I have written several recent posts about the importance of extending the TANF Emergency Fund, a part of last year’s federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act that states and localities are using to help place 240,000 individuals in subsidized jobs in the private and public sectors. I won’t repeat those arguments today. Instead, I’ll share with you what people who are working because of the fund say about it.

This week on Off the Charts, we discussed the economy, why President Bush’s tax cuts for high-income households should expire on schedule, the tough budget choices states are making, Social Security, and the health reform law.

The bottom line from today’s Commerce Department report on gross domestic product (GDP) is that the economy is growing far too slowly to reduce unemployment and it is still too early to declare that the recovery is on solid footing. The recovery could definitely use a boost from further stimulus.

To correct some recent stories suggesting that Social Security faces deep and immediate financial problems, a new report from our colleague Kathy Ruffing outlines the program’s outlook over the short and long term. Here’s the summary:

Robert Greenstein, the Center’s executive director, and John Podesta, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress, explain why President Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy should expire on schedule in December in this op-ed published in the Financial Times:

In an op-ed in today’s Wall Street Journal (“Our Blue-Collar Great Depression”), Rockefeller Foundation executive Janice Nittoli makes a compelling argument for extending the TANF Emergency Fund. I’ve written several times (see here and here) that Congress should extend this Recovery Act-created fund — which states and localities are using to help create some 240,000 subsidized jobs in the private and public sectors — beyond its September 30 expiration. As Nittoli explains:

UPDATE, SEPTEMBER 30: We’ve revised some of the figures in this post. Click here for the updated numbers. As I’ve said before, from the standpoint of economic efficiency there’s a clear-cut case for letting the Bush tax cuts for people over $250,000 expire on schedule in December. Sunsetting the high-income tax cuts makes just as much sense from the standpoint of equity. Recent data from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) show a stunning shift in income away from the middle class and towards the highest-income people in the country over the last three decades:

Today we sat down with Senior Fellow, Liz McNichol, to discuss why some states have ended their fiscal year with budgets in the black even as the state budget crisis continues.

Today’s Wall Street Journal editorial (“Virginia Is for Surpluses”) trumpets Virginia’s $400 million surplus for fiscal year 2010 and praises Governor McDonnell for closing the state’s large budget shortfall without raising revenues. But both parts of this argument have serious flaws.

A new Congressional Budget Office analysis finds that the 2009 Recovery Act is continuing to save jobs and protect the economy from what would have been a much deeper recession. As of June, the Recovery Act had:

Our colleague, Paul Van de Water, is on vacation, but we wanted to highlight a new piece from him; Judith Feder, professor of public policy at Georgetown University and senior fellow at the Center for American Progress; and Harriet L. Komisar, senior research analyst at The Hilltop Institute of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. It’s on the Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act (CLASS), a new federal long-term-care insurance program that is part of the health reform law. It’s featured in the most recent special report of The American Prospect magazine:

This new chartbook, which we have posted to our website and will regularly update as new data become available, will document the course of the economy following the 2007-2009 recession — and how much deeper the recession would have been without the financial stabilization and fiscal stimulus policies enacted in late 2008 and early 2009.

This week on Off the Charts, we discussed the deficit, state-level public services, and how Social Security helps alleviate poverty.

Today's lead editorial in the Washington Post warns that a recent Senate vote on extending all of the Bush tax cuts is a "chilling sign of what a number of lawmakers believe passes for fiscal responsibility."

The day President Obama signed an extension of assistance to states to preserve jobs in education and health care — August 10 — Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour said that accepting the money would make his state worse off, since Mississippi would have to take up to $75 million in state funds away from law enforcement, mental health, and other needs to qualify for the federal funds.

“[T]he nation’s budget outlook over the coming decade has not changed materially in the five months since [the Congressional Budget Office] released its previous projections,” according to CBO’s update of the federal budget released today. The estimated deficit for the fiscal year that will end on September 30 is $1.342 trillion — just 2 percent ($27 billion) smaller than CBO’s March estimate.

