Marco Rubio pushes plan to tackle poverty Jan. 8, 2014: Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., speaks about the American dream on the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon Johnson's first State of the Union address in 1964, where LBJ committed the government to a war on poverty.AP WASHINGTON - Sen. Marco Rubio says the nation needs a new reform agenda to help the poorest Americans find work and help their families climb out of poverty. The Florida Republican says in a speech Wednesday that money from the federal government to address poverty should be shifted to the states and Congress should reform the tax code to give people in low-wage jobs an incentive to stay in the workforce and not collect unemployment insurance. The potential 2016 presidential candidate says a "big government approach" launched by President Lyndon B. Johnson's "War on Poverty" 50 years ago has failed to help enough Americans trapped by poverty. Rubio says raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour may be popular with many Americans but that it won't help people emerge from poverty.