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 health care, the federal budget and taxes, family income support, food assistance, housing, and the economy.

On health care, Aviva Aron-Dine emphasized that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) correctly predicted the Affordable Care Act’s (ACA) historic coverage gains, despite efforts from top Republican lawmakers to discredit the nonpartisan projections. Jesse Cross-Call cited a new Health Affairs study showing that Medicaid expansion has improved low-income adults’ health outcomes and financial security. Peggy Bailey, Matt Broaddus, Shelby Gonzales, and Kyle Hayes explained that building on the success of the ACA could go a long way to eliminating health insurance coverage disparities for African Americans, while repealing the law and cutting Medicaid would reverse recent progress. Bailey also warned that President Trump’s proposals would cripple efforts to reverse the opioid epidemic. Hannah Katch highlighted how Medicaid works to provide efficient and effective health coverage to tens of millions of children and families, seniors, and people with disabilities. We outlined how the House health bill’s Medicaid cuts threaten care for people with disabilities. We updated state regulator and insurer comments highlighting how President Trump’s efforts to sabotage the ACA are increasing premiums and threatening insurer participation across the country.
On the federal budget and taxes, Isaac Shapiro, Richard Kogan, and Chloe Cho reported that President Trump’s budget proposes the largest dollar cuts to programs for low- and moderate-income people proposed by any President’s budget in the modern era. Sharon Parrott highlighted how the President’s budget would make it harder for many Americans to climb the economic ladder, due to cuts in job training and other vital work support programs. Chye-Ching Huang explained that this budget would cut $2.5 trillion in programs that help struggling families while cutting taxes for corporations and wealthy heirs. Shapiro warned that the President’s historically deep proposed cuts to low- and moderate-income programs would grow each year.
On family income support, Ife Floyd cautioned that President Trump’s proposed $2.2 billion cut to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program would cause hardship for the nation’s poorest families. LaDonna Pavetti clarified that President Trump’s proposals to impose work requirements for programs that support low-income people ignores the evidence that work requirements won’t solve the labor market challenges that unemployed individuals face.
On food assistance, Dottie Rosenbaum, Ed Bolen, Elizabeth Wolkomir, Brynne Keith-Jennings, Lexin Cai, and Catlin Nchako explained that the President’s budget would abandon the federal commitment to provide food assistance to low-income Americans through a national program and make painful cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
On housing, Will Fischer noted that President Trump’s budget would increase rents on up to 4 million struggling families that receive federal rental assistance.
On the economy, we updated our Chart Book on the Legacy of the Great Recession.

Chart of the Week: Three-Fifths of Cuts in Trump Budget Come From Low- and Moderate-Income Programs

Three-Fifths of Cuts in Trump Budget Come in Low- and Moderate-Income Programs

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

Trump’s Budget Cuts to the Social Safety Net Are Greater Than Reagan’s
Fiscal Times
May 31, 2017

Congressman refuses to say if Americans are entitled to eat
Washington Post
May 31, 2017

Show HUD’s Budget Cuts the Door
New York Times
May 30, 2017

The Problem Isn’t Food Stamps, It’s Poverty
New York Times
May 26, 2017

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