments following the shooting and in the year that has followed, I have watched, on a macroscopic level, our nation pull together to support her in her personal battle.  Differences in political beliefs were quickly suspended as our country, with one voice, said, “We are with you.” 

     I saw it happen, too, this week, in the smaller world of Congress.  Instead of focusing on differences, spin and negativity, Republicans and Democrats alike joined together on the House floor to honor Gabby and to say goodbye in the wake of her resignation.  To say thank you to a person, and a politician, we admire and respect.  I saw my Democratic colleagues crying. I saw my Republican colleagues crying. And in a moment I will never forget, I heard one Representative ask another if he was okay and if there was anything he needed. I have never heard these two men speak kindly to or of each other. But there they were, in the wake of tragedy, putting political dislikes aside to be kind, caring … and human.

     I immediately flashed back to two other pivotal times in my life when I saw this happen.

     I was asleep in the pre-dawn hours of November 29, 1988 when I heard a noise so loud it literally jolted me out of bed. I thought I was experiencing some sort of weather event. But soon my telephone rang and it was an officer. I was Mayor Pro Tem of Kansas City at the time and the Mayor was out of town. I was soon escorted from my home and briefed on what had happened.  There had been a horrific explosion at a construction site. Six Kansas City firefighters had died. I was taken to the excavation site near 87th Street, which would later become the Bruce R. Watkins Drive to see the damage.  I then went with law enforcement officers to the homes of the firefighters to tell family members someone they dearly loved had died in the line of duty.  Immediately within the city and throughout surrounding areas, the outpouring of love and unity was overwhelming. This was at a time when there were differences and disagreements over issues surrounding work agreements, contracts and the like. But none of that mattered.  We pulled together. We recognized there was something much bigger happening.

     Many years later, the general manager of the Kansas City Chiefs, Carl Peterson, asked me to deliver the pre-game prayer at Arrowhead Stadium on the weekend following the World Trade Center attacks. NFL Commissioner, Paul Tagliabue, had postponed and rescheduled more than a dozen games after 9/11. That following weekend the Chiefs faced the New York Giants.  If you are not familiar with Chiefs fans, and I think we all are, their enthusiasm, zeal and dedication to the team are virtually unmatched. Not often and not with many fans, but sometimes, that fervor turns into a display of bad sportsmanship between visiting fans, especially when a rival team comes to town. But at this game my eyes were glued to the stands during the game and the parking lots following the game. I watched as total strangers gave each other hugs, helped visitors find their cars, and stood together, both physically and in spirit, with fellow human beings who were hurting.

     As I stood on the House Floor this week and watched the ceremony for Gabby and thought of these two other events in my lifetime, I couldn’t help but wonder why we only seem to find our better selves in the face of disaster.  No doubt there are those who exhibit this type of kindness all of the time. But as a collective body, a group, and a nation, often we seem to get sidetracked, stalled and stereotyped by our differences in politics, race and religion. But on this day, Republicans and Democrats, men and women, all cried together. I can’t help but wonder what kind of a world we would live in if we set negativity aside … and reached for triumph each day, instead of waiting for tragedy.

Their words left a hole in my heart. Homeless children. Children who don’t fit into a traditional definition of homelessness but young people, who nevertheless, grew up without knowing where they would stay from one night to the next.  

As a father and grandfather, the thought of a child going to bed scared and in a strange place, creates a special kind of pain that every parent understands.

As lawmakers study the issue of homelessness, what is being done and what may need to change, I wanted to share with you parts of some of their stories. I will let their words speak for themselves.

Destiny Raynor is a Freshman in High School in Florida.

“My parents used to have a thrift shop and a beauty store. We lost our housing when the economy got really bad and we had to close all of our stores. We had to move all of the stuff from the store into the house. Both of my parents did not have a job and they just kept looking for several months. During that time it was very rough. That summer, the power and water got shut off, and we did not have running water or electricity for 5-6 months. We had to eat at the gas station at the corner because they had a microwave. We went to friends’ homes to shower, but they did not know what was going on. We spent most of the time during the summer at my friend’s house. During the summer, it was very hot. Especially at night, when the candles added more heat. The toilet smelled really bad because we could not flush because the water was shut off. We had to bring buckets to a local church to fill with water to fill the toilet bowl. “

12 year old Brooklyn Pastor is from New York.

