Edwards Calls For A National Commitment To Ending Poverty Within 30 Years

[draft_mario_cuomo]

Des Moines and Knoxville, Iowa – Senator John Edwards visited Des Moines and Knoxville today to outline his far-reaching proposals to end poverty in America within 30 years. Edwards came to Iowa after concluding a three-day anti-poverty tour designed to put a spotlight on places and people struggling with poverty, and to highlight solutions that will restore economic fairness.

“It’s a disgrace that today, 37 million Americans and 305,000 Iowans live in poverty while too many of our leaders continue to pretend the problem doesn’t exist,” Edwards said. “We need to build One America – an America where no child, no family, lives in poverty. One America, where every single one of our citizens has access to a good education and quality, affordable health care, and can support their family with a decent paying job.”

Edwards’ “Road to One America” tour kicked off on Monday in New Orleans, Louisiana and took him more than 1,800 miles before ending yesterday in Prestonsburg, Kentucky, where Senator Robert F. Kennedy concluded his 1968 200-mile tour of impoverished regions in southeastern Kentucky. The tour also included a stop in Marks, Mississippi, where the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. began his 1968 Poor People’s March to Washington, D.C.

On the Road to One America, Edwards outlined a new set of initiatives to reward work, create opportunity and strengthen families, including:

* End the betrayal of work by reviving the Department of Labor’s enforcement, cracking down on employers who routinely violate minimum wage, overtime, and health and safety laws.
* Expand opportunity with economically diverse schools by providing new funding for magnet schools in low-income school districts as well as greater incentives for wealthier districts to enroll lower-income students.
* Give low-income families a healthy start with nurse home visits, proven to improve outcomes for children.

Edwards also highlighted solutions and initiatives from his plan to end poverty in America, including:

* Create a million stepping stone jobs to give people a chance to work their way out of poverty.
* Raise the minimum wage to $9.50 by 2012 and index it so that it goes up automatically with average wages.
* Create rural small business centers and invest in rural entrepreneurs who too often struggle to get investment capital.
* Strengthen labor laws to make it easier for workers to organize and join unions, including passage of the Employee Free Choice Act.
* Improve access to affordable housing, including creating a million new housing vouchers for low-income families.
* Help low-wage workers save with "Work Bonds” – a new tax credit that would match wages to $500 per year and be directly deposited into a savings account.
* Create second-chance schools to help high school dropouts work toward graduation and prepare themselves for the job market.
* Triple the Earned Income Tax Credit for adults without children--giving four million low income workers a tax cut averaging $750, lifting workers out of poverty and drawing more men into the workforce.

http://www.iowapolitics.com/index.iml?Article=100482

[Lefty-Taylor]

1. Go, John, Go!! That's what we need SUBSTANCE!! REAL GOALS!!

[draft_mario_cuomo]

3. I agree

:bounce:

[Totally Committed]

2. They assassinated the last person to call for an and to poverty...

and that was a little over 39 years ago.

It should be interesting to see how his campaign does with this message.

TC