AJR120,1,53 Whereas, fifty years ago President Lyndon B. Johnson declared: "This
4administration today, here and now, declares unconditional war on poverty in
5America"; and

AJR120,1,76 Whereas, President Johnson stated: "Our aim is not only to relieve poverty, but
7to cure it and, above all, to prevent it"; and

AJR120,1,108 Whereas, President Johnson introduced an Omnibus Housing Act that
9provided $8 billion to build low-income housing and provided rent supplements for
10low and middle-income families; and

AJR120,1,1211 Whereas, in the decade after the introduction of the War on Poverty, America's
12poverty levels dropped by 43 percent; and

AJR120,2,213 Whereas, during President Reagan's administration the most dramatic
14spending cuts targeted low-income housing subsidies, and in his first year in office

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1President Reagan cut the budget for public housing in half and over the next few
2years sought to eliminate federal housing assistance to the poor altogether; and

AJR120,2,43 Whereas, funding for low-income housing as well as for job training and other
4programs have never returned to pre-Reagan levels; and

AJR120,2,65 Whereas, the national debate has focused on attacking the underfunded safety
6net programs, which has led to a stagnating effort to fight poverty; and

AJR120,2,97 Whereas, at the same time the global economy has undercut the ability of
8workers to obtain family-supporting jobs and the minimum wage has not kept up
9with inflation or productivity; and

AJR120,2,1210 Whereas, our nation is preoccupied by partisanship rather than being
11dedicated to rebuilding an economy that will minimize poverty through investments
12in education, job creation, and programs that assist struggling families; and

AJR120,2,1513 Whereas, in the words of President Johnson, the War on Poverty must include
14efforts toward "better schools, and better health, and better homes, and better
15training, and better job opportunities"; and

AJR120,2,1816 Whereas, this loss of focus on programs that assist and empower the poor has
17resulted in unacceptable levels of poverty and inequality in the United States today;
18and

AJR120,2,2119 Whereas, according to the Center for American Progress, today one in three
20people in the United States live on the brink of poverty, 70 percent of whom are
21women; and

AJR120,2,2322 Whereas, this is the first post-recession recovery since 1970 where women have
23lost jobs while men have gained jobs; and

AJR120,3,3

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1Whereas, according to the 2014 Shriver Report, households headed by women
2have a 46.7 percent poverty rate and the poverty rate for children under 18 is 21.8
3percent; and

AJR120,3,54 Whereas, 42 million women and the 28 million children who depend on them
5are living one economic incident away from poverty; and

AJR120,3,86 Whereas, according to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2011, approximately
7one-third of all Americans will spend at least two months in poverty in their lifetime;
8and

AJR120,3,119 Whereas, the Institute for Women's Policy Research found that the hardest-hit
10demographic since the beginning of the recession in 2007 has been single-mother
11families and families that are dependent on women's wages; and

AJR120,3,1212 Whereas, the overall poverty rate in Wisconsin is 13.2 percent; and

AJR120,3,1413 Whereas, today in Wisconsin the poverty rate for children is 18 percent and the
14poverty rate for women is 14 percent; and

AJR120,3,1715 Whereas, the percentage of low-wage jobs in Wisconsin is 20.7 percent and
16more than half of people enrolled in Wisconsin support programs earn less than $10
17an hour; and

AJR120,3,1918 Whereas, the minimum wage in Wisconsin is $7.25 an hour, and a full-time
19minimum-wage worker earns an annual salary of just $15,080; and

AJR120,3,2320 Whereas, although fifty years have passed since President Johnson declared
21the War on Poverty, our devotion to alleviating the effects of poverty as well as
22preventing its fundamental causes has wavered for far too long; now, therefore, be
23it