NYC mayor: Fathers missing in fight to cut poverty

By Joan Gralla

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg on Tuesday said that fighting poverty now requires enlisting fathers, explaining the last decade of progress stemmed mainly from putting mothers to work.

Speaking in Washington, D.C., the mayor also proposed making the earned income-tax credit more generous by letting younger individuals qualify and increasing the income limits.

Calling the earned income-tax credit the "best anti-poverty program ever devised," the independent mayor, who is a potential presidential candidate, added:

"If we are going to achieve another round of substantial gains like we experienced post-1996, then we have to do more to connect fathers to jobs and to their families."

In 1996, new work requirements for welfare recipients were enacted under former Democratic President Bill Clinton.

Bloomberg, a former Republican, praised those reforms for taking aim at "dependency on government," which he said was a principal cause of poverty.

New York City's mayor said his plan would help 19.7 million Americans -- adding 10.5 million people to the current program.

Though New York City is home to some of the nation's wealthiest individuals, about 1.5 million of its 8.4 million residents live in poverty, Bloomberg said.