Edwards calls for Cabinet-level post to fight poverty

JohnLocke

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Thu Mar-15-07 05:40 PM
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Edwards calls for Cabinet-level post to fight poverty

Edwards calls for Cabinet-level post to fight poverty
By Holly Ramer--Associated Press Writer
Thursday, March 15, 2007
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MANCHESTER, N.H.--Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards on Thursday outlined what he called "an audacious plan" to tackle global poverty that includes educating 23 million children in poor countries and creating a Cabinet-level position to oversee other initiatives.

Seeking to link poverty in other countries to the United States' national security, Edwards argued that militant extremists in nations torn apart by poverty and civil war have replaced government educational systems and are teaching young people to hate the United States.

"When you understand that, it suddenly becomes clear: global poverty is not just a moral issue for the United States -- it is a national security issue for the United States," he said at Saint Anselm College.

"If we tackle it, we have the chance to change a generation of potential extremists and enemies into a generation of friends," Edwards said.

Edwards called for spending $3 billion a year to extend primary education to millions of children in developing countries. Combating terrorism should begin in classrooms, not battlefields, he said.

His plan also includes $600 million a year for health care initiatives, including a worldwide summit on clean drinking water and sanitation and a six-fold increase in funding for clean water programs.

Getting to the root of global poverty will require increasing both political and economic opportunities for the poor, he said, at a cost of about $1.4 billion. And it will require one person to oversee those efforts, he said.

Cabinet rank has been given to the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Management and Budget, the national drug czar and the U.S. trade representative.
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Edwards said details of how he would pay for the $5 billion plan would come later, but said he would not propose raising taxes for middle-class taxpayers.

"If, and I'm not saying at this moment I'm going to do it, but if there has to be another revenue source, it can't come from middle or low-income taxpayers," he said.

Edwards has acknowledged that a key component of his plan to end domestic poverty -- providing universal health care -- will require raising taxes. He proposes rolling back President Bush's tax cuts for people who earn more than $200,000 and having the government collect back taxes to raise money for health coverage.

Edwards, who established a research center on poverty after his failed 2004 campaign, has set a goal of eliminating poverty in the United States in 30 years. His proposed solutions include creating a million temporary jobs for low-income workers, strengthening labor laws, increasing tax credits for working families and making housing and higher education more affordable.
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