Everyone’s favorite anti-poverty program doesn’t reduce the poverty rate, By Dylan Matthews, July 29, 2014, Vox: “As we mentioned during the rollout of Paul Ryan’s poverty plan last week, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit is one of the few anti-poverty measures both parties can agree about (even if they can’t come to an agreement on how to fund it). But at the same time, the EITC does exactly nothing to reduce the official poverty rate. The reason has nothing to do with the effectiveness of the policy — the best evidence we have is that the EITC improves health, school achievement in children of recipient households, and those children’s wages once they grow up, among other things. It has to do entirely with what is and isn’t included in the official poverty numbers. . .”
Tag: Paul Ryan
Ryan Poverty Plan
- Republican plan to combat poverty shifts onus to states, By Theodore Schleifer, July 24, 2014, New York Times: “Representative Paul D. Ryan, Republican of Wisconsin, outlined a plan to combat poverty on Thursday that would consolidate a dozen programs into a single ‘Opportunity Grant’ that largely shifts antipoverty efforts from the federal government to the states. Mr. Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee and a leading voice in his party on fiscal matters, said in a speech at the American Enterprise Institute that the federal government represents the ‘rear guard — it protects the supply lines.’ ‘The people on the ground, they’re the vanguard,’ he continued. ‘They fight poverty on the front lines.’ Mr. Ryan’s proposal gives new policy backbone to Republicans’ recent promises to address poverty and is part of a broader political strategy to increase the party’s appeal. . .”
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Paul Ryan to propose sweeping consolidation in antipoverty pitch, By Damian Paletta, July 24, 2014, Wall Street Journal: “House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan is proposing to consolidate up to 11 federal antipoverty programs into a single funding stream for states, a plan he says will include new work requirements and create more accountability and efficiency in assisting low-income Americans. Food stamps, housing assistance, child-care aid and cash welfare would be among the funding streams pooled into the program, potentially redirecting more than $100 billion in federal support each year. While many Republicans and President Barack Obama have offered anti-poverty proposals recently, Mr. Ryan’s status as budget committee chairman and a leading architect of GOP fiscal plans. . .”