On April 9, 2024, the House Ways and Means Work and Welfare Subcommittee held a field hearing in Chicago, IL, on the Dignity of Work: Lifting Individuals Out of Poverty. Subcommittee Chairman Darin LaHood (R-IL) indicated that current job vacancies are the result of a lack of qualified employees and that work is a pathway out of poverty, and provides tangible and intangible benefits to the individual. Further, Chairman LaHood stated that linking a work requirement with TANF benefits is not a punitive act.
Subcommittee Ranking Member Danny Davis (D-IL) countered and stated mandating low wage jobs as a requirement for receiving welfare benefits does not solve poverty, as there are currently 6.4 million working poor. Rather it is necessary to focus on eradicating systemic barriers to thriving. Some of the barriers that hinder participation in quality employment are lack of child care, paid leave, skills and education. Further, Ranking Member Davis provided the example of the Child Tax credit as an effective means of slashing poverty.
There were numerous stakeholders in attendance: Matt Paprocki, President and CEO of Illinois Policy Institute; Nathan Montgomery, Executive Director of Salt and Light; Brian Butler, Director of Residential Ministries for Pathway Ministries; Kristy Schofield, Director Homelessness and Housing for Dream Center Peoria; Gianno Caldwell, founder of Caldwell Strategic Consulting; and Sodiqa Williams Senior Vice President of Safer Foundation. The stakeholders at the hearing were primarily focused on the individual’s responsibility for poverty, ways to transform the individual and government interventions in the form of safety nets, and the benefits cliff as promoters of poverty. For example, Mr. Paprocki opined that “poverty today is less about food and housing security and more about hopelessness,” and Mr. Butler viewed it as the result of “individual brokenness that is rectified through faith.” However, Mr. Montgomery presented a more nuanced view of poverty as being the result of access to opportunity which is impacted by systemic factors and individual choices.
Some committee members and stakeholders took a more macro-view of poverty and solutions. Representative Gwen Moore (D-WI) indicated that poverty is the result of economic schemes that maximize profit over people and trap people in poverty. She stated that the benefit cliff forces people to stay in low wage jobs, as well as welfare system when it deliberately bars educational training opportunities. More advocated for quality jobs. Further, Representative Panetta (CD-A) argued that there is no single fix for poverty. Representative Panetta addressed how cost of living contributed to homelessness as well as the role of mental health in poverty. Ms. Williams championed mentoring and workforce empowerment for formerly incarcerated people re-entering the workforce and stated that high quality living wage opportunities eliminates recidivism. Ms. Williams advocated for funding the Second Chance Act, and the removal of lifetime barriers to employment for the formerly incarcerated.
By Aretha Shalanda Campbell, Policy Intern
