President Trump Signed An Executive
Order on Reducing Poverty in America by Promoting Opportunity and Economic
Mobility.
This is an important first step
toward meaningful welfare reform.
The Order provides nine “Principles
of Economic Mobility”, which will guide agencies that administer public
assistance programs to effectively reform the welfare system by directing that
they:
- improve employment outcomes and economic independence;
- promote marriage and family as a way of escaping
poverty;
- address the challenges of hard-to-employ populations;
- provide more flexibility of States, while ensuring
accountability for achieving outcomes;
- streamline services to more effectively use taxpayer
resources;
- reserve benefits for those truly in need;
- consolidate duplicative programs;
- facilitate greater sharing of information between
States and localities; and
- empower the private sector to find solutions to
poverty.
The entire Executive Order is shown below.
_______________________
THE
WHITE HOUSE
Office
of the Press Secretary
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 10, 2018
EXECUTIVE ORDER
- - - - - - -
REDUCING POVERTY IN AMERICA
BY PROMOTING OPPORTUNITY AND
ECONOMIC MOBILITY
By the
authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States of America, and to promote economic mobility, strong social
networks, and accountability to American taxpayers, it is hereby ordered as
follows:
Section 1. Purpose.
The United States and its Constitution were founded on the principles of
freedom and equal opportunity for all. To ensure that all Americans would
be able to realize the benefits of those principles, especially during hard times,
the Government established programs to help families with basic unmet
needs. Unfortunately, many of the programs designed to help families have
instead delayed economic independence, perpetuated poverty, and weakened family
bonds. While bipartisan welfare reform enacted in 1996 was a step toward
eliminating the economic stagnation and social harm that can result from
long-term Government dependence, the welfare system still traps many
recipients, especially children, in poverty and is in need of further reform
and modernization in order to increase self-sufficiency, well-being, and
economic mobility.
Sec. 2. Policy.
(a) In 2017, the Federal Government spent more than $700 billion on
low-income assistance. Since its inception, the welfare system has grown
into a large bureaucracy that might be susceptible to measuring success by how
many people are enrolled in a program rather than by how many have moved from
poverty into financial independence. This is not the type of system that
was envisioned when welfare programs were instituted in this country. The
Federal Government's role is to clear paths to self-sufficiency, reserving
public assistance programs for those who are truly in need. The
Federal Government should do everything within its authority to empower
individuals by providing opportunities for work, including by investing in
Federal programs that are effective at moving people into the workforce and out
of poverty. It must examine Federal policies and programs to ensure that
they are consistent with principles that are central to the American spirit --
work, free enterprise, and safeguarding human and economic resources. For
those policies or programs that are not succeeding in those respects, it is our
duty to either improve or eliminate them.
(b) It shall be the policy of the Federal Government to reform the
welfare system of the United States so that it empowers people in a manner that
is consistent with applicable law and the following principles, which shall be
known as the Principles of Economic Mobility:
(i) Improve employment outcomes
and economic independence (including by strengthening existing work
requirements for work-capable people and introducing new work requirements when
legally permissible);
(ii) Promote strong social networks as a
way of sustainably escaping poverty (including through work and marriage);
(iii) Address the challenges of populations
that may particularly struggle to find and maintain employment (including
single parents, formerly incarcerated individuals, the homeless, substance
abusers, individuals with disabilities, and disconnected youth);
(iv) Balance flexibility and
accountability both to ensure that State, local, and tribal governments, and
other institutions, may tailor their public assistance programs to the unique
needs of their communities and to ensure that welfare services and
administering agencies can be held accountable for achieving outcomes
(including by designing and tracking measures that assess whether programs help
people escape poverty);
(v) Reduce the size of bureaucracy
and streamline services to promote the effective use of resources;
(vi) Reserve benefits for people with
low incomes and limited assets;
(vii) Reduce wasteful spending by
consolidating or eliminating Federal programs that are duplicative or
ineffective;
(viii) Create a system by which the Federal
Government remains updated on State, local, and tribal successes and failures,
and facilitates access to that information so that other States and localities
can benefit from it; and
(ix) Empower the private sector, as well
as local communities, to develop and apply locally based solutions to poverty.
(c) As part of our pledge to increase opportunities for those in need,
the Federal Government must first enforce work requirements that are required
by law. It must also strengthen requirements that promote obtaining and
maintaining employment in order to move people to independence. To
support this focus on employment, the Federal Government should:
(i) review current federally funded workforce
development programs. If more than one executive department or agency
(agency) administers programs that are similar in scope or population served,
they should be consolidated, to the extent permitted by law, into the agency
that is best equipped to fulfill the expectations of the programs, while
ineffective programs should be eliminated; and
(ii) invest in effective workforce development
programs and encourage, to the greatest extent possible, entities that have demonstrated
success in equipping participants with skills necessary to obtain employment
that enables them to financially support themselves and their families in
today's economy.
