Reports by Kathy Ruffing
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SSI and Children with Disabilities: Just the Facts
December 14, 2012
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits for low-income disabled children are back in the news, in part because of a recent New York Times column by Nicholas Kristof.[1] Unfortunately, the program is being subject to some sharp criticism that is based on misunderstanding of key issues related to SSI for poor children with … -
Downturn and Legacy of Bush Policies Drive Large Current Deficits
Updated October 10, 2012
This analysis has been updated. To view the updated analysis, click here. Some lawmakers, pundits, and others continue to say that President George W. Bush’s policies did not drive the projected federal deficits of the coming decade — that, instead, it was the policies of President Obama and Congress in 2009 and 2010. But, the fact remains: … -
Social Security Disability Insurance is Vital to Workers With Severe Impairments
August 9, 2012
The Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program provides modest but vital benefits to workers who become unable to perform substantial work on account of a serious medical impairment. Although some critics charge that spending for the program is “out of control,” the bulk of the rise in federal disability rolls … -
History Shows Spending Cuts in Deficit-Reduction Packages “Stick”
June 27, 2012
Some opponents of including any revenue increases in a deficit-reduction deal — no matter how outweighed by spending cuts — argue that such cuts never “stick.” They claim — as Grover Norquist’s Americans for Tax Reform recently did — that “when bipartisan deals are struck promising to … -
What the 2012 Trustees' Report Shows About Social Security
May 10, 2012
On April 23, the Social Security Board of Trustees issued its annual report on the program's financial status.[1] The report shows some deterioration in the program's finances since the 2011 report. While that revision — which stems chiefly from lingering economic weakness — is not alarming, it reminds policymakers … -
Chained CPI Can Be Part of a Balanced Deficit-Reduction Package, Under Certain Conditions
February 22, 2012
A proposal included in several deficit-reduction packages — those from fiscal commission co-chairs Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, the Domenici-Rivlin panel, and the Senate "Gang of Six" — would shift from the regular or official Consumer Price Index (CPI) to the "superlative" or "chained" CPI when … -
Contrary to "Entitlement Society" Rhetoric, Over Nine-Tenths of Entitlement Benefits Go to Elderly, Disabled, or Working Households
February 10, 2012
Some conservative critics of federal social programs, including leading presidential candidates, are sounding an alarm that the United States is rapidly becoming an “entitlement society” in which social programs are undermining the work ethic and creating a large class of Americans who prefer to depend on government benefits rather …
