then we have robert doar who served as commissioner of the new york city's human resources administrationunder mayor michael bloomberg. finally, we have olivia golden who led the d.c. children and family services agency from 2001 to 2004. i want to thank all of our witnesses for being here today and sharing your expertise. the question i want answered today is how can we improve. what are some ideas to do a better job? how can we better focus and target, interrelate these programs? how can we make these programs better? how can we get more bang for our buck? and how can we get more people involved? i said we need to hear from people with different points of view, and from different walks of life. today we'll hear from people who have firsthand knowledge of the challenges we face, and with that i'd like to recognize the ranking member for his opening remarks. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i'm glad to have another opportunity to talk about what additional measures we should and can take to fight poverty in america. let's begin on a point of

robert doar the morgridge fellow in poverty studies at the american enterprise institute. and olivia golden, the executive director of class. to make sure that every witness knows that it is against the law to provide false testimony to a committee of congress, we are going to begin a new committee practice, which is occurring in every committee here, of swearing in all the witnesses. this does not reflect any mistrust we have in a witness. we are taking this step only because of recent legal guidance we have been given from the department of justice. so please raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear to affirm that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. >> i do. >> i do. >> i do. >> let the record reflect that the witnesses have answered in the affirmative. thank you. why don't we just proceed from our left to right, and mr. turner. why don't we start with you. -- a couple of seconds. >> can you hear me? >> testing. >> okay. >> there you go. >> mr. chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear before this

and then robert doar who served under mayor michael bloomberg. and finally we have olivia golden who led the dc family and children's service agency from 2001-2004. i want to thank our witnesses for being here today. the question i want to answer is how can we improve? how can we better focus on these program? how can we get more bang for our buck and get more people involved? i said we need to hear from different points of view and today we hear from people with first hand knowledge. and i would like to recognize the ranking member for his opening remarks. >> i am glad to have another opportunity to talk about what additional measures we should and can take to fight poverty in america. for all of those that can work the best anti-poverty measure is a job. according to the congressional budget office if we raise minim minimum wage it would lift millions out of poverty. the house speaker refuses to allow a vote just like he does to extend emergency unemployment compensation program to three million american. but we know if we raise the minimum wag

robert doar the morgridge fellow in poverty studies at the american enterprise institute. and olivia golden, the executive director of class. to make sure that every witness knows that it is against the law to provide false testimony to a committee of congress, we are going to begin a new committee practice, which is occurring in every committee here, of swearing in all the witnesses. this does not reflect any mistrust we have in a witness. we are taking this step only because of recent legal guidance we have been given from the department of justice. so please raise your right hand. do you solemnly swear to affirm that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. >> i do. >> i do. >> i do. >> let the record reflect that the witnesses have answered in the affirmative. thank you. why don't we just proceed from our left to right, and mr. turner. why don't we start with you. -- a couple of seconds. >> can you hear me? >> testing. >> okay. >> there you go. >> mr. chairman, thank you for the opportunity to appear before this

then we have robert doar who served as commissioner of the new york city's human resources administration under mayor michael bloomberg. finally, we have olivia golden who led the d.c. children and family services agency from 2001 to 2004. i want to thank all of our witnesses for being here today and sharing your expertise. the question i want answered today is how can we improve. what are some ideas to do a better job? how can we better focus and target, interrelate these programs? how can we make these programs better? how can we get more bang for our buck? and how can we get more people involved? i said we need to hear from people with different points of view, and from different walks of life. today we'll hear from people who have firsthand knowledge of the challenges we face, and with that i'd like to recognize the ranking member for his opening remarks. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i'm glad to have another opportunity to talk about what additional measures we should and can take to fight poverty in america. let's begin on a point of agreement that for all those who can work the b

then we have robert doar who served as commissioner of the new york city's human resources administrationunder mayor michael bloomberg. finally, we have olivia golden who led the d.c. children and family services agency from 2001 to 2004. i want to thank all of our witnesses for being here today and sharing your expertise. the question i want answered today is how can we improve. what are some ideas to do a better job? how can we better focus and target, interrelate these programs? how can we make these programs better? how can we get more bang for our buck? and how can we get more people involved? i said we need to hear from people with different points of view, and from different walks of life. today we'll hear from people who have firsthand knowledge of the challenges we face, and with that i'd like to recognize the ranking member for his opening remarks. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and i'm glad to have another opportunity to talk about what additional measures we should and can take to fight poverty in america. let's begin on a point of agreement that for all those who can work the be