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off the charts

POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS

This week on Off the Charts, we focused on the federal budget and taxes, the economy, health reform, the safety net, and housing.

On the federal budget and taxes, Chad Stone explained why the Congressional Budget Office cost estimate of the Senate immigration bill does not support the use of “dynamic scoring” for tax reform. Chuck Marr noted that expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit could be a pathway to opportunity for young men and clarified the basics of tax reform math. Joel Friedman discussed how the House defense appropriations bill is part of the House’s misguided approach to discretionary spending.

On the economy, Chad Stone illustrated how employment levels remain far below where they should be in a truly healthy economy.

On health reform, Sarah Lueck explained why Indiana’s recent release of individual-market health insurance rates for 2014 is highly misleading. Paul Van de Water noted that repealing a tax on health insurers would add to the deficit and undermine health reform.

On the safety net, we highlighted Arloc Sherman’s post on the impressive record of key anti-poverty programs that refutes Rep. Paul Ryan’s recent claims about the War on Poverty.

On housing, Douglas Rice described how the Senate funding bill for the Department of Housing and Urban Development will reverse most sequestration cuts to housing assistance, while its House counterpart would deepen cuts to some programs.

In other news, we issued papers on health reform’s tax on insurers and on the problems with using timing gimmicks in tax reform. We also updated a backgrounder on the number of weeks of unemployment benefits available in each state.

A variety of news outlets featured CBPP’s work and experts recently. Here are some highlights:

What Ben Bernanke Said
U.S. News and World Report
July 19, 2013