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off the charts
POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS

In Case You Missed It...

| By CBPP

This week on Off the Charts, we focused on the federal budget and taxes, health reform, SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps), Social Security, and housing.

  • On the federal budget and taxes, Chuck Marr explained why prematurely setting a top rate for corporate taxes is a backwards approach to tax reform, and he noted that the Joint Committee on Taxation has confirmed earlier estimates of how much the tax cuts in House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget proposal would cost.  Marr also refuted a new study from the Tax Foundation that gets the Earned Income Tax Credit’s positive effects on employment and work effort backwards.
  • On health reform, we highlighted an op-ed in POLITICO by Jared Bernstein and Paul Van de Water explaining that claims about health reform’s effect on part-time work are overblown.  Van de Water reiterated that the medical device industry can absorb an excise tax enacted to help pay for health reform.  Judy Solomon clarified that health reform gives most young adults multiple health insurance coverage options.
  • On SNAP, we highlighted Robert Greenstein’s statement on the House Republican leaders’ stunningly harsh new proposal that doubles their proposed cuts to the program.
  • On Social Security, Kathy Ruffing discussed the House Ways and Means Committee’s omission of revenue increases in descriptions of the Bowles-Simpson and Domenici-Rivlin plans to restore solvency to Social Security.
  • On housing, Douglas Rice reviewed how policymakers can help low-income renters.

In other news, we issued a statement by Robert Greenstein on the House Republican leaders’ new SNAP proposal and a paper on how this proposal would increase hardship.  In addition, we updated our chart book on the legacy of the Great Recession and 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:

The Economics of a Higher Wage Floor
New York Times, Economix
August 9, 2013

Republicans To Change Work Requirements In Bill Cutting Food Stamps
Huffington Post
August 7, 2013

Obamacare isn't destroying jobs
POLITICO
August 6, 2013

Obama to Outline Plans for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
New York Times
August 6, 2013