A high-stakes tax debate will begin this year, accelerate through the presidential campaign, and likely culminate with legislative action in 2025.

State policymakers in recent years have increasingly sought to countermand local decision-making across a range of issues. Although states have long regulated the parameters of local authority within...

Some prominent proposals from House Republicans would harm SNAP participants by taking food away from people who can’t show every month that they meet or are exempt from new work requirements.

This highly technical approach is designed to cut federal funding and would come at the expense of millions of people who access health care through Medicaid, jeopardizing coverage and shifting costs to states and health care providers.

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.

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.

Every child deserves a quality K-12 education that equips them for long-term opportunities and success. But this year, at least half of the states are considering school voucher bills that undermine...

Republican policymakers are reportedly considering many SNAP cut proposals, all of which would end up taking food benefits away from families with low incomes and weaken the program’s effectiveness at reducing food insecurity and poverty.

This spring, House Republicans are expected to release an annual budget resolution that calls for large health care cuts, and Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace coverage are likely to be prime targets.

States have broad flexibility over the use of state and federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds. Many have used that flexibility to divert funds away from income support for...

The COVID-19 federal public health emergency is ending on May 11, 2023, along with several related policy provisions in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and other programs.

Taking benefits away from people who don’t meet a work requirement does little to improve long-term employment outcomes. Instead, it substantially increases hardship.

Disability Insurance: A Crucial Part of Social SecuritySSDI is an integral part of Social Security. Workers contribute to SSDI and earn its protection in case they can no longer support themselves...

President Biden’s 2024 budget invests in people and communities and creates a 21st century tax system that supports these investments to build toward an economy that works for everyone

Congress is likely to engage in major battles over appropriations this year, particularly for budget areas other than defense.

States continue to use their considerable flexibility under TANF to divert funds away from income support for families and toward other, often unrelated state budget areas. By redirecting the funds back toward cash assistance, however, states could promote racial equity and child well-being.

Three years ago, the COVID-19 pandemic began to take hold in the U.S., sending the economy into a downward spiral. Amid intense fear and hardship, federal policymakers responded, enacting five relief bills in 2020 that provided an estimated $3.3 trillion of relief and the American Rescue Plan in 2021, which added another $1.8 trillion. This robust policy response helped make the COVID recession the shortest on record and helped fuel an economic recovery that has brought the unemployment rate which peaked at 14.8 percent in April 2020, to a low of 3.4 percent in January 2023.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), a nonpartisan research and policy institute, and employees represented by the Nonprofit Professional Employees Union (NPEU),...

Closing the coverage gap would increase health insurance coverage, reduce racial health disparities, and improve health care access, health outcomes, and financial security.

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).

Eleven states have enacted a child tax credit, and 31 states plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico have enacted their own version of the federal Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). State child...

Economic developments in the second half of 2022 were encouraging and should give pause to Federal Reserve officials as they consider the next steps for achieving their twin goals of price stability and high employment.

Who Qualifies for SSI and What Benefits Do They Receive?The vast majority of SSI beneficiaries — 85 percent — are eligible due to a severe disability (including blindness). In December 2022,...

Lawmakers shouldn’t fool themselves: prioritization cannot avert financial chaos or soothe creditors.