Some lawmakers and opinion leaders mistakenly portray the program’s benefits as lavish.

The tax cuts — most of which are both permanent and tilted toward wealthy households and corporations — will weaken state revenues by large and growing amounts over time.

Among those hardest hit are programs crucial to the well-being of families with low incomes and their children, to public health, to job training and protection of workers’ rights, to a clean environment, and to fair administration of tax laws.

Non-defense discretionary (NDD) programs comprise domestic and international programs outside of national defense that Congress funds on an annual basis. These programs are called “discretionary” because policymakers have discretion to decide their funding levels each year through the appropriations process — in contrast to “mandatory” or “entitlement” programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, where the law governing the program and the benefits it provides determines its spending.

Policymakers should pass a continuing resolution that addresses key urgent needs, like WIC.

Letting 9 million children in this country live in poverty is a policy choice.

Long-term property-specific rental assistance can reduce the cost of private market financing, encourage developers to include units affordable to the lowest-income households in their properties, and provide stable affordable homes to the people most in need.

A fiscal commission is likely to focus narrowly on reducing deficits, ignoring other important policy challenges.

Most families and individuals who meet the program’s income guidelines are eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program).

In fiscal year 2023, the federal government is estimated to spend $6.3 trillion, amounting to 24.2 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP). Of that $6.3 trillion, over $4.8 trillion is...

North Carolina recently became the 41st state (including the District of Columbia) to expand Medicaid to adults with incomes up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, enacting the move in its 2023-2024 fiscal budget. This leaves just ten non-expansion states that continue to deny lifesaving Medicaid health coverage — and the financial protections that come with it — to hundreds of thousands of people with low incomes.

States that run their own state-based health insurance marketplaces (SBMs) are uniquely positioned to help people no longer eligible for Medicaid transition to a marketplace plan and receive...

Raising or eliminating asset limits would reduce administrative burdens without dramatically increasing enrollment.

The proposed budget would narrow opportunity, worsen racial inequities, and make it harder for people to afford the basics.

Major targets in past Republican budgets included Medicaid and the financial help people receive to purchase health coverage in the Affordable Care Act marketplace, as well as other forms of assistance that reduce poverty and hardship and expand opportunity.

Today’s stunning rise in poverty is the direct result of policy choices — including Congress’s decision to allow the successful Child Tax Credit expansion to expire.

If any programs are protected from cuts, the unprotected programs would be hit much harder. Drag programs back and forth to see how big the resulting cuts would be to unprotected programs.