Missouri’s poverty rate has slightly improved since 2014 but a social welfare advocate says policymakers on Capitol Hill are putting the state’s progress in jeopardy.
Jeanette Mott Oxford with Empower Missouri says a federal budget passed by Congress will cut more than one-trillion dollars in the next decade from programs that help the poor.
She says the federal budget will put pressure on the state but Missouri will not be able to adequately fund the assistance programs because the state lacks revenue. Many Republican lawmakers want to use some of the federal budget reductions to pay for tax cut legislation working its way through Congress.
