{"id":24449,"date":"2021-02-22T02:26:00","date_gmt":"2021-02-22T02:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=24449"},"modified":"2021-02-23T02:54:52","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T02:54:52","slug":"child-poverty-in-the-u-s-could-be-slashed-by-monthly-payments-to-parents-an-idea-proved-in-other-rich-countries-and-proposed-by-a-prominent-republican-decades-ago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/child-poverty-in-the-u-s-could-be-slashed-by-monthly-payments-to-parents-an-idea-proved-in-other-rich-countries-and-proposed-by-a-prominent-republican-decades-ago\/","title":{"rendered":"Child poverty in the U.S. could be slashed by monthly payments to parents \u2013 an idea proved in other rich countries and proposed by a prominent Republican decades ago"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Joya Misra<\/a>, University of Massachusetts Amherst<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which former president pitched a Family Assistance Plan<\/a> to the American people that would have provided many families with children a monthly stipend?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may surprise you that it came in 1969 from Richard Nixon<\/a>, a Republican who embraced cultural conservativism<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House of Representatives twice passed his unprecedented plan<\/a> to strengthen the safety net before it stalled in the Senate<\/a>. Fifty years later, Congress and the nation are again debating a major boost in government support for families with children<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a scholar who studies poverty and inequality<\/a>, I have been contemplating that chapter in U.S. history while following recent proposals from President Joe Biden<\/a> and other Democrats, and Sen. Mitt Romney<\/a> \u2013 a Republican \u2013 to help cover the costs of raising children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the success of one of these measures or something similar is not assured<\/a>, I believe that, thanks to the pandemic, there\u2019s a good a chance the United States will finally begin building the foundation that Nixon called for and that families still need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An outlier<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. has long been an outlier in its lack of support for families with children<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That helps explain why child poverty in the U.S.<\/a> is comparable to that in Mexico and Chile, and far higher than child poverty in other wealthy countries. Some 18% of U.S. children live in poverty<\/a>, far above the 12% average for the 37 wealthy and middle-income countries that belong to the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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