Topic: Poverty
“The next conservative Administration must champion the core American value of religious freedom, which correlates significantly with poverty reduction, economic growth, and peace.”
This is oversimplified. Freedom of religion by itself does not directly correlate to poverty reduction. The link to economic growth is indirect and reliant on the idea that countries that respect individual freedoms tend to create more open and favorable environments for investment and trade. Religious freedom can foster a more stable and inclusive environment, which indirectly supports these goals, but it is not a singular or definitive cause. The Berkley Center at Georgetown studied this idea intensively, and did find positive correlations when the whole ecosystem is taken into account. Regardless, championing (truly neutral) freedom of religion is important.
Full contextual analysis of Section 2.6: Agency for International Development here.
“Congress should eliminate CEP.”
CEP is the federal program that allows schools in low-income areas to provide free meals to all students, without requiring individual applications for it. It was introduced in the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. Eliminating CEP would increase the administrative workload for school districts (because they would have to go back to the system of processing individual applications from families to determine who qualifies for free or reduced lunches.) This would also result in kids having reduced access to nutritious food, leading to an increase in food insecurity among low-income students. Some families who would qualify for free or reduced meals might not even apply due to stigma, confusion, or lack of awareness.
More potential outcomes of this in the full contextual analysis of Section 3.1: Department of Agriculture here.