Yesterday the U.S. Census Bureau released the annual official poverty rate, which measured 15.0% in 2012 and represented 46.5 million people living at or below the poverty line­­. According to the Census report, real median household income and the poverty rate has remained static since 2011.

This year, the annual report coincides with an ongoing political battle in Congress over the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps. A bill introduced by the House GOP seeks to cut the program by more than $40 billion over a span of ten years. The food stamps program, which served approximately 48 million low-income Americans last year, dates back to the Johnson administration's War on Poverty, a sweeping set of federal initiatives that laid the groundwork for much of the current aid available to low-income individuals and families.

Given the persistently high poverty rate in the U.S., is it accurate to say that the nation has lost the War on Poverty? In an op-ed in today’s New York Times, RSF President Sheldon Danziger, co-editor of the recent book Legacies of the War on Poverty, explains why looking at the official number alone may be misleading. Contrary to the claims of Congress members like Representative Paul Ryan, Danziger notes, the antipoverty programs established during the 1960s have in fact delivered significant and effective relief to low-income populations. The official poverty rate measures only cash income. But if non-cash benefits such as food stamps and earned-income tax credits are taken into account when assessing federal efforts to help the poor, the poverty rate drops significantly—down to about 11%. According to Danziger, “Lowering poverty means both recognizing the successes of safety net programs we now have and devising new policies that can spread the gains generated by economic growth.”

Click here to read the op-ed in full at the New York Times.