The nation’s poverty rate is higher now than it was in the 1970s, but no President since Lyndon Johnson has made fighting poverty a major administration goal. The time has come for a reinvigorated fight against inequality and despair.
Recommendations
The next President should advance policies that:
- strengthen work requirements in government assistance programs
- increase the minimum wage
- expand the earned income tax credit
- subsidize child care for low-wage workers
- promote marriage as the best environment for rearing children
- fund effective teen pregnancy prevention, premarital education, and family planning efforts
- invest in high-quality early childhood education
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Opportunity 08 aims to help 2008 presidential candidates and the public focus on critical issues facing the nation, presenting policy ideas on a wide array of domestic and foreign policy questions. The project is committed to providing both independent policy solutions and background material on issues of concern to voters.
