Benefits

This week at CBPP, we focused on food assistance, the federal budget, federal taxes, state budgets and taxes, health, housing, Social Security, and the economy.

In his new budget, President Trump proposes to cut Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) by $21 billion over ten years, which would leave many families with less assistance when they fall on hard times. The cuts include a 10 percent reduction in the annual block grant funding for states and an end to the $608 million TANF Contingency Fund, which gives states additional funds at times of economic distress.

The gig economy has grown to about a quarter of all workers, but their participation in it varies widely: while 1 in 10 workers relies on gig work for their primary income, most gig workers are active just a few months in a year.

The Trump Administration has said that it wants to help communities address the nation’s serious housing affordability challenges, but the President’s 2021 budget would do the opposite, slashing housing assistance and community development aid next year by $8.6 billion, or 15.2 percent (not counting the impact of inflation).

Here are the CBPP statements, blog posts, and papers to date on President Trump’s 2021 budget; we’ll update this list as we issue more analyses:

Greenstein: President Trump’s 2021 Budget Would Widen Country’s Divisions

In the face of a bitterly divided country that needs healing, President Trump today threw gasoline on the fire by releasing a stunningly harsh budget that would tear us further apart.

President Trump’s 2021 budget proposes to cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) by more than $180 billion — nearly 30 percent — over the next ten years by radically restructuring how benefits are delivered, taking SNAP away from millions of adults who are not working more than 20 hours a week, and reducing benefits for many other households.[1] The budget also includes two proposals to curtail students’ access to free and reduced-price school meals.

Georgia started its legislative session facing possible cuts in key services due to a budget crisis, but lawmakers are nevertheless considering a pair of risky tax plans that would make the crisis even worse. The legislature should reject both tax packages to avoid any further harm to essential services and the families they serve.

This week at CBPP, we focused on the federal budget, federal taxes, and the economy.

President Trump’s 2021 budget proposes about $500 billion in net Medicare spending reductions over ten years (see table), most of which would come from reducing payments to health care providers and not affect beneficiaries directly.

For the most part, the budget does not reflect the President’s efforts to end the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or his executive order calling for various Medicare changes. These policies, which a budget would typically include, would weaken Medicare in several ways.

President Trump’s 2021 budget would make it harder for millions of people with disabilities to afford such basics as food, housing, and health care by cutting tens of billions of dollars from disability programs, including Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).

President Trump’s 2021 budget would slice federal aid to state and local governments that provides health care, K-12 education, and more.

Older Americans are among the many groups that President Trump’s proposed 2021 budget would seriously harm. While running for president, Trump repeatedly promised not to cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, which serve tens of millions of seniors — and he made a similar promise at his State of the Union just last week.

Several bills in Congress, including the Economic Mobility Act that the House Ways and Means Committee approved last summer and the earthquake disaster package that the House passed last week, would give a significant boost to Puerto Rico’s low- and moderate-income families by strengthening the Commonwealth’s Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the federal Child Tax Credit as it applies to Puerto Rico residents. Those changes would provide important help to Puerto Rico in navigating a complicated recovery process that involves much more than natural disasters.

For months, the Administration has promised that it has a plan for Americans’ health care if it wins its lawsuit seeking to eliminate the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Testimony of Chye-Ching Huang, Senior Director for Economic Policy, CBPP, before the House Ways and Means Committee

President Trump’s 2021 budget, released today, would increase the ranks of the uninsured, severely cut basic assistance for low-income families, and cut an array of other non-defense programs, while investing relatively little in our nation’s infrastructure.

While President Trump claims that paid family leave is a “priority,” the paid leave proposal in his 2021 budget would likely prevent many workers — particularly low-income workers — from accessing paid leave when they need it.

In the face of a bitterly divided country that needs healing, President Trump today threw gasoline on the fire.

This week at CBPP, we focused on health, the federal budget, food assistance, federal taxes, the economy, family income support, and Social Security.

 President Trump’s budget, to be released February 10, will provide a roadmap of the types of policies his Administration will try to pursue this year.