BEYOND THE NUMBERS
Greenstein on Ryan’s “Opportunity Grant”
CBPP President Robert Greenstein just issued a commentary on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s “Opportunity Grant” proposal, part of his new poverty plan. Here’s the opening:
A centerpiece of House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s new poverty plan would consolidate 11 safety-net and related programs — from food stamps to housing vouchers, child care, and the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) — into a single block grant to states. This new “Opportunity Grant” would operate initially in an unspecified number of states. While some other elements of the Ryan poverty plan deserve serious consideration, such as those relating to the Earned Income Tax Credit and criminal justice reform, his “Opportunity Grant” would likely increase poverty and hardship, and is therefore ill-advised, for several reasons.
