Executive Order 13828: Reducing Poverty

What the Executive Order says

Executive Order (EO) 13828 is entitled "Reducing Poverty in America by Promoting Opportunity and Economic Mobility" and has 5 sections.  It was issued in April of 2018.

Section 1

This section proposes the argument that many who are on public or government assistance of various kinds have been trapped there and are suffering because the government is giving them assistance to meet basic needs.

Section 2

This section starts by saying that the measure of success of assistance programs is to see how many people are able to find work such that they no longer need or qualify for the aid given by the program.  Fundamentally, the text presupposes and indirectly references that there are some large number of "free riders" that are taking advantage of the government aid who, as a result, are not working because the income/benefits received allow them to have a luxurious and idle life.  Also, "government waste" is also referenced.

Section 3

This section mandates that certain agencies make a review of federal laws and regulations to determine first if additional work requirements can be applied regarding the benefits being provided.  Second, to ensure that programs are not, as much as possible, providing benefits or assistance to illegal aliens.  And there are reports that have to be written and provided to the Director of the OMB.  Note that the President doesn't seem to want to get the reports himself any more.

Section 4

This Section includes definitions for the terms "individuals", "families", "persons", "work", "workforce", "welfare", and "public assistance".

Section 5

This section includes the necessary legal fine print to assure the constitutionality of the EO.

My Commentary

So it has been said many times that the Red rural counties, which are often the poorest parts of the US, is where the current President got a large part of the vote necessary to win the presidency.  So many liberal pundits have seized on the fact that so many executive branch policies and initiatives, not to mention legislation passed by the Republican controlled Congress have usually had depressive effects on the Red rural counties.  Here it seems that the President is finally trying to help the people who elected him by finally getting them off of government assistance so that only those that are worthy will survive by being able to find a way to earn money and those that are not will die of starvation or disease homeless in the streets.
I do agree that there is a need to measure outcomes of programs.  But in doing so, we also have to keep in mind that externalities such as the state of the economy, the prevailing wages and local cost of living do have a significant impact on whether people are able to rise back up so that they no longer need or qualify for the assistance program.  This is especially true of "re-training" programs.