COLIN POWELL ADVISES CONGRESS TO PUT CHILDREN FIRST

RollCall offers “To Restore Economic Health, Congress Must Put Children First” by Colin L. Powell.

Excerpt 1: "Today in America there are more than 13 million children living in poverty and 8 million without health insurance. We have the second highest infant mortality rate among industrialized nations. And for the first time in history, a majority of voting Americans believes the next generation will fare worse than their parents. These are terrifying statistics for a country looking to regain its leading position in the global economy."

Excerpt 2: "Nowhere is the failure to invest in our children more evident than in our nation’s dismal high school graduation rate. In the time it takes to read this, several more U.S. teenagers will drop out of high school. A staggering 1.2 million students drop out each year — that’s 7,000 per school day, and one every 26 seconds. For young people of color, the statistics are even more startling. Only about 58 percent of Hispanic students and 55 percent of African-American students will graduate on time with a regular diploma, according to EPE Research Center (2008)."