Comparison of Barack Obama's and John Mccain's Policies on Poverty and Welfare in the US - Essay Example

Though there are a number of policies on which both the sides have differing views, an effort has been made in this paper to compare the policies of both candidates on 'poverty and welfare in the US'. McCain's stand: John McCain has expressed his support for direct federal poverty aid through religious, community-based or other non-profit organizations. He says1, "Welfare and anti-poverty assistance is a shared responsibility among federal, state and local government; the private sector; community and faith-based organizations.

Welfare policy must provide a strong safety net, while promoting work, responsibility, self sufficiency and dignity." In addition McCain has come out maintained the following principled position on some of the issues concerning poverty and welfare2: Even when a parent works full-time earning minimum wage and EITC and food stamps are factored into their income, families are still $1,550 below the federal poverty line because of the flat-lined minimum wage. Obama and Biden also realize that ex-offenders are a very critical community, which needs to be taken care of well, in order not to let them feel isolated.

For this category they plan to work to ensure that ex-offenders have access to job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling, and employment opportunities. It is worthwhile here to ment. The team of Barak Obama has come out with a detailed plan of action to take care of the poverty and welfare issues. Salient features of their plan include;Helping Americans in Grabbing and Holding on in order to Climb the Job LadderCreating a Green Jobs Corps in order to strengthen the energy efficiency programs and strengthen the communities.

Bring out improvement in Transportation Access to JobsObama and Biden also realize that ex-offenders are a very critical community, which needs to be taken care of well, in order not to let them feel isolated. For this category they plan to work to ensure that ex-offenders have access to job training, substance abuse and mental health counseling, and employment opportunities.Raising the Minimum Wage to $9.50 an Hour by 2011Providing all low and middle-income workers a tax relief of about $500 to offset the payroll tax being paid by those low paid workers.

Expanding the Nurse-Family Partnership to all 570,000 low-income, first-time mothers each year. Increasing the number of sick days for low-paid workersIncreasing the Supply of Affordable Housing for the poor sections of the society.Increase the levels of investments in rural areasCreating secure borders and strengthening the immigration policies.2. For each policy, evaluate how it might impact the state of poverty in the U.S.It is worthwhile here to mention that on the one hand John McCain is supposed to tread a cautious line while spelling out the agenda points for bringing out a 'change', because he has to maintain that the legacy is not disturbed too much.

On the other hand, Barak Obama is not bound any such legacy. So, on the one hand he criticizes the existing policies of Bush