Inside, Edwards said people living on the streets are only part of the poverty problem in America. "A huge portion of the people who live in poverty in this country work every day, work all the time," he said.
Solving that problem he said involves "making work pay" by raising the minimum wage, perhaps linking periodic minimum wage hikes to inflation, and making it easier for workers to unionize and gain better pay through collective bargaining.
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Sunday evening, Edwards said the tour to highlight poverty in America isn't a political strategy but an effort to draw attention to a "huge moral issue facing America."
Edwards, speaking to a small gathering Sunday with his wife, Elizabeth, at his side, said
"working poor" are two words that should never be uttered in combination in this country.Elizabeth Edwards said 37 million Americans live in poverty and that the tour is meant to put "a face" on working poor, much as Hurricane Katrina did.
The idea of the three-day tour, set to formally start in New Orleans Monday, is both to draw attention to the struggles people face in urban and rural communities and to show what's possible, John Edwards said.
The tour will wind through eight states, with Edwards scheduled to be in Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas and Tennessee on Monday.
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