Local representatives should back this bill wholeheartedly. The same government responsible for preventing poverty should not contract with employers who pay poverty-level wages. If taxpayers are going to subsidize corporations, we should not also have to subsidize government assistance for the workers those same corporations underpay. Full-time workers should be able to make ends meet without relying on government assistance. In order to make ends meet, working people should not have to work so many hours that they neglect their families.
Government is quick to hold individual welfare recipients accountable.
It should also hold corporations who receive benefits accountable. Mr. Gutierrez's bill is a step in the right direction. Charles Carney is with the Peace and Social Justice Center of South Central Kansas.