House GOP unveils poverty fighting agenda

WASHINGTON—House Republicans unwrapped a new agenda for poverty fighting today, giving the next administration an outline to enable frontline poverty workers and address the root causes prohibiting upward mobility.

“There are people on the front lines fighting poverty successfully, and the problem we have had in government for too long is that we think the way to fight poverty is to treat its symptoms,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said outside of House of Help City of Hope, a rehabilitation center in one of Washington’s poorest neighborhoods. “[We need to] get out of their way, support them, back them up because they know what they’re doing. They know how to get people out of poverty. There’s a very important role for the government to play here, but it’s got to be from the bottom up.”

America’s poverty rate has not moved in 50 years despite trillions of dollars spent on government programs. Today, Ryan released a 35-page report from a House poverty task force he started in February. The document details key principles he hopes Congress will use to draft future legislation. It comes less than a week after the speaker endorsed presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, whom Ryan said Republicans will need in office for any conservative ideas to see the light of day.

Ryan’s poverty plan is part of a new agenda called “A Better Way,” which outlines six policy areas for future Republican legislation. Ryan said poverty needs to be first because it hurts everyone and setting impoverished persons on a pathway toward success will have positive outcomes for all Americans. The speaker plans to release a new policy agenda for national security on Thursday and outlines for business regulation reforms, restoring the Constitution, an alternative to Obamacare, and new tax plans in the next three weeks.

Today’s report, developed by House chairmen from the Budget, Financial Services, Ways and Means, and other committees, contains five guiding principles for future poverty fighting legislation.

The first is to reward work. Ryan said if someone is capable, he expects him to work or prepare for work in order to receive government benefits. Other principles include tailoring benefits to real world needs, refocusing programs to provide skills and education, and allowing more flexibility for retirement planning.

The report outlines reforms to expand access to 401(k)s and to rein in the 2010 financial regulatory law known as Dodd-Frank to increase options for banking services.

According to Ryan, all of those ideas are plans for a future Republican administration and would be unable to survive President Barack Obama’s veto.

“This is the beginning of a conversation,” the report concludes. “House Republicans will continue to collaborate and solicit ideas on how best to improve outcomes for lower-income Americans, and we will continue to craft policies to ensure that no matter who you are or where you come from, if you work hard and give it your all, you will succeed.”

Ryan told reporters the new agenda comes partly from private conversations with Trump on where common ground exists between the businessman and Republicans in Congress.

Trump continues to make comments that make Republicans want to distance themselves. He said yesterday the judge presiding over his Trump University court case is incapable of rendering an unbiased decision because of his Mexican heritage.

“Claiming someone can’t do their job because of their race is sort of like the textbook definition of a racist comment,” Ryan said when asked about Trump’s behavior. “I will not defend his comments because they are indefensible.”

Ryan said he disavows Trump’s racist comments, but he won’t retract his endorsement.

“It’s absolutely unacceptable, but do I believe Hillary Clinton is the answer? No, I do not,” Ryan said when asked how he can continue to support Trump amid his offensive comments. “I believe that we have more common ground on the policy issues of today and we have more likelihood of getting our policies enacted with him than we do with her.”