10|20|30 Funding Recipe

Rep. James Clyburn (D., SC) has introduced the 10|20|30 Act of 2014. The measure is more of a funding recipe for future legislation than anything. According to a press release by Rep. Clyburn, 

In the United States, there are 474 counties where 20 percent or more of the population has been living below the poverty line for the last 30 years. The counties are as diverse as our great nation; Appalachian communities in Kentucky and North Carolina, Native American communities in South Dakota and Alaska, Latino communities in Arizona and New Mexico and African American communities in Mississippi and South Carolina. They lack access to quality schools, affordable quality health care and adequate job opportunities.

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When we drafted the Recovery Act, I fought to ensure that no communities were left behind by including a provision that directed at least 10 percent of Rural Development investments to communities where 20 percent or more of the population had lived below the poverty line for the last 30 years (10-20-30).

I am urging Congress to include the 10-20-30 approach in future funding proposals, and expand it to all federal agencies. It doesn’t require additional funding -- only the stipulation that at least ten percent of any agency’s appropriated programmatic funds be invested in 10-20-30 communities. We are only as strong as our weakest link, and these communities must be included in our efforts to get the entire nation back on track.