As the Presidential campaign season heats up it’s worth considering not only who to vote for, but what the goals of our nation should be. Here’s one goal that both parties should pursue: making the American dream more real for working poor people. Recent economic data shows many Americans are working full time but living below or barely above the poverty line. That’s unacceptable, particularly because there’s an effective, bi-partisan tax policy that can help make sure work in America pays.

According to the Census, more than 36 million Americans are poor. That includes nearly 8 million American families who lived in poverty last year. Even with an increase in the minimum wage to a future rate above $7, many working parents with children will still be living below the official poverty line. The official poverty line for a family of four is about $20,000 — a full-time worker needs to make about $10 an hour to earn $20,000.

It shouldn’t be a political statement to say that every American who works full-time should live above the poverty line. We have a powerful tool to help make this economic imperative a reality - the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC. This program is designed to reward individuals who are working to support their families. Only those with children are eligible, and there are defined income caps to the program.

The EITC may be among the biggest bipartisan success stories in this nation’s history. The EITC was enacted by President Ford in 1975. Over the next twenty years, expanding the EITC was seen by members of both parties as a powerful way to encourage people to leave the welfare rolls while still honoring our commitment to help families in poverty. President Reagan championed it during his term in office, and President Clinton made the EITC a cornerstone of his pledge to “make work pay.” The expansion of the EITC under President Clinton not only reduced poverty, it led to five consecutive years of real wage growth, a reduction in unemployment from 7.5 percent in 1992 to 4.3 percent in 2000 and between 1993 and 2000 the number of people on welfare fell 60 percent - from 14.1 million to 5.6 million.

Driving bipartisan support for the EITC is its incredible effectiveness in raising working families out of poverty. Extensive research has been conducted on the program over the years and the positive effects are a testament to the power of thoughtful public policy. According to the Brookings Institution, the EITC lifted nearly four and a half million low-income people out of poverty, including more than 2 million children. The number of single women with children participating in the workforce has increased dramatically since 1980 because of the EITC. It has also encouraged asset building among low-income families, so that that they can reduce their dependence on government benefits, go to college, move to better neighborhoods, and put money into savings.

Despite the successes of the EITC, there is still a need to help those who are working but unable to make ends meet in this country. We can start to fix this problem by filling some of the gaps in the EITC. For instance, the EITC does not help families meet the costs of raising more than two children. It also does not cover childless workers, or those younger than 25. There’s more. At a minimum, we should double the tax credit for childless workers to the same level as families with one child. Adding $3 billion to pay for the expansion of the most effective anti-poverty program in America is one of the best investments taxpayers could make.

The recent, and long overdue, minimum wage increase was a sometimes harsh partisan fight. However many economists from both sides of the political spectrum feel that the minimum wage and the EITC work in synergy. Where the minimum wage is weakest, such as targeting those who need it most like those with families, the EITC is strong. We have taken the first step to rebuilding our end of the bargain with low-income working families by increasing the minimum wage. That was the hard step politically. If we want to truly ensure that work pays in America, enhancing the EITC should offer a less rancorous policy discussion that will have enormously positive impact. Despite our many political differences, we should all be able to agree to make our nation stronger with a program that honors work, rewards ambition, and empowers families to succeed.

The purpose of politics is not to win or accumulate power for one party or the other. The purpose of politics is to help Americans do better and help us achieve our national goals. One of those should be rewarding hard work. This election season would be a good time for candidates to help make that goal a reality and support a sensible Expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit.