In Case You Missed It...

This week on Off the Charts, we focused on the tax cut-unemployment insurance (UI) deal between President Obama and Republican leaders, the economy, state budgets, health reform, and housing.

• On the tax cut-UI deal, we posted an excerpt of Robert Greenstein’s statement on the agreement and featured clips of Greenstein debating its provisions on MSNBC’s “The Last Word.”  Chuck Marr also explained why the deal’s estate tax provisions were unjustified, and we charted the agreement’s cost.
• On the economy, Chad Stone highlighted new findings that UI and tax cuts focused on low-income households provide a greater economic boost than high-income tax cuts.  He also pointed to a new report showing why the UI component of the tax cut-UI deal is important for job creation.
• On state budgets, Phil Oliff provided the latest figures on state budget shortfalls, and Jon Shure applauded Minnesota’s newly elected governor for calling for a balanced approach to addressing his state’s budget problems.
• On health reform, we highlighted Judy Solomon’s discussion of why federal funding for Medicaid should not be capped on the New York Times’ “Room for Debate” forum.
• On housing, Douglas Rice cautioned against congressional proposals that could lead to large cuts in low-income housing assistance.

In other news, the Center issued Robert Greenstein’s statement on the tax cut-UI compromise, and a report and podcast on funding for low-income housing assistance.