2014 State of the Union address: on Welfare & Poverty

Green Party: Homeless Bill of Rights to address affordable housing crisis

Barack Obama: FactCheck: Upward mobility hasn't stalled; US always was low

THE FACTS: The most recent evidence suggests that mobility hasn't worsened. A team of Harvard economists released a study last week that found the US isn't any less socially mobile than it was in the 1970s. Looking at children born between 1971 and 1993, the economists found that the odds of a child born in the poorest 20% of families making it into the top 20% hasn't changed.

Still, other research has found that the US isn't as mobile a society as most Americans would like to believe. In a study of 22 countries, [one study] found that the US ranked 15th in social mobility. Only Italy and Britain among wealthy countries ranked lower. By some measures, children in the US are as likely to inherit their parents' economic status as their height

Cathy McMorris-Rodgers: Focus on opportunity gap instead of income-inequality gap

The president talks a lot about income inequality. But the real gap we face today is one of opportunity inequality. And with this administration's policies, that gap has become far too wide.

We see this gap growing every single day. We see it in our neighbors who are struggling to find jobs. Last month, more Americans stopped looking for a job than found one. Too many people are falling further behind because the president's policies are making people's lives harder.

Republicans have plans to close the gap. Plans that focus on jobs first without more spending, government bailouts, and red tape. Every day, we're working to expand our economy, one manufacturing job, nursing degree and small business at a time

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen: Focus on opportunity gap instead of income-inequality gap

"That's why the first step in our strategy to close this gap is to secure well-paying jobs for individuals skilled to carry them out," her prepared remarks say.

Mike Lee: Poverty comes from cronyist privilege at the top

"Immobility among the poor, who are being trapped in poverty by big-government programs; insecurity in the middle class, where families are struggling just to get by and can't seem to get ahead; and cronyist privilege at the top, where political and economic insiders twist the immense power of the federal government to profit at the expense of everyone else."

In contrast to the tired nostrums of "small government" and unrealistic assumptions that free markets will cure poverty, he explained, modern conservatism has to be about something bigger: "Not just by cutting big government, but by fixing broken government. Not just by making government smaller but by promoting bigger citizens, stronger families and more heroic communities. Our goal should be an America where everyone has a fair chance to pursue happiness--and find it. That's what it looks like when protest grows into reform."

Barack Obama: Earned Income Tax Credit has helped half of all families

Marco Rubio: EITC isn't enough for single workers who don't have kids

Rand Paul: Strong safety net, but one that doesn't suffocate us

I believe in an America with a strong safety net, but one that doesn't suffocate our resolve to better ourselves and our country.

We must choose a new way, a way that empowers the individual through education and responsibility to earn a place alongside their fellow Americans in the most prosperous nation ever conceived.

Roy Blunt: Obama's "Year of Action" on poverty is "more of the same"

"We don't need more class warfare, and don't need more interference from Washington. No government program can replace what a good job means for the future of a family," Blunt said. "Republicans are ready to turn these policies around and launch a year of action, starting with fixing our broken health care system." Blunt insists that the president's own policies have hurt poor families disproportionately by stifling job creation.