Bill to Cut Poverty in Half Over Next Ten Years Introduced in Congress

Anti-poverty
advocates welcomed the arrival this week of a bill in Congress to begin laying
the foundations of economic security and opportunity for the more than 45
million Americans living in poverty.

The
Half
in Ten Act of 2011, introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee, D. Calif., will
establish a Federal Interagency Working Group on Reducing Poverty to develop
and implement a national plan to reduce poverty by
half in ten years and work toward eradicating extreme poverty, child poverty,
and the persistent disparity in poverty rates found in communities of color.

“Americans
all across the country are struggling,” Lee said. “It
is clear that our policies and programs addressing poverty have not kept pace
with the growing needs of millions of Americans.  It is time we make the
commitment to confront poverty head-on.  This bill will help tear down the
barriers of poverty and work to reignite the American Dream by providing
ladders of opportunity for all.”

The
introduction of the Half in Ten Act followed the official launch of the Half in Ten campaign on October 26 around the
release of a
new annual report establishing a new series of benchmarks for tracking the
nation’s progress on poverty reduction. The report, Restoring
Shared Prosperity: Strategies to Cut Poverty and Expand Economic Growth,
and its accompanying website provide data, rankings, and fact sheets for all 50
states and the District of Columbia.

Half in Ten is a collaborative anti-poverty
campaign led by The Leadership Conference, the Center for American Progress Action Fund, and the Coalition on Human Needs
dedicated to cutting poverty in half in 10 years.