WES CLARK'S PLAN TO LIFT AMERICANS OUT OF POVERTY AND INTO OPPORTUNITY

Wes Clark's Families First Tax Reform, combined with his increase in the minimum wage, is a sweeping progressive proposal to make work pay and lift Americans out of poverty. Under Wes Clark's plan, 1.3 million people would be lifted out of poverty - including 700,000 children. Wes Clark's plan would ensure that a single mother who works hard and plays by the rules would not be forced to raise her children in poverty. Together with Wes Clark's other proposals to create opportunity and strengthen families and communities, the number lifted out of poverty could be substantially higher.

In contrast, under President Bush 3 million Americans have slipped into poverty, including 500,000 children. As a result 35 million Americans live in poverty, 12.1 percent of the population. The poverty rate among children is even higher - 16.7 percent or 12 million children. Families First Tax Reform and raising the minimum wage are central elements of Wes Clark's three-part strategy for reducing poverty:

1. Make Work Pay Through Families First Tax Reform and a Higher Minimum Wage
2. Create Opportunity
3. Strengthen Families and Communities

OVER ONE MILLION AMERICANS LIFTED OUT OF POVERTY
A study using Current Population Survey (CPS) micro-data found that Wes Clark's Families First Tax Reform and minimum wage increase would lift over a million people out of poverty, while more than 15 million low-income families would see their incomes rise. Specifically:

NUMBER OF PEOPLE LIFTED OUT OF POVERTY
	Adults	Children	Total
Families First Tax Reform	430,000	640,000	1,070,000
Minimum Wage Increase	134,000	73,000	207,000
Total lifted out of poverty	563,000	698,000	1,261,000

Note: Total lifted out of poverty does not equal sum of individual proposals due to interactions.

MAKE WORK PAY THROUGH FAMILIES FIRST TAX REFORM AND A HIGHER MINIMUM WAGE

The combination of Wes Clark's Families First Tax Reform and minimum wage would ensure that single mothers working full-time at the minimum wage would be able to raise her children above the poverty line:

Families First Tax Reform + Higher Minimum Wage = No Poverty
	Number of Children
	1	2	3
Current Law	12,059	13,632	13,632
Wes Clark's Proposal	16,289	18,089	18,529
Poverty Line	12,400	14,494	18,307
Poverty Gap Under Current Law	-341	-862	-4,675
Above Poverty Under Wes Clark's Proposal	3,889	3,595	222

Note: Assumes a single parent working 2,000 hours at the minimum wage. Includes EITC and employee portion of payroll taxes.

• Families First Tax Reform benefits 15 million low-income families. Families First Tax Reform increases tax credits for 15 million low-income families that currently receive refundable credits through the EITC and other credits. Families First Tax Reform delivers the largest benefits to families that need it most, providing the typical family with a $1,500 tax cut. Families First tax reform does not increase the deficit - it is fully paid for by raising the tax rate for families making over $1 million annually and by closing unjustified corporate loopholes.
• Raising the minimum wage in steps to $7 per hour by 2007. The minimum wage is currently $5.15 and has not been raised since 1997. Adjusted for inflation, the minimum wage only buys 60 percent as much as it did in 1968 and is now about the lowest it has been in the last fifty years. Wes Clark would raise the minimum wage in steps to $7 per hour by 2007. This policy would be especially beneficial to women because 63 percent of full-time minimum wage workers are women.
• Fight for Equal Pay for women. Women are often the primary providers for their children, yet too often they earn substantially less than their male counterparts. Closing the gap in pay between women and men will raise hundreds of thousands of families out of poverty. Wes Clark has outlined a comprehensive plan to close the gender pay gap, including stronger penalties for wage discrimination, improving pay for women, and supporting working women.

CREATE OPPORTUNITY
The best anti-poverty program is a job. Job creation is Wes Clark's top economic priority. Under President Bush, nearly three million private-sector jobs have been lost - the worst job losses under any president since Herbert Hoover. Instead of addressing the problem, President Bush has pursued the only policy he believes in - tax breaks for the wealthiest. Meanwhile, working families worry about job security and the unemployed struggle to find work. Wes Clark has a real plan to let America get back to work:

• Invest in job creation. Wes Clark is proposing a three-part strategy that devotes $100 billion over two years, without increasing the deficit, to jumpstart job creation by investing in local infrastructure and security and providing job creation tax credits. Clark's job creation plan includes a job creation tax credit and incentives to keep manufacturing jobs in the US.
• Manufacturing and technology jobs security. Wes Clark has proposed a detailed strategy to revive America's struggling manufacturing and tech jobs sectors. He will stop rewarding companies that move jobs overseas and start rewarding companies that create jobs in America.

STRENGTHEN FAMILIES AND COMMUNITIES
Wes Clark understands that helping families out of poverty takes more than just a good jobs plan. Parents are better prepared to take advantage of opportunities if they are able to find a safe and affordable place to live and are confident that they can provide health care for their children. Wes Clark will:

• Guarantee that every child has health insurance. Wes Clark's health care plan would provide health insurance to every American child through age 22. A new, progressive tax credit would begin where public program eligibility ends and extend to 500 percent of the poverty limit (about $40,000 for an individual, $90,000 for a family of four).
• Provide universal and more affordable access to health insurance for adults. The federal government would fully fund state-based programs to extend full coverage to adults with income below 150 percent of the poverty threshold. It would also provide a tax credit for those with income below 275 percent of poverty towards a new health insurance option for all American families.
• Support welfare reform that works. Wes Clark supports proposals that expand what counts as work activity so that parents can take advantage of services and training that improve their future job opportunities, including vocational education, substance abuse treatment, occupational therapy, and post-secondary education. In order to help people find a job and keep it, Wes Clark supports increased investments in work supports such as child care and transportation vouchers.
• Provide universal preschool. We can improve student achievement by making sure that children start school prepared. Wes Clark will offer universal preschool access for all four-year-olds and a growing number of three-year-olds whose families want it, improve preschool standards. In addition, Wes Clark would immediately expand Head Start to serve one million children and move towards fully funding it.
• Increase affordable housing. In most communities, full-time, year-round minimum wage workers cannot afford to pay fair market rent or find even find a place that they can afford. Several cities are experiencing a substantial shortage of affordable housing. Yet the Bush Administration's budget proposals have cut or eliminated the few federal programs that produce new housing and provide supports for low-income families. To meet the demands for affordable housing Wes Clark would expand the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, work to fully fund the HOPE VI program to revitalize neighborhoods, and fully fund Section 8 vouchers which help elderly, disabled and low-income working households pay for housing.
• Expand the New Markets Tax Credits. To increase investment in low-income communities, Wes Clark will expand the successful New Markets Tax Credit so that more credits will be available for investments in eligible businesses.