Karen Kornbluh

The American family changed dramatically overthe last decades of the twentieth century. In1960, 70 percent of families had a parent homefull-time. Today, this is reversed. Fully 70percent of families with children are now headedby two working parents or by an unmarriedworking parent. The breadwinner and homemaker have been replaced by “juggler parents” with responsibility for both makingends meet and caring for the family. And thisfamily can now include elderly relatives. Morethan… more

Karen Kornbluh, then-Director of New America's Work & Family Program, testified before the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee's Subcommittee on Families and Children at this April 22, 2004, hearing.

The full text of her prepared remarks are available below in PDF format.

The American family changed dramatically over the last decades of the twentieth century. In the postwar years up to the early 1970s a single breadwinner -- working forty hours a week, often for the same employer, until retirement -- generally earned enough to support children and a spouse. Today fully 70 percent of families with children are headed by two working parents or by an unmarried working parent. The traditional family -- one breadwinner and one homemaker -- has been… more

On a bright California day last April, Arnold Schwarzenegger was out of character. Instead of shooting up bad guys on a movie set, he was driving to the Los Angeles county clerk's office in a truck loaded with petitions bearing 750,000 signatures in support of a ballot initiative to fund California after-school programs, known as the After School Education and Safety Act. The proposal, spearheaded by Schwarzenegger, would offer a matching grant to every public elementary, middle, and junior high… more

The Bush administration has largely ignored the nation's $700-billion telecommunications industry's free fall, a costly mistake for the U.S. economy. Stock prices are down 75%, and telecom companies are expected to reduce their capital spending for the second year in a row.

President Bush should use today's White House high-tech industry forum to announce a national broadband strategy.

U.S. broadband usage--the number of households that use high-speed Internet connections--is stalled at less than 10%. This delays the productivity-enhancing new applications… more

TechNet and CSPP, two coalitions of high-tech CEOs, recently asked the government to set an ambitious goal - a National Broadband Policy - to connect 100 million homes and businesses to a next generation Internet 50 to 100 times faster than today?s broadband connections. President Bush is expected to preview his broadband initiative in Tuesday?s State of the Union. Since Internet connections at these faster rates cannot be delivered on the current infrastructure that carries DSL and cable… more

A resource crucial to the economic recovery of the United States is buried underground. Hundreds of thousands of miles of fiber-optic cable, which enables the fast, robust communication that was so important to the economic success of the last decade, currently lies unused, the digital equivalent of fallow farmland.

America needs to put this asset to work. Broadband -- the generic term for high-speed, high-capacity, always-on data networks -- is integral to the improvement of the American economy. To… more

On the last Friday in August, President Bush, fresh from his vacation in Texas, was asked by a reporter about his plans to address the frustration so many Americans currently face trying to get high-speed Internet access. The president didn't appear terribly worried. "The technologies are evolving," he said, with equanimity. His only concern was that "the economic slowdown will perhaps slow down some of the progress made, as far as high-speed access." The possibility that the telecom industry's collapse… more

What's wrong with this picture? Later this year, U.S. states will cut off support to millions of poor children and their mothers who, if they're lucky, have a job but can't afford child … more

In attempting to "unite" the country, Gov. George W. Bush should focus attention on women. Women voters favored Vice President Gore by 11 points in the recent election. For the first time, women will make up more than 10 percent of the Senate -- and could form the basis for a bipartisan coalition supporting policies that favor women, children and families. Most important, women are in need of solutions to the daily dilemma they face: balancing family and work, and… more