In Case You Missed It...

This week on Off the Charts, we focused on the federal budget and taxes, the safety net, health care, and state budgets and taxes.

• On the federal budget and taxes, Chuck Marr listed four reasons why the House approach to “tax extenders” is flawed. Paul Van de Water explained why policymakers shouldn’t adopt “dynamic scoring” for tax and spending legislation. We rounded up several new pieces on congressional negotiations over funding levels for this fiscal year. And Arloc Sherman warned of the impact if Congress shortchanges Census funding.
• On the safety net, Ife Floyd mapped state TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) programs around the country, which have weakened significantly over time.
• On health care, January Angeles explained why enrollees in the federal marketplace should revisit it during open enrollment to ensure that they get the proper amount of help buying health coverage.
• On state budgets and taxes, Michael Leachman highlighted Kansas’ latest projections, which bring more bad news for those who hoped the state’s tax cuts would generate an economic surge.

This week, we released papers on why Congress should finish 2015 appropriations before adjourning, why the Senate approach to 2015 appropriations better protects domestic priorities, the large cuts in non-defense discretionary spending since 2011, why the President’s requested funding to respond to the Ebola outbreak is an appropriate use of emergency funding, and why consumers should return to the federal health marketplace to renew coverage rather than auto-renewing for 2015. We also updated our reports on why budget and tax plans should not rely on dynamic scoring and why the House efforts to make tax extenders permanent are ill-advised.

CBPP’s Chart of the Week – A New Visual of State TANF Programs:

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

The University of California just jacked up its tuition. Why your state could be next.
WonkBlog
November 21, 2014

Veterans in subsidized housing: one in two is elderly, one in five younger with disabilities
The Oregonian
November 18, 2014

Report: Millions hurt if family tax breaks expire
The Hill
November 12, 2014

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