“When we lived with other people, they were not always nice to us. We couldn’t ask them for anything. They were mostly mad that we were there and did not want anyone else to know, especially their landlord. They would never let us say we were there. My mom could never tell anyone where we lived, or for how long. It was like being invisible.”

Rumi Khan is 11 years old and lives in Pennsylvania.

“Me and my mom are homeless. We got that way because my dad was abusing me and my mom. When he started drinking alcohol it got worse. He would yell and put both of us down. He hit me and called me stupid and retarded. He tried to choke my mom. We went to court to get help but they didn’t help us. We left our home in June last year and went to stay in a hotel for a couple nights. My mom didn’t have enough money to stay longer. She tried to find a shelter for us to stay in but they didn’t have any room.”

There are stories like those of these three children in every state in our great country. There are stories like these in our great State of Missouri. Perhaps even in our own backyards. We are undoubtedly the greatest country on the planet, yet, children are homeless, hurting and hungry.  Real people with real stories. Quiet little voices crying out for help. 

And their numbers are growing.

We can do better.

Many of these kids talked about their hunger as they bounced from one unstable living situation to the next. We ask a lot of our children these days. And we should. But how can a child focus on paying attention, learning and homework when they don’t know when they will get to eat again? When hunger pains are wracking their bodies and the uncertainty of the next meal is haunting their hearts?

In Missouri’s Fifth District, hunger is at an all-time high, in rural communities, in urban communities and in suburban communities.  Statistics show 21.8% of the population is considered food insecure. That’s more than 141,000 people who don’t know where their next meal is coming from.  Those are the numbers, but who are the people? More than a quarter of them are children.

As public-private cooperative efforts continue to fight this problem, there is much to consider.  There are many issues and many options that must be faced head-on by people who are committed to working together, listening to each other and sharing ideas and values.

As we immerse ourselves in this glorious time of year, let us not forget to be thankful. Thankful for what we have received and for what we have the power to do. We can do better by our children. 

As I was reminded this week we can start by listening to quiet voices.  Voices that have so much to say. Voices that deserve to be heard.

With an estimated one-in-five young returning veterans looking for work we must remember our commitment to them. Our words have to be backed up by action. That is why I support the Returning Heroes Tax Credit (H.R. 1941) and doubling the Wounded Warriors Tax Credit. The Returning Heroes Tax Credit would provide firms that hire unemployed veterans up to $5,600 per hired veteran. The Wounded Warriors Tax Credit would increase to $9,600 for firms that hire veterans with service-connected disabilities who have been unemployed for six months or longer.  

These are just two of the important things we want to do for our country’s veterans. It is vital that they are treated fairly and feel the appreciation we have for their sacrifice in making this the strongest and best country in the world. This morning I was honored to be a part of a ceremony at the WWI Museum, celebrating Veterans of all of the unrecognized sacrifices they’ve made with their service throughout history. The spirit of a soldier is what makes this country great and makes me have hope in our future.

The CBC Budget prioritizes our most pressing needs: furthering economic development and job creation, promoting cradle to college and workforce education, and protecting the Affordable Care Act. It makes significant investments in education, job training, transportation and infrastructure, and advanced research and development programs that will accelerate our economic recovery. At the same time, the CBC Budget protects the social safety net without cutting Social Security, killing Medicaid, or making seniors contribute more to Medicare. Even as our nation's economy slowly rebounds, our communities experience disproportionately higher rates of unemployment, home foreclosure, educational disadvantages, and economic hardship. As a result, vulnerable communities increasingly rely on public programs to meet their basic needs, but these are the programs the Republican Leadership decimated with their FY2012 budget proposal. 

The cuts called for in Congress have a real, painful impact in the Fifth District, and across the country. The least of these--the poor, the children, the senior citizens, and the disabled--should not bear the burden for a problem they did not produce. Budgets are a window into the moral compass of our conscience as a nation. While we as a nation must learn to live within our means, there is a better way to find fiscal fitness. Recklessly cutting vital programs like job training, education, and health care to millions of hardworking American families will not get our nation’s economy back into shape. Only by responsibly reducing our deficit, while investing in our communities and our future can we make our economy strong and successful again.

