On the Issues
WES CLARK'S PLAN TO LIFT AMERICANS OUT OF POVERTY AND INTO OPPORTUNITY
Child poverty in the United States is substantially higher than that of most other major Western industrialized nations. While the child poverty rate was consistently reduced during the 1990s, the decline has stalled. Under President Bush's failed leadership more than half a million children have slipped into poverty, bringing the total number of children in poverty in the United States to 12 million. Wes Clark believes we must take aggressive action to reverse that trend and ensure that every child in this country has a healthy and fair start. That's why he is setting a goal to lift two million children out of poverty, reducing the poverty rate in America to its lowest ever. Wes Clark's three-part strategy for giving American families the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty and into opportunity includes proposals that will:
- Create Opportunity
- Make Work Pay
- Strengthen Families and Communities
Wes Clark will hold himself accountable for reaching this goal by lifting at least two million children out of poverty by 2008.
The best anti-poverty program is a job. Job creation is Wes Clark's top economic priority. Under President Bush, three million private-sector jobs have been lost-- the worst job losses under any president since Herbert Hoover. Instead of addressing the problem, President Bush has pursued the only policy he believes in-- tax breaks for the wealthiest. Meanwhile, working families worry about job security and the unemployed struggle to find work. Wes Clark has a real plan to let America get back to work:
- Invest in Job Creation: Wes Clark is proposing a three-part strategy that devotes $100 billion over two years to jumpstart job creation without increasing the deficit by investing in local infrastructure and security and providing job creation tax credits. Clark's job creation plan includes a job creation tax credit and incentives to keep manufacturing jobs in the US.
- Help Cash-Strapped Local Governments. Strong and fiscally stable local governments are crucial to create economic opportunity. Wes Clark proposes to create a State and Local Tax Rebate Fund of $40 billion over two years to create jobs and lessen the need for states and local governments to raise taxes and other fees, and cut critical expenditures and investments in infrastructure.
Americans should be able to earn a living wage from their jobs. Unfortunately many parents are not able to provide for their children even by working two jobs. Wes Clark will take steps to make sure that work pays:
Increase the Minimum Wage. In order to provide for their children, parents need jobs that pay a livable wage. Wes Clark will raise the minimum wage in steps to $7 per hour by 2007.
Expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). To ensure that families are rewarded for their work and that working parents can provide for their children, Wes Clark would expand the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Fight for Equal Pay. Women are often the primary providers for their children, yet too often they earn substantially less than their male counterparts. Wes Clark would take proactive steps to eliminate the pay gap so that women in this country earn 100 cents on the dollar and no one is short-changed because of their gender.
Welfare Reform that Works. Wes Clark supports proposals that expand what counts as work activity so that parents can take advantage of services and training that improve their future job opportunities, including vocational education, substance abuse treatment, occupational therapy, and post-secondary education. In order to help people find a job and keep it, Wes Clark supports investments in work supports such as child care and transportation vouchers.
Wes Clark understands that helping families out of poverty takes more than just a good jobs plan. Parents are better prepared to take advantage of opportunities if they are able to find a safe and affordable place to live and are confident that they can provide health care for their children. Wes Clark will:
- Guarantee that Every Child Has Health Insurance. Wes Clark's health care plan would provide health insurance to every American child through age 22. A new, progressive tax credit would begin where public program eligibility ends and extend to 500 percent of the poverty limit (about $40,000 for an individual, $90,000 for a family of four). Families could use this assistance for Medicaid or the State Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP), employer coverage, or the new Congressional Health Plan option. In return for this assistance and the new set of options, it would become the responsibility of young adults to enroll and parents to enroll their children in a health insurance plan.
- Reduce Health Insurance Premiums for Low-Income Adults. The federal government would fully fund state-based programs to extend full coverage to adults with income below 150 percent of the poverty threshold. It would also provide a tax credit for those with income below 275 percent of poverty. This credit could apply towards job-based coverage or the new Congressional Health Plan. This assistance could help cover 11 million uninsured people.
- Provide Universal Preschool. We can improve student achievement by making sure that children start school prepared. Wes Clark will offer universal preschool access for all four-year-olds and a growing number of three-year-olds whose families want it, improve preschool standards, and expand Head Start to serve one million children.
- Increase Affordable Housing. We currently face an affordable housing crisis in our country. In most communities, full-time, year-round minimum wage workers cannot afford to pay fair market rent. Yet the Bush Administration's budget proposals have cut or eliminated the few federal programs that produce new housing and provide supports for low-income families. Without decent, affordable housing, families have trouble managing their daily lives, and children's safety, health and development suffer. To meet the demands for affordable housing Wes Clark would expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, work to fully fund the HOPE VI program to revitalize neighborhoods, and fully fund Section 8 vouchers which help elderly, disabled and low-income working households pay for housing.
- Expand the New Markets Tax Credit. To increase investment in low-income communities, Wes Clark will expand the successful New Markets Tax Credit so that more credits will be available for investments in eligible businesses.
