In Case You Missed It… | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

off the charts

POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS

This week at CBPP we focused on the federal budget and taxes, health care, family income support, food assistance, and the economy.

On the federal budget and taxes, we highlighted Robert Greenstein’s Washington Post op-ed, in which he describes the grave threats programs that help low- and moderate-income people will face under GOP leaders’ agenda this year. Chye-Ching Huang, Chuck Marr, and Emily Horton explained that eliminating two Affordable Care Act (ACA) Medicare taxes would mean large tax cuts for high-income earners and the wealthy. We updated our backgrounder on the pay-as-you-go rule, also known as PAYGO, which is designed to encourage Congress to offset the cost of any legislation that increases spending on entitlement programs or reduces revenues so it doesn’t expand the deficit.
On health care, Edwin Park outlined how the Republican Study Committee’s new health plan would cause many millions of Americans to lose health coverage by entirely repealing the ACA. Jesse Cross-Call cautioned that repealing the ACA’s Medicaid expansion would strip millions of Americans of health coverage and strain hospital and state budgets. Tara Straw discussed a new Urban Institute report that details the multi-trillion dollar revenue hit that health care providers will face if the ACA is repealed. Judith Solomon warned that the House GOP’s plan to bar states from providing Medicaid funds to Planned Parenthood would cause thousands of low-income women to lose access to health care.
On family income support, Liz Schott and Ife Floyd showed that states spend only half of their Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) dollars on core welfare reform areas, revealing fundamental flaws with the TANF block grant. Our new fact sheets detail how each state spent its TANF funds.
On food assistance, Dottie Rosenbaum and Brynne Keith-Jennings pointed to the widespread decline in SNAP (formerly food stamp) caseloads, which reflects an improving economy and the return of a three-month time limit for unemployed childless adults in many states.
On the economy, we updated our chart book on the legacy of the great recession.