(d) It is imperative to empower State, local, and tribal governments and
private-sector entities to effectively administer and manage public assistance
programs. Federal policies should allow local entities to develop and
implement programs and strategies that are best for their respective
communities. Specifically, policies should allow the private sector,
including community and faith-based organizations, to create solutions that
alleviate the need for welfare assistance, promote personal responsibility, and
reduce reliance on government intervention and resources.
(i) To promote the proper scope and
functioning of government, the Federal Government must afford State, local, and
tribal governments the freedom to design and implement programs that better
allocate limited resources to meet different community needs.
(ii) States and localities can use such flexibility
to devise and evaluate innovative programs that serve diverse populations and
families. States and localities can also model their own initiatives on
the successful programs of others. To achieve the right balance, Federal
leaders must continue to discuss opportunities to improve public assistance
programs with State and local leaders, including our Nation's governors.
(e) The Federal Government owes it to Americans to use taxpayer dollars
for their intended purposes. Relevant agencies should establish clear
metrics that measure outcomes so that agencies administering public assistance
programs can be held accountable. These metrics should include
assessments of whether programs help individuals and families find employment,
increase earnings, escape poverty, and avoid long-term dependence.
Whenever possible, agencies should harmonize their metrics to facilitate easier
cross-programmatic comparisons and to encourage further integration of service
delivery at the local level. Agencies should also adopt policies to
ensure that only eligible persons receive benefits and enforce all relevant
laws providing that aliens who are not otherwise qualified and eligible may not
receive benefits.
(i) All entities that receive funds should be
required to guarantee the integrity of the programs they administer.
Technology and innovation should drive initiatives that increase program
integrity and reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in the current system.
(ii) The Federal Government must support State,
local, and tribal partners by investing in tools to combat payment errors and
verify eligibility for program participants. It must also work alongside
public and private partners to assist recipients of welfare assistance to
maximize access to services and benefits that support paths to
self-sufficiency.
Sec. 3. Review
of Regulations and Guidance Documents. (a) The Secretaries of
the Treasury, Agriculture, Commerce, Labor, Health and Human Services, Housing
and Urban Development, Transportation, and Education (Secretaries) shall:
(i)
review all regulations and guidance documents of their respective agencies
relating to waivers, exemptions, or exceptions for public assistance program
eligibility requirements to determine whether such documents are, to the extent
permitted by law, consistent with the principles outlined in this order;
(ii)
review any public assistance programs of their respective agencies that do not
currently require work for receipt of benefits or services, and determine
whether enforcement of a work requirement would be consistent with Federal law
and the principles outlined in this order;
(iii)
review any public assistance programs of their respective agencies that do currently
require work for receipt of benefits or services, and determine whether the
enforcement of such work requirements is consistent with Federal law and the
principles outlined in this order;
(iv)
within 90 days of the date of this order, and based on the reviews required by
this section, submit to the Director of the Office of Management and Budget and
the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy a list of recommended
regulatory and policy changes and other actions to accomplish the principles
outlined in this order; and
(v)
not later than 90 days after submission of the recommendations required by
section 3(a)(iv) of this order, and in consultation with the Director of the
Office of Management and Budget and the Assistant to the President for Domestic
Policy, take steps to implement the recommended administrative actions.
(b) Within 90 days of the date of this order, the Secretaries shall each
submit a report to the President, through the Director of the Office of
Management and Budget and the Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy,
that:
(i) states how their respective agencies
are complying with 8 U.S.C. 1611(a), which provides that an alien who is not a
"qualified alien" as defined by 8 U.S.C. 1641 is, subject to certain
statutorily defined exceptions, not eligible for any Federal public benefit as
defined by 8 U.S.C. 1611(c);
(ii) provides a list of Federal benefit
programs that their respective agencies administer that are restricted pursuant
to 8 U.S.C. 1611; and
(iii) provides a list of Federal benefit programs
that their respective agencies administer that are not restricted pursuant to 8
U.S.C. 1611.
Sec. 4. Definitions.
For the purposes of this order:
(a) the
terms "individuals," "families," and "persons"
mean any United States citizen, lawful permanent resident, or other lawfully
present alien who is qualified to or otherwise may receive public
benefits;
(b) the terms "work" and "workforce" include
unsubsidized employment, subsidized employment, job training, apprenticeships,
career and technical education training, job searches, basic education,
education directly related to current or future employment, and workfare; and
(c) the terms "welfare" and "public assistance"
include any program that provides means-tested assistance, or other assistance
that provides benefits to people, households, or families that have low incomes
(i.e., those making less than twice the Federal poverty level), the unemployed,
or those out of the labor force.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this
order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the
authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head
thereof; or
(ii) the
functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to
budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and
subject to the availability of appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or
benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any
party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers,
employees, or agents, or any other person.
DONALD J. TRUMP
THE WHITE HOUSE,
April 10, 2018.
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