; Whereas the combined penalty associated with all these programs, should a single parent of two choose to get married, can result in a decrease of approximately $30,000 a year; Whereas the War on Poverty has promoted this decline in marriage by penalizing low-income parents who choose to marry by reducing their means-tested benefits; Whereas before the start of the failed War on Poverty program in 1964, only seven percent of children in the United States were born out of wedlock, a number that now stands at over 40 percent; and Whereas removing one parent, usually the male, from his or her child can have a harmful effect on the child’s life: Now, therefore, be it