Poverty

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

Millions of people will see steep increases in the price they pay for health coverage when they shop this fall — and many will become or remain uninsured — unless Congress acts in upcoming economic legislation to extend premium tax credit enhancements and close the Medicaid coverage gap in states that haven’t adopted the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) Medicaid expansion. These two steps are particularly critical because families already face rising costs for other basics, such as food, utilities, and housing, and because they would help minimize coverage losses after the Medicaid “continuous

The Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022’s key provisions, which would expand the federal tax subsidies for retirement saving, mainly help people with higher incomes and financially secure retirements — who benefit the most from existing subsidies — and would do little for people with low and moderate incomes, who have much more pressing needs.

This week at CBPP, we focused on state budgets and taxes, federal taxes, health, family income support, food assistance, and the economy. On state budgets and taxes, Ed Lazere and Maya El Jawhari explained that states can center equity to strengthen their economic relief and recovery spending. Michael Mazerov and Emma Morris pointed out that Oklahoma’s tax cuts would drain revenue and stifle the state’s economic growth. On federal taxes, Chuck Marr and Samantha Jacoby maintained that the Securing a Strong Retirement Act of 2022 would further skew the benefits of tax-favored retirement accounts

The omnibus federal funding bill for fiscal year 2022 enacted last month includes a new state requirement to train Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) caseworkers and other agency personnel in issues and procedures pertaining to domestic violence, sexual harassment, sexual assault, and stalking. States should use the new requirement to make TANF more accessible and effective in serving domestic violence survivors. By March 23, 2023, states must certify that they will comply with the following requirements in their TANF state plans: Establish and enforce standards and procedures to

Editor’s note: This originally ran as an opinion piece in the Oklahoman. We're reproducing it here, with links added for context. Bills the Oklahoma House has passed to cut corporate and individual taxes wouldn’t boost state economic growth or stimulate new business investment as intended. Even if lower taxes were the economic driver the bills’ authors seem to think they are, the state is already well situated from that perspective, and it’s likelier the bills’ drain on revenues would harm Oklahoma’s schools, services, and workforce quality and thereby discourage investment. House Bill 3849

When job and income losses threatened millions of people’s health coverage at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Congress took swift preventive action, passing a “continuous coverage” provision that has protected people against disruption in their Medicaid coverage during the public health emergency (PHE). Now Congress needs to act to protect people from becoming uninsured when the federal government ends the PHE. Fortunately, a timely opportunity is at hand: economic legislation that lawmakers are expected to craft in the weeks ahead. When the PHE ends, states will resume their regular

As states make decisions about how to allocate the rest of their recovery funds, they should make investments that center racial and economic equity to support the people and communities hardest hit by the pandemic and help ensure a widespread and equitable recovery.

This week at CBPP, we focused on state budgets and taxes, family income support, housing, Social Security, and the economy. On state budgets and taxes, Ed Lazere explained that states should use flexible federal pandemic aid to boost access to affordable housing and reduce homelessness. Samantha Waxman and Iris Hinh noted that states should create and expand child tax credits. Lazere updated his report on how states can best use Federal Fiscal Recovery Funds. On family income support, LaDonna Pavetti and Ali Safawi emphasized that states have flexibility to move Temporary Assistance for Needy