House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) led House Republicans on Tuesday in launching a new plan to fight poverty, restore economic mobility, and promote work.
The poverty plan is the first part of a comprehensive policy agenda being rolled out in the coming weeks by House Republicans entitled “A Better Way.”
The plan outlines steps to reward work, tailor benefits to individual needs, improve job training and worker skills, help people save and plan for the future, and foster results-driven collaboration with local communities, Ryan said.
“If we want people to contribute to our society, we need to reward (their) contributions,” Ryan said at a press conference held at the House of Help City of Hope in Washington, D.C.
U.S. Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said that the principles the agenda focuses on should be clear to all people – rewarding work and expecting work from those who receive government benefits.
“We’re going to get the incentives right,” Brady said. “We’re going to make sure everyone benefits, everyone’s better off when someone moves from welfare to work. And that means the family, the organization that’s helping them, the state, the businesses, the taxpayers. Government doesn’t do that well today; we’re going to change that. We’re going to measure results. Because at the end of the day, for a government that measures how many red-cockaded woodpeckers we have, how many toilets are in homes, how much beer content is in ale – why aren’t we measuring the lives of families who want to escape poverty? Why aren’t we measuring how well we do that? And so we’re going to change that as well.”
U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-AL) said that the plan is about “lifting people out of poverty.”
“I have seen it work. I have seen people who are poor receive the job skills that they needed to take advantage of the jobs that were created in 21st century America,” Bradley said. “They literally get these jobs, and they leave poverty behind them. They leave government dependency behind them.”
A Better Way, Byrne added, is three-fold approach to lift people out of poverty, to save taxpayer money on programs that don’t work, and to “super-charge” the economy by making more people productive.
U.S. Rep. French Hill (R-AR) said that he appreciates Ryan’s efforts to develop a plan to tackle issues that have plagued the nation for so long.
“This policy agenda focuses on empowering those on the front lines of this fight with the goal of giving all of our citizens a better future. I look forward to working with the speaker and continuing my efforts with the Community Empowerment Initiative (CEI) in my home district in Arkansas,” Hill said. “Our shared vision recognizes the importance of community engagement in the revitalization of our most embattled neighborhoods.”
U.S. Rep. Tom Price (R-GA) said that the government needed to be humble enough to recognize that it doesn’t have all the answers.
“The House GOP is reevaluating the way we address poverty in our nation,” Price said. “We can and must do a better job providing for those in need. The success of a program should be measured by how many people it helps lift out of poverty, not the money spent.”
U.S. Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-IN), the chairwoman of the House Agriculture Subcommittee on Nutrition, has held more than a dozen hearings on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and the “welfare cliff” that occurs when an individual abruptly loses benefits after starting a new job.
“We talk a lot about breaking the cycle of poverty, and this policy agenda is a way to put those words into action,” Walorski said. “I’ve heard from too many Hoosiers who are trapped by a flawed welfare system. A new job or a promotion should bring opportunity and hope, not fear and anxiety. It’s time to build a bridge out of poverty so everyone, no matter where they start, has a chance to reach the American Dream.”
U.S. Reps. Mike Conaway (R-TX), John Kline (R-MN) and Andy Barr (R-KY) were also on hand Tuesday to unveil the new policy agenda.