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POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS

In Case You Missed It…

| By CBPP

The past couple weeks at CBPP, we focused on health, the federal budget and taxes, state budgets and taxes, food assistance, family income support, housing, and the economy.

  • On health, Aviva Aron-Dine warned that President Trump’s health care plan would do much the same damage as his effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) through the courts. Paul N. Van de Water described how striking down the ACA would weaken Medicare and Jessica Schubel highlighted important Medicaid initiatives that would end if the decision overturning the ACA stands. Schubel noted that New Hampshire’s suspension of its policy to take away Medicaid from people not meeting work requirements confirms the policy can’t be fixed. Van de Water cautioned that Congress should not repeal the “Cadillac tax,” the excise tax on high-cost health plans. Sarah Lueck revealed that states aren’t taking the Trump Administration’s offers to pursue “1332” waivers that would weaken health coverage and likely raise consumer costs. Judith Solomon explained how a House bill would enable U.S. territories to maintain and improve Medicaid.
  • On the federal budget and taxes, we explained how expansions of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit in the Working Families Tax Relief Act would benefit 8 million Black households and 9 million Latino households. Chuck Marr, Yixuan Huang, and Vincent Palacios updated a report on House Ways and Means Committee legislation that would expand the EITC and Child Tax Credit. Richard Kogan updated an analysis of the House Appropriations Committee’s approval of subcommittee funding levels for fiscal year 2020. We updated our backgrounders on the federal budget process and deficits, debt, and interest.
  • On state budgets and taxes, Jesse Cross-Call noted that Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy’s budget vetoes will increase poverty and hardship for low-income Alaskans. Elizabeth McNichol explained how states responded to extreme wealth concentration this year by expanding taxes on the assets of the very wealthy. Samantha Waxman rounded up state actions to expand earned income tax credits this year. Waxman explained that Alaska Governor Dunleavy has embraced rigid tax and spending limits as Colorado lawmakers have voted to relax theirs.
  • On food assistance, Ed Bolen lifted up our new series of videos featuring low-wage workers in Maine that show the harm from SNAP’s three-month limit.
  • On family income support, Ashley Burnside pointed to research showing that 1990s cash assistance policy changes were associated with negative social behaviors for adolescents.
  • On housing, Alicia Mazzara pointed to demographic data that highlight the potential harm of a rule proposed by the Trump Administration to restrict housing assistance.
  • On the economy, we updated our chart book on the post-Great Recession economy and our backgrounder on how many weeks of unemployment compensation are available.

Chart of the Week — Six States Expanded Their Earned Income Tax Credits in 2019

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

The comeback state of 2019: Kansas economy rebounds from tax-cutting disaster
CNBC
July 9, 2019

Obamacare Is Going Back On Trial, With Insurance For 20 Million At Stake
HuffPost
July 8, 2019

5 ways Trump is undermining Obamacare without the courts
CNN
July 7, 2019

Alaska fears ‘brain drain’ after 41 percent proposed cut to university system
NBC News
July 6, 2019

There’s a huge debate over how the very poorest are doing. There’s no debate about whether food stamps help them.
Vox
July 2, 2019

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