D#9, HW#4, Toulmin Outline

The government of the United Stated of America does not provide legitimate aid to citizens living in poverty.

1. There are thousands of American citizens who have jobs, yet cannot afford to provide food for their family
-There is not enough aid going to these families and they are still going hungry
-If they are lucky enough to receive food stamps, they only amount to just over $2 a day per person
-Local officials often times create "hurdles" for people who are applying for food stamps
-There have been several restrictions made to who can receive food stamps in the past 8 years
-Evidence shows that in one in ten homes, the family has problems providing enough food

2. People who are living on the streets have extremely limited aid available to them
-Although people living in poverty who have houses can receive government aid, people without addresses cannot
-The government requires that you have an address on the welfare application to receive their aid
-The only aid available to people living in the streets are food banks and unsafe homeless shelters
-Several homeless people do not have transportation to get to a shelter or food bank
-The easiest way for a homeless person to get aid is from a church when it should be the government

3. The majority of people suffering from poverty are people who deserve government aid the most
-40% of people living in poverty are families with kids, 30% are substance abusers, 23% are severely
mentally ill, 17% are employed and 10% are veterans (Triplett)
-The substance abusers who are living in poverty are understandable, but the other 70% are not receiving enough aid and that is inexcusable
-Veterans have served this country and this countries government turns it's back to them -Severely mentally ill people cannot help themselves and rely on others for help, but if they don't have family or friends they have nobody and are forced to live in poverty
-It's not fair for children to suffer from poverty, yet they are in the majority of those living in poverty

Refutations
1. The restrictions on receiving food stamps need to be lightened and the program itself needs to be improved
-If restrictions are lightened too much, people who do not need the aid may take advantage
2. To keep people out of poverty and off the streets there should be government jobs only available for people in severe poverty, while they are in severe poverty. There needs to be changes in the welfare program so people without addresses can receive government aid. There should also be transportation arrangements to get to homeless shelters and food banks, made by the government, for people who cannot afford a vehicle or a bus fare
-Again, people may take advantages of the job privileges, and transportation benefits.
3. To solve to wide-spread problem of poverty in America, the United States Government needs to provide better, more easily attainable programs to aid families, more free rehab clinics for substance abusers living in poverty who want to change, assistance specifically for the mentally ill, and assistance specifically for American veterans
-Some may say these changes will be too expensive and not worth it. And there are always those who will try and take advantage of the system