The Breaking the Poverty Cycle Bill was first introduced to the Grand Assembly on the 27 of January 2013 and read by the author, Assemblyman Timothy M. Winters of the ruling Union Nationalist Party. During committee stage, the Christian Libertarian caucus staged a symbolic walkout (which is done often) to protest what Leader of the Opposition Joseph Evans called "another affront to liberty and the people of Washingtonia". The Bill became controversial in the media with many legal scholars and commentators immediately decrying it as oppressive legislation and contrary to the Constitution. Many, however, expressed support for the Bill, describing it as a "useful tool in limiting the spread of poverty from already existing paupers to children which they simply cannot care for."