(Washington, D.C.) Census data released today show that years of tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations continue to fail to improve the economic well-being of low- and middle-income Americans, especially women, the National Women's Law Center said today.

The Census data reveal that the poverty rate remained unchanged from 2004 to 2005. But that's not where the story ends. Compared to 2000 - the year before Congress passed the first of several major tax cuts for the wealthy - 5.4 million more people are living in poverty, 6.7 million more Americans are uninsured and median household income is down by nearly $1,500 in real terms.

"For the last five years, policymakers have tried to convince the public that more dollars in the pockets of the wealthy few will improve the lot of all Americans." said Joan Entmacher, Vice President of Family Economic Security at the National Women's Law Center. "Today's Census data shows once again that this is a sham. To make matters worse, lawmakers have cut funding for health care, education, and other vital services to finance the tax cuts, further jeopardizing the economic security of low- and middle-wage earners."

The tax cut policies have been especially harmful for women. NWLC analysis of the Census data finds:

ˆ This year, adult women were 45 percent more likely to be poor than adult men, up from 37 percent last year.

ˆ The poverty rate increased significantly among elderly women living alone-their poverty rate is up to 20.8%.

ˆ In 2005, the poverty rate was 12.6%, which is statistically unchanged from the previous year. However, in 2005, there were 5.4 million more people in poverty than in 2000.

ˆ The child poverty rate remained the same from 2004 to 2005, but there were 1.3 million more children living in poverty in 2005 compared with 2000.

ˆ The number of Americans living in extreme poverty-below 50% of the poverty line-remained unchanged from 2004 to 2005, but over 3.8 million more Americans live in extreme poverty than in 2000.

ˆ Median earnings fell significantly for both male and female full-time year-round workers, by over $400 for women and over $750 for men. Women still earned just 77% as much as their male counterparts, unchanged since last year.

ˆ Median family income fell by about $1,000 last year to $23,100 for female-headed families with children.

ˆ The number of women and girls without health insurance rose to 21.7 million, an increase of 430,000 over 2004 and more than 2.7 million over 2000. Were it not for an increase (14 percent from 13.7 percent) in the number of women and girls on Medicaid and SCHIP, even more would be uninsured.

"Clearly the Medicaid program plays a vital role in providing a stable source of health care coverage for women and girls," said Judy Waxman, NWLC Vice President for Health. "Unfortunately, attacks on Medicaid will only exacerbate the already increasing number of females without health insurance coverage."

One year ago this week, Hurricane Katrina briefly put a spotlight on the plight of the nation's poor, but the attention was short-lived.

"We've done far too little in the past year to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina, and even less over the past five years to help the millions of poor Americans living on the brink," Entmacher said. "It's time for lawmakers to stop thinking about ways to pass even more tax breaks for multi-millionaires and start focusing on those in need."