Press Release: Levin, Doggett Statement on GOP Poverty Blueprint

Press Release: Levin, Doggett Statement on GOP Poverty Blueprint

WASHINGTON, DC– Ways and Means Committee Ranking Member Sander Levin (D-MI) and Human Resources Subcommittee Ranking Member Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) today released the following statement after House Republicans unveiled their "Better Way" messaging proposal on poverty and welfare:

"Unfortunately, this ‘new' Republican blueprint on poverty is a collection of empty gestures. By including little detail about how they would actually support families struggling with poverty, the Republicans have shown once again that their primary focus is to cut programs that work.

"One of the few positive proposals from Speaker Ryan's previous poverty plan – expanding EITC – isn't even included.

"Block grants – or ‘giving states more flexibility,' as the Republican plan refers to them – are not new; they are just an old way to reduce accountability and facilitate cuts to health care, food assistance, and housing for struggling families.

"And under the guise of promoting work through work requirements, the Republican proposal would cut off vital help to unemployed Americans. If Republicans really want to support work, they should reverse their proposed cuts in job training, make college more affordable, stop trying to cut child care, and allow a vote to increase the minimum wage. Furthermore, with the states currently spending an average of a mere eight percent of their Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding on work activities, Republicans should be joining us to reform TANF to make it a true pathway into the middle class by accessing education, training and child care essential to the ability of working mothers to obtain and keep good jobs.

"Unlike the Republican proposal, Democrats have put forward real policies to reduce poverty and increase opportunities for families living in and facing poverty.

"This proposal isn't a better way, it's the wrong way. It's a dead-end for American families struggling with poverty."