30 Issues in 30 Days is our election year series on the important issues facing the country this election year. Today: Where the government stands in its coverage of the neediest Americans. Visit the 30 Issue home page for all the conversations.

The U.S. Census Bureau released a report yesterday showing that in 2009, more than 14 percent of the population was living in poverty: It's a rate that hasn't been seen in the U.S. since the early '90s. Looking ahead into 2010's statistics, economists fear poverty will soon be higher than at any time since the 1960s, before President Lyndon B. Johnson declared the War on Poverty, as part of his Great Society initiative.  We discuss what can be done to fight poverty in America and how the government defines being poor. 

It’s not just “choppergate” in Albany this week. Governor Spitzer vetoed a bill that would have steered women welfare-to-work participants to non-traditional, higher paying jobs. Ron Haskins, from The Brookings Institution and State Senator Liz Krueger (D-26th District) debate the issue.