eitc childless adults. this is a particular area, especially with labor force participation rates, that -- i'm not sure what that is. never mind i guess. childless adults. this is an area where we are particularly concerned about low labor force participation, it's especially problematic for young men. what is your take on how or if we should modify the eitc for childless adults. and then i want to ask you another question -- >> the difference in the benefit is very significant. it's tax average for adults something a little bit less than $500 for households with children it gets up to over $5,000. so it doesn't have the same effect in promoting and supporting work. and this group, particularly for young men, between the ages of about 18 and 25 who are really out of the workforce, i believe it could be an important way to help them get in to and stay in the workforce and to make work pay. mayor bloomberg proposed something about this back when i first joined bloomberg administration, and i thought that it w

eitc childless adults. this is a particular area, especially with labor force participation rates, that -- i'm not sure what that is. never mind i guess. childless adults. this is an area where we are particularly concerned about low labor force participation, it's especially problematic for young men. what is your take on how or if we should modify the eitc for childless adults. and then i want to ask you another question -- >> the difference in the benefit is very significant. it's tax average for adults something a little bit less than $500 for households with children it gets up to over $5,000. so it doesn't have the same effect in promoting and supporting work. and this group, particularly for young men, between the ages of about 18 and 25 who are really out of the workforce, i believe it could be an important way to help them get in to and stay in the workforce and to make work pay. mayor bloomberg proposed something about this back when i first joined bloomberg administration, and i thought that it w

eitc childless adults. this is a particular area, especially with labor force participation rates, that -- i'm not sure what that is. never mind i guess. childless adults. this is an area where we are particularly concerned about low labor force participation, it's especially problematic for young men. what is your take on how or if we should modify the eitc for childless adults. and then i want to ask you another question -- >> the difference in the benefit is very significant. it's tax average for adults something a little bit less than $500 for households with children it gets up to over $5,000. so it doesn't have the same effect in promoting and supporting work. and this group, particularly for young men, between the ages of about 18 and 25 who are really out of the workforce, i believe it could be an important way to help them get in to and stay in the workforce and to make work pay. mayor bloomberg proposed something about this back when i first joined bloomberg administration, and i thought that it w

the only issue at the eitc is the air array. i read l'affaire consent programs from the cash assistance medicaid. the error rate is too high. >> was the best way to deal with? >> the irs has taken more seriously and gather more information and to my data matches against samples of returns they receive. but there has to be a solution because you can't expand a program that has an error rate of 20%. >> the reputation itself suffers as a result. >> does you want to add to that? >> two things. on the eitc for childless adults have never been in the president's burden in the age down i think we share prolific 90s import and a has the potential for addressing the issues of marriage and family formation because there's certainly some evidence they are. on the air raids come in my experience probably an operating arrangement are grim and reading inspector general and gao reports his errors often rides complexity and one of the insight that the earned income tax credit is one area of complexities to have custody and is entitled to claim

first of all, we recommend an expansion of the earned income tax credit, the eitc. it's a program that works, that has been around for the last 40 years that is curren restricted to families with children. and we certainly recommend that it be expanded beyond the family circle. to complement the expansion of the eitc, we also argue for an increase in the minimum wage, which, in the u.s., relative to median wages, is among the lowest in advanced economies, 38%. so two key measures: expansion of the eitc coupled with an increase in the minimum wage. second set of recommendations that relate to fiscal and monetary policies. and clearly, they are there to lay the groundwork for growth and jobs that i have just mentioned. starting with fiscal policy, as we have said before, it remains critically important to adopt and implement a credible, medium-term fiscal plan to bring down debt and secure sustainability. now, we say that, we have said that, we will probably continue saying that because we recognize that it's quite difficult to achieve from a political point of view.

the earned income tax credit, eitc, is a credit for people that earn under a certain threshold.51,567 you automatically get an extra refund check from uncle sam. so the average worker got anywhere from $2,000 to $6,000 back in 2012 depending on how much you made, whether she's married, how many kids she has. what i'm suggesting, along with many others, is that more people should get more money back through the eitc. here's why the earned income tax credit is a more effective way of attacking poverty. the congressional budget office found that if the federal wage were increased to $10.10 as obama has proposed, 19% of the gains in income would go to workers below the poverty line. it's the intention to help them. they say 29% of the income gains would go to households that make three times the poverty level. so raising the minimum wage is a blunt tool. it helps some working poor but also helps others and, thus, is inefficient. meanwhile, the earned income tax credit ensures that money almost entirely gets to the poorest workers, to those who need it the most. it is by far the most

first of all, we recommend an expansion of the earned income tax credit, the eitc. it's a program that worked. that has been around for the last 40 years that is currently restricted to families with children and we certainly recommend that it be expanded beyond the family circle. to complement the expansion to have eitc, we also argue for an increase in the minimum wage, which, in the u.s., relative to median wages is among the lowest in evolved economies. 38% so two key measures -- expansion of the eitc coupled with an increase in the minimum wage. second set of recommendations that relates to fiscal and monetary policies and clearly they are there to lay the groundwork for jobs and growth that i have just mentioned. starting with fiscal policy. as we have seen before, it remains critically important to dopt and implement a credible, median term fiscal plan to bring down debt and secure sustainability. now, we said that. we have said that we will probably continue saying that because we recognize that it's quite difficult to achieve from a political point of view.

eitc increased, minimum wage increased as well.that the combination of the two -- not one or the other, combination of the two -- will actually help kick start, support growth going forward. liz: i'm going to guess that when you put this report together about the u.s. economy, it may have been a few days or weeks before the major tension alation of violence in iraq. if the long arm of that violence where the islamist militants are bearing down on baghdad and trying to rewrite the borders of this nation reach across to the u.s. and we have to spend more on defense or we have to change our reallocate some of our spending money, could it change your forecast for gross domestic product? >> you know, when we look at big geopolitical risks of that nature, we have to look at the spillover con -- consequences on u.s. economy, and we believe the oil shock that could result from the current tension in iraq in particular might affect the economy. but for that to happen, it would have to be rather deep and rather long lasting which is certainl

doar mentioned eitc. we want to expand for able-bodied adults. that costs money. the president's proposed that in his budget. it's about $60 billion. as we have this discussion, our concern is we remain focused on trying to address the poverty issues. if you save money as a byproduct of that, that's one thing. but starting with the assumption you are going to save hundreds of billions of dollars and then working backwards is not the way you do it. >> thank you. gentleman's time expired. >> dr. price. >> thank you. i want to thank you for holding this hearing on an important topic and one going on a long time. america is a generous country full of compassionate people. for many folks the big picture is frustrating. we spent nearly $20 trillion in the last 50 years in the war on poverty. rates have come down somewhat, most people looking at that amount of expenditure would say we should have gotten, as some folks have said, a greater bang for our buck. mr. clyburn in his testimony talked about finite resources. we agree with that. it seems that the question ought to

the eitc. it is program that work and has been around for 40 years and it is currently restrict today families with children and we certainly recommend that it be expanded beyond the family circle. to compliment the expansion of the eitc we also argue for an increase in the minimum wage which in the united states relative to median wages is among the lowest in advanced economies. 38%. so two key measures. expansion of the eitc coupled with an increase in the minimum wage. second set of recommendations that relate to fiscal and monetary policy and they are there to lay the groundwork for growth and jobs that i have just mentioned. starting with fiscal policy. as we said before it remains important to adopt and implement a credital medium term fiscal plan to bring down debt and secure sustainability. now we say that and have said that and will continue saying that because we recognize it is quite difficult to achieve from a political point of view. however, we also acknowledge there has been prog