Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) on Wednesday lamented that the culture in inner cities contributes to poverty in America.
“We have got this tailspin of culture, in our inner cities in particular, of men not working and just generations of men not even thinking about working or learning the value and the culture of work, and so there is a real culture problem here that has to be dealt with,” he said on Bill Bennett’s “Morning In America,” as recorded by Think Progress.
In discussing inner city culture, Ryan referenced Charles Murray, a social scientist who has claimed that, “One reason that we still have poverty in the United States is that a lot of poor people are born lazy.”
Ryan emphasized to Bennett that paying taxes is not enough to help reduce poverty, and that people need to help out in their communities to “resuscitate our culture.”
Last week Ryan released his Budget Committee report on anti-poverty programs, in which he concluded that these programs discourage work.
“[W]e want people to reach their potential and so the dignity of work is very valuable and important and we have to re-emphasize work and reform our welfare programs, like we did in 1996,” Ryan told Bennett Wednesday.
