It's Time for 'Poverty in the Trenches' Hearings

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http://www.thenation.com/blog/175518/its-time-poverty-trenches-hearings#axzz2aYXlnCa1


House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan pauses during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, April 13, 2011. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Congressman Paul Ryan said that the Republicans “don’t have a full-fledged” plan to fight poverty “because we need to do more listening to people who are in the trenches fighting poverty.”

This is the first time I’ve ever written these words: I completely agree with Congressman Ryan.

President Obama said he is focused on “ladders of opportunity” for those “still suffering poverty wages” or “struggling to get full-time work.” He said he will lay out his ideas for strengthening access to the middle class, including “reducing poverty.”

“Some of the ideas I offer will be new. Some will require Congress. Some I will pursue on my own,” said President Obama.



Read more: It's Time for 'Poverty in the Trenches' Hearings | The Nation http://www.thenation.com/blog/175518/its-time-poverty-trenches-hearings#ixzz2aiouoBvZ
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1. Deflection

I may be wrong, but I think that comment was a deflection by Paul Ryan. Instead of having to say he did not want to talk about poverty, or that the Republican Party did not care about poor people he could say the Republican Party did not have a plan to end or reduce poverty because they wanted to talk to the people who where trying to end poverty. The Republican Party could do both. Wanting to listen to the people in the trenches does not prevent politicians from coming up with a plan to end poverty. In addition, how long does it take you to listen to the people in the trenches?