BEYOND THE NUMBERS
In Case You Missed It...
This week at CBPP, we focused on poverty and inequality, state budgets and taxes, food assistance, health, and the economy.
- On poverty and inequality, Catlin Nchako reported that pandemic hardship is worsening as relief programs near their expiration. We also updated our fact sheets on the COVID-19 recession’s effects on food, housing, and employment hardships and on why struggling families and economy need a robust, bipartisan COVID relief agreement. We published a project featuring state-by-state data on participants in a variety of programs for families and individuals living with low income.
- On state budgets and taxes, Michael Mazerov discussed how states can preserve revenue by decoupling from CARES Act tax breaks for business losses, and we created an interactive tool on state revenue options for investing in families and communities.
- On food assistance, Zoë Neuberger detailed how Pandemic EBT gives states an important way to help hungry children, and she updated a paper on efforts to streamline and modernize the enrollment process for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC). We also updated related case studies on state and local WIC agencies. We released more Spanish-language versions of pieces on Puerto Rico’s Nutrition Assistance Program here, here, and here, and we updated our fact sheet on how states are using much-needed temporary flexibility in SNAP to respond to COVID-19 challenges.
- On health, Paul N. Van de Water explained why general revenues should be part of the solution for strengthening Medicare financing.
- On the economy, we updated our backgrounder on how many weeks of unemployment compensation are available.
Chart of the Week — Nearly 4 in 10 Children in Renter Households Face Food and/or Housing Hardship
A variety of news outlets featured CBPP’s work and experts this past week. Here are some of the highlights:
Erasing Trump's Legacy With the Stroke of a Pen
U.S. News & World Report
December 18, 2020
Biden and Democrats: Be wary of the trap Mitch McConnell is laying
Washington Post
December 17, 2020
Losing a job hasn’t translated to losing health care — so far
Marketplace
December 16, 2020
Bipartisan Covid-19 relief bill provides ‘essential’ protections for tenants behind on rent
CNBC
December 16, 2020
Rich States Uncover Tax Windfall, Undercutting Push for Aid
Bloomberg
December 15, 2020
Amid 'unprecedented' hunger, advocates urge Congress to boost SNAP benefits in COVID-19 relief
ABC
December 13, 2020
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