WASHINGTON, D.C. – Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady released the following statement in response to the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual report on poverty in the United States: 

“Today’s report is another disappointing confirmation that too many Americans are still struggling to provide for their families and reach their full potential. The federal government invests billions of dollars each year in programs to help low-income Americans—but more than 43 million people continue to live in poverty. It shouldn’t be this way in America. 

“House Republicans are proposing a better way—a way to reform our nation’s welfare system so more people can find work, escape poverty, and move up the economic ladder. Our plan attacks poverty at its roots, knocks down bureaucratic barriers, and empowers people so they can live better lives.”  

NOTE: The U.S. Census Bureau reported today 13.5% of Americans lived in poverty in 2015, a reduction from the prior year, but the eighth year in a row that more than 40 million people lived in poverty in the United States. Since 2008, the number of people living in poverty has increased by more than 3.3 million.

CLICK HERE to read a new poverty analysis from the Ways and Means Committee.
CLICK HERE to read House Republicans’ “A Better Ways to Fight Poverty.”
CLICK HERE to learn more about welfare reform over the last 20 years.