In Case You Missed It...

This week at CBPP, we focused on the federal budget and taxes, Social Security, health, food assistance, housing, the economy, and state budgets and taxes.  

• On the federal budget and taxes, we published a timeline of when the harmful Republican megabill’s provisions will take effect. We also issued state-by-state fact sheets on how the megabill fails families, children, and communities. We updated our by-the-numbers analysis of the Republican megabill’s tax provisions.  Richard Kogan, Kiran Rachamallu, Josephine Cureton, and David Reich explained that converting funding for programs for people with low incomes into block grants — like those in President Trump’s fiscal year 2026 budget — have historically led to a funding decline over time. David Super and Sam Berger clarified that the Trump Administration’s “pocket rescissions” approach, which rescinds legally appropriated funds without an affirmative vote from Congress, is illegal.  

• On Social Security, Josephine Cureton and Kathleen Romig explained that the harmful Republican megabill’s senior deduction depletes Social Security trust funds and does nothing to help most low- and middle-income retirees. Kathleen Romig and Devin O’Connor examined how a proposed Social Security Administration (SSA) policy — since withdrawn by the Trump Administration — would force millions more beneficiaries to travel to SSA’s overburdened and understaffed field offices. 

• On health, Claire Heyison cited marketplace enrollees explaining why Congress must extend the expiring enhancements to premium tax credits (PTCs) that help them afford health coverage through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace, and we updated an interactive map with audio from the enrollees. Gideon Lukens and Elizabeth Zhang described how the Trump Administration’s ACA marketplace rule will raise health care costs for millions of families. Jennifer Sullivan explained in an entry to our Executive Action Watch tracker that the Trump Administration’s plan to address duplicate enrollment in Medicaid and marketplace coverage will risk people losing coverage and experiencing higher costs. 

• On food assistance, we updated our By the Numbers analysis to reflect how the harmful Republican megabill will reduce food assistance for millions of people, making it harder for families and individuals to afford groceries. Ty Jones Cox emphasized that while the Agriculture appropriations bill recently approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee includes full funding for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), threats remain to nutritional assistance.  

• On housing, Sonya Acosta and Erik Gartland detailed how House and Senate spending bills would result in hundreds of thousands of fewer people receiving housing vouchers to help them afford stable housing, affecting people in every state and territory. Anna Bailey updated our Executive Action Watch tracker with an entry warning that a new executive order calls on federal agencies to abandon effective homelessness solutions. 

• On the economy, Gbenga Ajilore explained in a new video that the July employment data show that the labor market is beginning to show signs of weakness. 

• On the state budgets and taxes, Anna Phillips updated our series Tracking the Fallout From State Tax Cuts with an entry on how Wyoming lawmakers have enacted a 25 percent property tax cut for homeowners without replacing the lost revenue for local services. 

Chart of the Week – Without Funding Increase, 400,000+ More People Would Experience Housing Instability 

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The Center was active on social media this week. Here are some of our posts:  

• Kathleen Romig posted on Bluesky and X explaining how the Trump Administration’s new protocol for the SSA will make it harder to complete routine tasks by phone, forcing beneficiaries to travel to field offices that are understaffed due to recent cuts.  

• Will Fischer posted a thread on X emphasizing that while the Senate’s 2026 funding bill avoids the most severe cuts to housing, critical support for rental assistance is still needed.  

A variety of news outlets featured CBPP’s work and experts this past week. Here are some of the highlights:   
 
Tucked away in One Big Beautiful Bill, a plan to disqualify refugees from health care assistance 
MinnPost 
July 31, 2025 

Medicaid was signed into law 60 years ago. Trump’s big bill is chiseling it back 
Associated Press 
July 30, 2025