Combating Poverty in America: Time For a Change

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Recommended: Solving the problem of poverty

President Johnson is well known for making major policy reform in order to combat poverty. Welfare, a social program designed to combat poverty, has been a controversial issue for many years and has been reformed under the Clinton and Bush administrations. In 1996 President Bill Clinton brought welfare reform to congress with help from the Republican Party. Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole led the reform action. President Clinton vetoed the first two bills presented, but later proposed a third version that was enacted. Food stamps, child care, and Medicaid were all revamped. Food stamps were issued and controlled at the state level. Within the bill childcare was strengthen for the poor and Medicaid was maintained. There were strict provisions outlined as well. The lead of the household had to get a job within two years of receiving federal/state aid. Lifetime benefits were brought down to merely 5 years. States would end up losing their federal funding for welfare if the unemployment statistics did not meet standards. The main focus of this reform was to increase employment and not abuse the welfare benefits.

It may seem that our leaders are combating poverty. However, we have to examine what the U.S. determines as Poverty level to fully understand the issue at hand. A single household that makes less than 11,490; a family of two below $15,282; a family of three $19,530; and lastly a family of four $23,550 is considered to be below the poverty level (5). Since Alaska and Hawaii are geographically separated they have different values. This value figure does not include unemployment and is pre-taxed income. This number figure also does not include the addition of disability, welfare, child support and other government b...

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...rbanization of poverty: Trends in Metropolitan America, 2000 to 2008.” Metropolitan Opportunity Series 2. The Brookings Institution, January 20, 2010. http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2010/01/20-poverty-kneebone.

2. Leonard, B. (2009). Kassebaum committed to health care reform in 1996. HR Magazine, 41(3), 4.

3. Rector, Robert. “How Poor Are America's Poor? Examining the ‘Plague’ of Poverty in America,” Executive Summary Backgrounder, August 27, 2007. http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2007/08/how-poor-are-americas-poor-examining-the-plague-of-poverty-in-america.

4. Branko Milanovic (2012). Global Income Inequality by the Numbers in History and Now http://wwwwds.worldbank.org/external/default/WDSContentServer/IW3P/IB/2012/11/06/000158349_20121106085546/Rendered/INDEX/wps6259.txt

5. http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/publications/acsbr11-17.html

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