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off the charts
POLICY INSIGHT
BEYOND THE NUMBERS

In Case You Missed It...

| By CBPP

This week on Off the Charts, we talked about taxes, raising the debt ceiling, cuts to low-income programs, and state budgets.

  • On taxes, Kathy Ruffing explained that Administration proposals to cut waste, fraud, and abuse would save more money than they cost.  Chuck Marr noted that reforming tax deductions would improve economic efficiency and raise needed revenue; he also explained why another tax holiday for corporate profits brought back to this country would increase deficits and push more jobs overseas.
  • On raising the debt ceiling, Robert Greenstein appeared on MSNBC’s “Daily Rundown” to discuss the risks of inaction.
  • On cuts to low-income programs, we urged President Obama and congressional leaders to reduce deficits in ways that protect low-income Americans and don’t increase poverty.  LaDonna Pavetti warned that some of the nation’s poorest states are facing a cut in federal welfare funding.
  • On state budgets, Michael Leachman detailed some of the cuts in public services that states are making in their new budgets.  Elizabeth McNichol noted that Ohio’s decision to eliminate its estate tax will harm local governments while helping the people who least need it.

In other news, we updated our backgrounder on unemployment insurance, released a slideshow on the state budget crisis, and wrote a letter with other groups urging budget negotiators to protect assistance for low-income Americans.  We explained that the expiration of TANF Supplemental Grants will harm some of the nation’s poorest states and detailed some of the steps that states should take to keep coverage affordable in their health care exchanges.  We showed that many states are making more cuts to essential programs in their new budgets and explained why block-granting Medicaid would harm health care providers.  We reviewed state government SNAP (food stamp) websites and detailed the online services that states provide in their key low-income programs.  We also explained that the success of the Children’s Health Insurance Program is not an argument for block-granting Medicaid.