A key element of the Republican “Better Way” agenda is a series of anti-poverty programs that call for more emphasis on work, streamlining entitlement programs, and funding programs at the federal level that work while de-funding non-working programs.
In the past several years, the number of people participating in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program who report no income has grown dramatically. A variety of solutions that go beyond the Democratic-Republican, or urban-rural divide, are at hand if lawmakers are willing to get beyond partisanship.
“The condition of your birth does not determine the outcome of your life,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. said while announcing the anti-poverty programs. Ryan warned, however, that federal programs must be reformed if they are going to avoid trapping people in the poverty track.
Robert Doar, the former commissioner for the city of New York’s Human Resources Administration under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said Ryan is reacting to a concern that the welfare reform program of 1996 has gotten away from the work requirement, even though it has been demonstrated that low-income households receiving benefits are more likely to get out of poverty when able-bodied, working-age adults work.
“Employment is really the best way out of poverty,” Doar said in a recent interview.
Watch Doar explain some of the barriers to success that are put up by partisanship and a bureaucracy that silos assistance programs and creates layers of eligibility for individuals trying to get out of poverty.
