In a new op-ed, Hillary Clinton details her anti-poverty plan, the candidate advocates for America to do better when it comes to families and children in need.
Mrs. Clinton shared her plan in The New York Times on Wednesday. The lengthy piece was reminiscent of the Democratic National Convention where many people including Bill and Chelsea Clinton worked diligently to reintroduce the former secretary of state to voters.
Clinton shared a bit of her bio by explaining that she began her career after graduating from Yale Law School in 1973 by co-founding Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families.
Moreover, since those days she has cared for families and children, who were living in a dire situation in this country and all over the world.
Clinton also revealed that her anti-poverty strategy was inspired by Congressman Jim Clyburn’s 10-20-30 plan, which consists of “directing 10 percent of federal investments to communities where 20 percent of the population has been living below the poverty line for 30 years.” She wrote:
“If we want to get serious about poverty, we also need a national commitment to create more affordable housing. This issue doesn’t get much election-year coverage, but it’s a big deal to the 11.4 million American households that spend more than half their incomes on rent. Too many people are putting off saving for their children or retirement just to keep a roof over their families’ heads.”
While one child sleeping hungry or being homeless is one too many, Clinton acknowledged that her former boss, President Barack Obama has made progress to bring down the number of people living in poverty with his various initiatives.
According to Clinton, Obamacare, work opportunities, and food stamps have helped many Americans, who were living in extreme poverty. However, she was very clear; it is not mission accomplished by any means.
The Democratic Party nominee for president of the United States laid out a simple plan that includes: creating opportunities, investing in communities that are suffering, quality schools, access to high-quality child care, expanding low-income housing tax credits in high-cost areas, raising the minimum wage, and guaranteeing equal pay for women.
Clinton believes those ideas would diminish the poverty rate in this country. Clinton drew a contrast to Donald Trump‘s plan, which she claimed is more focused on helping the rich get better tax cuts. She also called out her opponent for using divisive rhetoric to gain power. She stated:
“Donald J. Trump has a different approach. He divides America into winners and losers. And he doesn’t seem to spend much time worrying about people in poverty. In fact, his economic plans would overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest Americans, and would include an estimated $4 billion tax cut for his own family just by eliminating the estate tax. He has actually said that wages are too high. One independent economic analysis revealed that with Mr. Trump’s proposals in place, our economy would fall back into recession and inevitably push more families into poverty.”
Critics say Clinton’s new plan does not address the root of the problem.
