States, which have total flexibility to set benefit levels, have kept them too small to meet families’ basic needs and maintain their financial stability.

Despite recent increases, TANF cash benefits still leave a family of three at or below 60 percent of the poverty line in every state.

The State of the Union address and the forthcoming President’s budget are opportunities for the President to lay out a vision of the country we want to be and the policy changes that will help us get there.

The federal-state unemployment insurance (UI) system helps many people who have lost their jobs by temporarily replacing part of their wages. (See “Policy Basics: Unemployment Insurance.”) Under...

House Republicans reportedly pledged to cut programs funded by annual appropriations in 2024 back to their 2022 levels as part of the deal to elect Rep. Kevin McCarthy as Speaker. The required cuts to important domestic needs would be deep under any likely scenario that meets their pledge, and would hit programs still feeling the after-effects of a decade of austerity.

For well over a decade, tax advisers have promoted a state income tax avoidance strategy called INGs — incomplete non-grantor trusts — among their wealthy clients. While INGs don’t enable...

Substantial relief and recovery measures helped fuel an economic recovery beginning in May 2020 that made the deepest recession in the post-World War II era also the shortest.

SNAP is essential to helping low-income households put food on the table.

Beginning April 1 state Medicaid agencies can once again act on eligibility redeterminations, subjecting a record-high number of people to a process that could lead to unprecedented coverage losses and significantly higher uninsured rates if states don’t adequately prepare.

Cómo saber si usted puede obtener asistencia del SNAPLa elegibilidad para el SNAP es complicada. Si usted cree que necesita asistencia, es mejor solicitar.Encuentre la solicitud en línea y el...

Most families and individuals who meet the program’s income guidelines are eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the Food Stamp Program).

States are making substantial progress in using Fiscal Recovery Funds.

On April 1, 2023, states will resume reviewing all Medicaid enrollees’ eligibility — a process often called “unwinding” — and will begin ending coverage for those found ineligible.

Read in English Ayuda para las familias de bajos recursos Antes del Plan de Rescate y bajo la ley actual, el valor del crédito tributario por hijos para las familias de bajos...

Finalizing a year-end omnibus bill is an important accomplishment for Congress, and the bipartisan bill released today includes several key investments, including significant, permanent advances in...

A decade of budget cuts has severely undermined the agency’s ability to perform its fundamental jobs of enforcing the nation’s tax laws.

This chart book provides background on the depletion of the IRS. For more on how to rebuild the IRS, see: Rebuilding IRS Would Reduce Tax Gap, Help Replenish Depleted Revenue...

Good morning. Thank you for inviting me to share my expertise with you today. I am a Senior Fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a nonpartisan policy think tank that focuses on...

A substantial body of research links the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the nation’s most important anti-hunger program, with lower health care costs and improved health...

If year-end legislation must include the corporate tax breaks alongside the Child Tax Credit expansion, then a fair package should accurately portray how both corporations and children would fare under it and not rely on fuzzy math.

Policymakers should not enact any year-end corporate tax breaks without expanding the Child Tax Credit.

Earlier this year policymakers took step one in a two-step funding process designed to rebuild the IRS with the goals of improving customer service and reducing the tax gap, by enacting $80 billion...

Enacted in 1997 and expanded multiple times with bipartisan support since 2001, the Child Tax Credit helps families manage the cost of raising children. Under current law the credit is worth up to $2,000 per eligible child (under age 17 at the end of the tax year).

Understanding which policies states have implemented can help federal policymakers update those program rules.

Collaboration between the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) is an...

All states make information regarding the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as the Food Stamp Program,[1] including their applications, state policy manuals or...