To learn more about the CBC Budget, check out these resources:

• Super Committee Comparison Chart
• CBC FY12 Alternative Budget Breakdown
• Letter to Super Committee Budget
• Budget Breakdown
• Factsheet
• Rules Statement

The Medicaid cuts in the House Republican budget, if implemented today, would have a devastating impact on the struggling economy of our nation, our state, and our communities. These cuts would put as many as 35,210 jobs and as much as $4.2 billion in state business activity at risk. That’s the conclusion of a report for Missouri released today by the national health care consumer organization Families USA.

In recent memory, I have often heard it said that we must cut the budget in order to get our economy back on track. While I could not agree more that we as a nation must learn to live within our means, this report is a call to caution. 

The least of these should not bear the burden for a problem they did not produce. The cuts called for in Congress have a real, painful impact in our communities.  Worse, the cuts will hinder our economic recovery.

The budget proposal adopted by the U.S. House of Representatives, sponsored by my colleague, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), calls for cuts in federal funding to current state Medicaid programs of 5 percent in 2013, 15 percent in 2014, and 33 percent in 2021.  

The report “Jobs at Risk” looks at the economic impact of a 5 percent, 15 percent and 33 percent cut in current Medicaid funding levels. Implementing a 5 percent cut in Medicaid spending in 2011 would:

• Cost Missouri almost $290.7 million in federal Medicaid dollars, and put at risk approximately $633.7 million in business activity and 5,330 jobs;
• Cost Missouri and the remaining 49 states and the District of Columbia the $13.75 billion needed to support health care for vulnerable residents, including funding for nursing home care and other long-term care services for seniors and people with disabilities.

A 15 percent cut in federal Medicaid spending in 2011 would have a greater impact and would:

• Cost Missouri nearly 872.1 million in federal Medicaid dollars, and put at risk approximately $1.9 billion in business activity and 16,000 jobs;
• Cost Missouri and the remaining 49 states and the District of Columbia the $41.25 billion needed to support health care for vulnerable residents.

 A 33 percent cut in federal Medicaid spending in 2011 would:

• Cost Missouri more than $1.9 billion in federal Medicaid dollars, and put at risk approximately $4.2 billion in business activity and 35,210 jobs;
• Cost Missouri and the remaining 49 states and the District of Columbia the almost $90.8 billion needed to support health care for vulnerable residents.

If you want to learn more, the “Jobs at Risk” data for all 50 states and the District of Columbia are available here.

• The bill cuts WIC for pregnant women, infants and children by $650 million or 10%—denying food and health counseling for up to 350,000 low-income women and young children for next year. In Missouri, between 3,300 and 5,800 eligible applicants—that means struggling mothers, their children, and their infants in need—will go hungry.
• The bill also cuts food aid for low-income seniors (Commodity Supplemental Food Program) and help for food banks (Emergency Food Assistance Program).
• The bill slashes the Food and Drug Administration by $572 million or 21% below the President’s request and by $285 million or 12% below this year. These deep cuts will severely undermine food safety efforts and increase the risk of food-borne illnesses – preventing the implementation of the landmark Food Safety Act enacted at the end of the 111th Congress. This law requires the FDA to significantly step up scrutiny of domestic and imported food and requires development of a new food safety system that is focused on preventing contamination before it occurs, rather than simply responding to contamination outbreaks.
• The bill slashes the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the agency charged with policing price speculation in commodities, futures, and derivatives markets and implementing common-sense Wall Street reforms to prevent another financial crisis, by 44 percent below the President’s request.

With speculation at an all-time high, American families are paying a speculative “fear premium” of anywhere between $20-30 per barrel of oil which equates to a 60-70 cent increase per gallon at the pump.

International Food Aid: The bill would cut an international food assistance program that provides emergency aid by more than $450 million, or one-third of its budget. These cuts would prevent distribution of emergency food aid to over 1.1 million beneficiaries.

The bill passed by 217-203 margin, with 19 Republicans joining all Democrats in voting against it.