Promoting the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program as a model, some state and federal policymakers are considering, or have imposed, policies to take away SNAP (food stamps), Medicaid, or housing assistance from people who don’t work or engage in work-related activities for a specified number of hours each month. But, as our...
off the charts
POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
BEYOND THE NUMBERS
Census: Programs Eyed for Cuts Keep Millions from Poverty
September 12, 2018
Economic security programs like SNAP (food stamps), the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and Social Security kept millions of people above the poverty line in 2017, the new Census figures show. President Trump and the House Budget Committee have called for deep cuts in several of the programs that, the data...
Canadian-Style Child Benefit Would Cut U.S. Child Poverty by More Than Half
May 24, 2018
May 29, 2018: We’ve updated the cost of the proposal in this post.
Lawmakers need not look far to find ways to help struggling families with children raise their living standards. Canada recently adopted the Canada Child Benefit (CCB), a dramatic...
Citizenship Question Jeopardizes Census Accuracy, Undermines Funding Progress
March 29, 2018
The Trump Administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census will not only reduce responses by immigrants and thereby make the count less accurate, experts say, but it also could trigger new costs that offset part of the added census funding that the President and Congress just provided....
Underfunding the 2020 Census Would Likely Harm a Diverse Range of Communities, Including Many in Rural America
March 1, 2018
President Trump’s latest requests for 2018 and 2019 Census Bureau funding are too low to ensure an accurate 2020 census, as I wrote recently. One point deserves further attention: an underfunded, poorly executed census could hurt a diverse range of communities, leaving them...
After Budget Deal, Policymakers Should Boost 2018 Funding for the 2020 Census
February 16, 2018
With President Trump and Congress boosting overall non-defense discretionary funding for 2018 and 2019, they now must use some of these funds for the fast-approaching 2020 census. The President’s latest request for 2018 funding for the census moves in the right direction but remains below what outside experts believe is needed to ensure an accurate census count, and it omits funds for...
Many Veterans Wouldn’t Fully Benefit from Senate Tax Bill’s Child Tax Credit Increase
November 27, 2017
The Senate tax bill increases the Child Tax Credit (CTC) from $1,000 to $2,000 per child, but many working families – including many with parents who are veterans – wouldn't get the full increase because their incomes are too low. In fact, many veterans would receive only a token increase of $75 or less.
Nationally, 10 million children under age 17 in working families would get no more...
Don’t Underfund the Census, AEI and CBPP Researchers Agree
September 29, 2017
The American Enterprise Institute’s Andrew Biggs and I are together urging Congress to adequately fund the Census Bureau as it prepares for the 2020 census. Although our organizations frequently disagree on policy matters, Andrew and I strongly agree that policymakers and businesses can’t make good decisions without good data, as we explained in a joint letter...
Census Says Four Programs — Which House Eyes for Cuts — Keep Millions From Poverty
September 12, 2017
As the House prepares to vote on a budget plan to cut safety net programs — including tax credits for low- and moderate-income working families and food assistance, and almost inevitable cuts in housing assistance — the Census Bureau today released...
