Taking on Class and Race – The Candidates on Poverty
by Racialicious Special Correspondent Latoya Peterson
Ask yourselves: what is your candidate going to do with the rising class gap in America? How do they propose to fix the problems (housing, retirement problems, education, wages) that contribute to the ever widening class divide?
Pathways Magazine, a Stanford University based publication dedicated to exploring poverty, inequality, and social policy, recently provided takes from the three major democratic front runners on their plans to alleviate poverty in America. (Hat tip to the Education and Class blog.)
While I encourage everyone to take the time to read the full publication (all 34 pages), I have provided a summary of the candidates’ stances below.
I have bolded the items that caught my interest in each plan. Please keep in mind that this is a quickie “Cliff’s Notes” style version of the candidates’ main points. Please refer to the magazine for the actual text.
John Edwards – “Building One America”
(p. 9 – 10; PDF p. 11-12)
1. Building a “working society” – one that emphasizes the inherent value of work
2. Create 1 million Stepping Stone jobs
3. Raise the minimum raise to $9.50 by 2012
4. Support the unionization of labor
5. Proposes a dollar for dollar savings match on individual savings accounts (called Get Ahead Accounts) – the match is capped at $500 a year.
6. Add 1 Million more housing vouchers of the next five years
7. Cutting back on HUD based initiatives and reducing HUD’s role in managing communities
8. Create more affordable housing initiatives
9. Add a contract to all housing vouchers to encourage recipients to work towards financial independence
10. Creating Second Chance Schools – the purpose is to provide education for those who have dropped out but want to come back to high school.
11. Create the “Great Promise” initiative – Early education targeting 4 year olds
12. College For Everyone – the 1st year of state college is free, as long as students will work part time and promise to stay out of trouble
13. Cut the marriage penalty for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
14. Expand the EITC to include low income single earners
Hillary Clinton – “Pragmatic Solutions for Reducing Poverty and Inequality”
(p. 11-13; PDF 13-15)
1. Creating the Youth Opportunity Agenda
2. Invest in home visitation programs to help first time parents prepare and care for children.
3. Provide $10 billion in Universal pre-K (expanding Head Start and Early Headstart)
4. Over five years, double federal support for mentoring and early intervention programs – targeting 1 million students
5. Invest $100 million in a new public/private internship program for youth in high school and college
6. Create a $3,500 tuition tax credit
7. Increase the Pell Grant Maximum (and include an annual adjustment)
8. Provide $500 million to community colleges and $250 million to state colleges to strengthen retention programs
9. Expand the EITC
10. Create 5 million “green collar” jobs by investing in clean energy and efficiency
11. Tie increases in congressional salaries to increases for the minimum wage.
12. American Health Choices Plan – refundable tax credits for premiums, ensuring that insurance companies cannot deny individuals coverage for pre-existing conditions; expanding COBRA to make sure leaving a job or switching jobs will continue coverage1
13. Create a 1 billion dollar fund to provide federal support to housing trust funds established by state/county/municipal governments
14. Planned crackdowns on unscrupulous brokers, mortgage lending abuses; avoiding foreclosures
15. New America Retirement Account – dollar for dollar matching refundable tax credit for the first $1000 saved up to a family income of $60,000 and a 50% match for the 1st $1,000 saved by those making between $60K and $100K.
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