It has been 47 years since our country declared war on poverty, and there is still much to be done. For this reason, we must again think big about how to fight poverty in America.

President Barack Obama’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2013 sets a responsible course for rebuilding the economy so that it works for everyone, not just the privileged few.

The president’s budget for fiscal year 2013 lays out critical investments that will help more Americans join the middle class and encourage shared economic growth, all in the context of cutting $4.3 trillion from our deficit over the next 10 years.

Republican presidential candidates over the past few months engaged in 25 public debates, sharing their views on a wide range of issues from who best embodies the ideals of former President Ronald Reagan to why the wealthy deserve more tax breaks. Yet in all of these engagements, the candidates rarely took the opportunity to present a comprehensive strategy to support our nation’s young Americans.

Following his big victory in the Florida primary on Tuesday, Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney, in an unscripted moment of excitement, expressed his true feelings about those families at the bottom of our economy. He stated: “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs repair, I’ll fix it.”

On January 18 and 19, Half in Ten partner A Minnesota Without Poverty hosted two events in Grand Rapids as part of their “Enough for All” campaign. Enough for All is A Minnesota Without Poverty’s campaign around cutting poverty in Minnesota, specifically around the idea that there is enough for all to have enough, if we all do our part.

Panel of poverty experts discuss the human impact of poverty in America, and Melissa Boteach discusses what the government can do to address it.

Half in Ten applauds the progressive policy agenda outlined by President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address on Tuesday. The president’s focus on higher education, job creation, and equitable tax policies will help strengthen the middle class, and it represents the types of aggressive steps that are necessary in the near term if we are to achieve our goal of cutting poverty in half over the next decade.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney constantly accuses President Barack Obama of fomenting “class warfare” and stoking “envy” among the have-nots for the wealth of the “haves.” Without a doubt, class warfare is afoot in our nation, but it is Romney’s own tax and budget plans that will further divide our nation because of his assault on poor and middle-class Americans alike.

This disconnect from the realities of everyday Americans may help explain Romney’s tax and budget plans. One common thread throughout his proposals are policies that offer huge tax breaks to the 1 percent while slashing the safety net for those in need of a hand up during hard times, which in turn threatens all of us when particularly hard times threaten the broader economy.