3.3.2: Poverty
Make ending poverty a national priority. Other Information:
Too many Americans live without hope for a better future or access to good, family-supporting jobs. Fifteen percent of our
fellow citizens live in poverty, and one in five families struggles with food insecurity. Many of these families work but
are unable to pay the bills. The economic crisis has hit low- income American families particularly hard, but merely restoring
our country to where it was before the economic crisis is not enough. We must make ending poverty a national priority. When
the President took office, we were losing hundreds of thousands of jobs a month. President Obama and Democrats took immediate
action to get the economy moving again. By expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit, and supporting
unemployment insurance benefits and food stamps, the Recovery Act kept seven million people out of poverty and reduced poverty
for 32 million more in 2010. The Obama administration invested in Promise Neighborhoods in communities across the country—a
comprehensive approach to fighting poverty from early learning to college and career. The administration provided grants to
financial institutions in urban and rural communities for the purpose of increasing lending for low-income Americans. But
there is still more work to do. Democrats believe that we must raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation. We will continue
to fight for equal pay for equal work, a strong labor movement, and access to a world-class education for every child. We
will help lift people with disabilities out of poverty. We understand that poverty disproportionately affects communities
of color and we are committed to working with those most affected by poverty. We will continue the improvements in refundable
tax credits for low-income families to encourage work and education while lifting families out of poverty. To enhance access
and equity in employment, education, and business opportunities, we encourage initiatives to remove barriers to equal opportunity
that still exist in America. We will expand the Promise Neighborhoods Program to prepare more students for college. We face
an opposition that has proven its priorities are elsewhere. Mitt Romney would raise taxes on low- and middle-income Americans
to fund his tax breaks weighted toward the wealthiest. We reject the Republican budget plan that would force us to destroy
the safety net in order to help the wealthiest avoid doing their fair share.
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