Benefits

If Congress does not act this summer, the large majority of the 14.5 million people who signed up for marketplace coverage this year, including those in low- and moderate-income households, will either lose coverage or pay much more for premiums in 2023.

The Social Security Administration (SSA) faces a customer service crisis, caused by over a decade of austere administrative funding and compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Summer P-EBT is a highly effective strategy to reduce food hardship among families with children. If all states participate, the program could provide over $13 billion in fully federally funded benefits to more than 36 million children nationwide.

Policymakers can correct one of the most egregious anti-savings provisions in federal law by raising Supplemental Security Income (SSI) asset limits as part of upcoming retirement savings legislation. SSI, which provides monthly cash assistance to older and disabled people with very low incomes, limits beneficiaries’ savings to a mere $2,000 (or $3,000 for a couple); anyone exceeding these limits is disqualified from the program. When the Senate Finance Committee considers the House-passed SECURE 2.0 bill, it should add a new bipartisan proposal from Senators Rob Portman and Sherrod Brown to

This week at CBPP, we focused on federal taxes, the federal budget, health, state budgets and taxes, and the economy. On federal taxes, Chuck Marr and Samantha Jacoby emphasized the House’s strong, progressive revenue package and called on the Senate to act. Marr also stressed that Congress should not prioritize corporate tax interests over children and low-paid workers. On the federal budget, CBPP President Sharon Parrott explained how Senators Patty Murray and Tim Kaine’s proposal to expand and improve child care would benefit families and the economy. On health, Jennifer Wagner and Farah

Many states are using the American Rescue Plan’s flexible federal aid to build an inclusive recovery by addressing the long-standing health, economic, and fiscal inequities exacerbated by the pandemic. As states receive the rest of their State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (FRF) this spring, state lawmakers should look to the best practices to date across the nation to use the remaining funds to help people in the communities most harmed by the pandemic to recover and thrive. The Rescue Plan provided $198 billion in flexible fiscal aid to states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico to

Congress shouldn’t place corporate tax interests ahead of two other tax priorities: delivering the full Child Tax Credit to the children who need it most and strengthening the Earned Income Tax Credit.

The bill would make many important tax reforms, including those that are urgently needed to advance a global agreement to reduce the flow of profits to tax havens.

Millions of people could lose health coverage when the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) ends — possibly later this year — and states resume their regular eligibility reviews of all Medicaid enrollees. But massive coverage losses aren’t inevitable. States now have at least five additional months to prepare and should take steps now to ensure that eligible individuals remain on Medicaid and to help those no longer eligible for Medicaid transition to other coverage.

A new proposal would increase the number of families in every state who can afford child care, improve the quality of child care in every state, and establish a pilot program so that some states can test how to create a more robust system.

This week at CBPP, we focused on family income support, food assistance, the economy, and health. On family income support, Lisa A. Gennetian and Katherine Magnuson provided three reasons why giving cash to families with low incomes is a sound policy investment for families and children. On food assistance, Michele Ver Ploeg and Chen Zhen explained how changes in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit levels affect food spending and diet quality. Joseph Llobrera described how boosting SNAP benefits would increase spending on groceries and improve the nutritional quality

This brief simulates how three levels of SNAP average benefit increases — 20 percent, 27 percent, and 40 percent — could impact food spending and diet quality.

New research finds that increasing SNAP benefits is expected to increase low-income households’ spending on food prepared at home and improve the nutritional quality of the foods purchased, with slightly larger positive effects for households with children.

Studies demonstrate, over and over again, that poverty harms children’s development and that providing families with low incomes with financial resources can improve children’s development, including through increased birth weight,[2] improved school achievement,[3] reductions in juvenile crime and psychiatric disorders,[4] and increased earnings and lower risk of heart attacks and strokes in adulthood.[5] Indeed, each additional year of eligibility for public programs such as SNAP (food stamps) during early childhood is estimated to produce positive returns on subsequent health.[6] While

This week at CBPP, we focused on federal tax, the federal budget, the economy, state budgets and taxes, health, and Social Security. On federal tax, Stephanie Hingtgen called on Congress to support mothers by expanding the Child Tax Credit. Samantha Jacoby explained how a Biden proposal would eliminate tax-free treatment for many of the wealthiest households’ annual income. On the federal budget, Richard Kogan and David Reich updated their explainer on the process of budget reconciliation. On the economy, Chad Stone noted three reasons why inflation fears shouldn’t block a well-designed

A proposal in President Biden’s 2023 budget would ensure that households with more than $100 million in wealth pay at least 20 percent of their annual income in income tax. That includes their unrealized capital gains, which is the main source of income for many of these households and which, unlike millions of taxpayers’ wages and salaries, now goes untaxed unless the holder sells the asset — a glaring and long-standing flaw in the tax code that lets some of the country’s wealthiest go through life without paying annual income taxes. And importantly, several aspects of the proposal would ease

All mothers want their children to have enough to eat, a safe home, and the opportunity to thrive, and the American Rescue Plan’s expanded Child Tax Credit provided critical financial support to help mothers build this solid foundation for their children — but only for 2021. As we celebrate Mother’s Day, Congress should recognize the contributions of mothers by expanding the Child Tax Credit for 2022 and beyond, most importantly by making the full credit available to children in families with low or no earnings, who otherwise get only a partial credit or no credit at all. Mothers bore the

Well-designed legislation that supports the economic future of families, workers, and children while at the same time reducing deficits would have little if any effect on aggregate demand for goods and services that would raise inflation concerns.

SSI benefits are critical for those who need them, but SSI is woefully out of date.

States are taking steps to advance environmental protection and environmental justice using flexible State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (FRF) provided through the American Rescue Plan. With a collective $70 billion in FRF remaining,[1] states can use these funds to build healthier, more equitable, climate-resilient communities. Sixteen states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico have allocated a combined $2.1 billion of their FRF toward environmental initiatives,[2] including cleanups of industrial pollution and preservation of natural habitats. "Targeting Fiscal Recovery Funds (FRF) to