In Case You Missed It...

This week on Off the Charts, we focused on the federal budget and taxes, health reform, the economy, nutrition programs, and Social Security.

• On the federal budget and taxes, we compiled a roundup of our recent posts and analyses related to the federal government shutdown.  Robert Greenstein warned that rewarding the use of a shutdown to extract an otherwise unachievable legislative goal would lead to more shutdowns.  Sharon Parrott noted that authorizing piecemeal legislation to temporarily fund politically sensitive programs is no way to govern.

• On health reform, we explained why House Republicans’ attempts to use temporary funding bills to halt parts of health reform are a bad idea, and we excerpted Robert Greenstein’s Politico op-ed explaining that health reform does not give Congress special treatment.  Edwin Park explained why delaying the individual mandate is neither harmless nor fair.  Paul Van de Water noted that the arguments against the medical device tax do not withstand scrutiny, and he responded to some claims about the tax in an interview with Salon.  Chye-Ching Huang explained that a proposal to offset the cost of ending the medical device tax would actually lose revenue in the long run.  Sarah Lueck rebutted the claim that health reform will make insurance less affordable.  Judy Solomon marked the opening of health reform’s new insurance exchanges and pointed out that many of the states that aren’t expanding Medicaid have particularly high rates of uninsured adults.

• On the economy, we excerpted Jared Bernstein’s post for the New York Times’ Economix on the economic impact of the shutdown and a potential default.  Chad Stone noted that the shutdown means there will be no September jobs report.

• On nutrition programs, Zoë Neuberger explained how schools in high-poverty areas can reduce hunger and streamline their meal programs.

• On Social Security, Kathy Ruffing cautioned policymakers to sift through facts on Disability Insurance carefully.

In other news, we issued papers on the flaws in arguments for delaying health reform, the consequences of delaying health reform’s individual mandate, health reform’s likely impact on part-time work, and a federal option that can help make high-poverty schools hunger-free.  We also updated papers on the dangers of linking a debt-ceiling increase to spending cuts and on why the medical device tax should not be repealed.  In addition, we updated our 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:

America's Neediest Families Are About to Run Out of Money
The American Prospect
October 4, 2013

Save Obamacare's medical device tax!
Los Angeles Times
October 3, 2013

Rollout of School Meals Option Popular, Report Says
Education Week
October 2, 2013

Housing aid is maddeningly complex. It doesn’t have to be.
Washington Post, Wonkblog
September 30, 2013

Our Final Debt Ceiling Offer Is This: Nothing
U.S. News & World Report
September 27, 2013