Issue Position: Lifting Up the Most Vulnerable Americans

Issue Position

Gov. John Kasich believes that we are all created children of God and that we must help each other reach our full potential and live our purpose. Our neighbors who live in the shadows or who are the most vulnerable are especially deserving of our support, and John Kasich has successfully worked in Congress and as Governor of Ohio to make sure that when we set out to lift people up, they get the help they need and taxpayers get the value they deserve.

Making Welfare Work in America and Ohio: In Congress John Kasich worked as part of a leadership team to pass legislation that led to historic reforms to federal welfare programs. Lifetime limits on cash benefits, work requirements and flexibility for states to design their own relief programs helped people begin moving from dependency to self-sufficiency. In Ohio he built on this record with reforms that set performance expectations for government itself to help more people move up and out of poverty and eliminated disincentives to better jobs and wages by softening the benefit "cliffs" for child care recipients that suddenly cut off benefits when their incomes rise even marginally.

Making Work Pay for Low-Income Families: As governor John Kasich cut taxes expressly for low- and middle-income Ohioans, created Ohio's first-ever Earned Income Tax Credit and doubled its value the next year, all with the goal of helping all Ohioans keep more of what they earn.

Lifting up Those with Mental Illness and Addiction: Ohio is helping individuals with mental illness by increasing the availability of health care, expanding housing options and investing in services that save lives. In addition, Ohio has invested in early childhood mental health and crisis services for families, with the goal of helping families get the services they need before a crisis happens. Ohio is also strengthening efforts to combat drug abuse by cracking down on prescription drug abuse and illegal pill mills, improving efforts to help those with addiction overcome it and reclaim their lives, preventing problems before they start by educating young people on the dangers of drug abuse, and helping inmates overcome addiction while they are in prison to reduce recidivism and prison costs.

Combating Infant Mortality: As governor, Kasich launched significant new efforts to help infants be born healthy and get the right start in life by providing quicker access to health care coverage, connecting women through their prenatal care provider to smoking cessation support, requiring hospitals to screen all newborns for the early diagnosis of heart disease and launching evidence-based interventions to address the highest risk populations in targeted areas.

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