Rep. Gwen Moore’s Plan to Shame Scott Walker, Paul Ryan, GOP for ‘Criminalizing Poverty’

MADISON, Wis. — One Wisconsin Now, on behalf of its more than 100,000 supporters, has “endorsed with the intensity of 1,000 suns” U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore’s “Top 1% Accountability Act of 2016.” The plan, devised in the wake of Gov. Scott Walker suing the federal government to require people in poverty to be drug tested, would require tax filers receiving more than $150,000 in itemized deductions to provide the results of a clean drug test to the IRS to receive the deductions — a plan which would only affect those with incomes over $500,000.

“Rep. Moore is calling out Gov. Scott Walker, Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. Ron Johnson for the Republican Party’s efforts to criminalize poverty,” said Scot Ross, One Wisconsin Now Executive Director. “Walker and Ryan and have spent their entire adult lives on the government’s dime, and Ron Johnson would be relegated to shaking a rake at Oshkosh city council meetings if he hadn’t married into money and someone else’s business, so it will be interesting what their reactions to this plan are.”

Rep. Moore, who rose from poverty to become the representative of Congress for Wisconsin’s largest city, as well as the state’s first African American member of Congress, said in releasing her plan:

“As I’ve said time and time again, the notion that those battling poverty are somehow more susceptible to substance abuse is as absurd as it is offensive. If anything, our nation’s opioid crisis continues to underscore how substance addiction knows no social, racial, or economic distinctions. The time has come to stop vilifying vulnerable American families for being poor and start focusing on the policies that will help create an economy that works for everyone.”

Ross added, “Paul Ryan isn’t the only Wisconsin member of Congress with plans for the country, and Congresswoman Moore’s plan should get the attention it deserves as an alternative to the harsh and heartless proposals constantly put forward by Paul Ryan.”