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POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS

In Case You Missed It…

| By CBPP

In Case You Missed It…

This week at CBPP, we focused on health care, Social Security, poverty and opportunity, climate change, the federal budget and taxes, and state budgets and taxes.

  • On health care, Judith Solomon warned that defunding Planned Parenthood would reduce women’s access to health care services through Medicaid.  Edwin Park explained why repealing health reform’s individual mandate would reverse much of the historic progress in expanding health coverage.
  • On Social Security, Kathy Ruffing reminded policymakers that Disability Insurance (DI) has many safeguards against fraud and abuse.  Kathleen Romig pointed to new research showing that DI beneficiaries have extensive work histories.  She also highlighted our new report explaining why rebalancing payroll taxes is a better approach to averting large cuts in DI benefits than “interfund borrowing.” Lastly, she outlined the likely consequences of further cuts in the Social Security Administration’s administrative funding.
  • On poverty and opportunity, Isaac Shapiro showed that increasing broadband Internet access among low-income households would improve their access to jobs, education, health care, and other services.  LaDonna Pavetti pointed to a new book — $2 a Day, by Kathryn Edin and Luke Shaefer — that describes the doubling of extreme poverty under welfare reform.
  • On climate change, Chad Stone highlighted our new report detailing how to protect low-income households from energy price increases resulting from a carbon tax.
  • On the federal budget and taxes, Michael Leachman revealed that federal support for most state and local programs is on course to reach its lowest level in 50 years as a share of the economy.
  • On state budgets and taxes, Michael Mitchell listed five facts about the high cost of mass incarceration for families, neighborhoods, and states ahead of Pope Francis’s visit to a Philadelphia prison.

Chart of the Week: Policymakers Have Adjusted Disability Insurance Tax Rate to Reallocate Taxes Between Disability and Retirement Trust Funds

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

Good Climate Policy Doesn't Hurt the Poor

U.S. News & World Report

September 25, 2015
 

Yelling ‘Cut!’ for Moviemaking Tax Breaks

Wall Street Journal

September 18, 2015
 

Janet Yellen and the Fed Did the Right Thing

New Yorker

September 17, 2015

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