Scott Walker: “I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for taking the lead on this and talking about some issues that are very important to…”

“I thank the gentleman from Arkansas for taking the lead on this and talking about some issues that are very important to us. I do agree, since President Johnson's War on Poverty began in 1964, the United States taxpayers have spent over $22 trillion on anti-poverty programs. Yet, for many places in this country, poverty is worse, hunger is worse. Even in our district in the triad, we have places where there are food deserts and food insecurities. After 50 years, we have to ask ourselves, have we seen any real progress in our communities. Families have been caught up in this generational cycle of dependence that has depleted the resources in many of our communities. Somewhere along the way, the Federal Government missed the mark. We have created programs that measure success on how many people we put on Federal programs, not measured by how many people we are able to move off programs for upward mobility. Last week, former Congressman J. C. Watts and I toured North Carolina's Sixth District, my home district. We saw passionate community members working to combat many aspects of poverty. Some were working with limited Federal Government assistance; some were doing so without any involvement from the Federal Government. These community members have found successful ways to feed the hungry in our food deserts and educate former inmates to become employable, contributing members of our society.…”