Rep. Paul Ryan and his budget plan are getting a lot of respectful attention in the press. (See here and here.) New York Times columnist Matt Bai suggests Ryan’s plan might represent “the starting point in what could be a serious negotiation about entitlements and spending.” But a careful look at the plan shows it to be a radical blueprint to shift massive resources from the broad majority of Americans to the very wealthy, while leaving the budget on an unsustainable course for decades.

Today we sat down with Paul Van de Water, senior fellow, to discuss how Social Security helps to reduce poverty.

No state has been hurt more by the recession than Michigan, where unemployment tops 13 percent and home values have plummeted in many areas. So a few days ago, when many communities across the state voted on ballot questions to raise money for local services, the result could only be a disaster for supporters of higher taxes, right?

Sunday’s New York Times op-ed by Stanford Ross and David Walker (“Misled on Medicare”) charges that the latest Medicare trustees’ report on the program’s finances is misleading. ...

This week on Off the Charts, we discussed Social Security and its accomplishments in connection with its 75th anniversary tomorrow, federal aid to states in the jobs bill that the House passed this week, why President Bush’s tax cuts for high-income households should expire on schedule, and how the health reform law will affect seniors.

Today’s the final day of our countdown of the top ten facts about Social Security in honor of its 75th anniversary this weekend. We released a report today summarizing all ten.

Who stands to gain the most if Congress extends the middle-class Bush tax cuts: a middle-income worker or a millionaire? The millionaire (see graph). That’s one more reason — on top of those listed here — why Congress shouldn’t add a trillion dollars in deficits and debt over the next decade by also extending the tax cuts exclusively for the richest 2 percent of families.

Continuing our countdown of the top ten facts about Social Security in honor of its 75th anniversary this weekend, here are today’s two:

The Heritage Foundation’s Brian Riedl continues to defend his claim that the Bush tax cuts aren’t a major contributor to current and future deficits. Our analysis shows otherwise.

Continuing our countdown of the top ten facts about Social Security in honor of its 75th anniversary this weekend, here are today’s two:

Today we sat down with Policy Analyst January Angeles to discuss how the new health reform law strengthens Medicare.

Last week, 42 senators voted for a proposal by Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) to permanently extend all of the Bush income tax rate cuts while cutting programs to pay for it (though they didn’t specify which ones). Supporters included all Senate Republicans except Senator George Voinovich, plus two Democrats — Senators Ben Nelson and Blanche Lincoln. This vote, which has received little media attention, constitutes a major warning to anyone concerned about the nation’s fiscal future and its basic priorities.

Continuing our countdown of the top ten facts about Social Security in honor of its 75th anniversary this weekend, here are today’s two:

The Social Security program turns 75 this Saturday. Each day this week, we’ll highlight two key facts about the program and its accomplishments since President Franklin Roosevelt signed the Act on August 14, 1935.

To add to my post this morning, one reason why it’s so urgent for the House to act quickly on state fiscal assistance is to stem the loss of public-sector jobs. In July alone, 48,000 state and local workers lost their jobs, according to Friday’s Labor Department report, including 30,000 men and women in the education field. Some 316,000 public-sector jobs have disappeared over the past two years.

The House of Representatives is expected to vote tomorrow on a measure the Senate approved last week to extend badly needed education and health care assistance for states from last year’s Recovery Act. Here are the amounts each state would lose if the House fails to approve the funding.

This week on Off the Charts, we examined the new annual reports of the Social Security and Medicare trustees, the economy, state budget cuts, and why President Bush’s tax cuts for high-income households should expire on schedule.

The National League’s home run leader, Washington Nationals slugger Adam Dunn, hit two homers on Wednesday in the Nats’ 7-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks. What would you do if a disgruntled Diamondback suggested that Major League Baseball should not count those homers toward his individual home run total and toward the Nats’ run total in their 7-2 win because, somehow, this amounted to “double counting”? You’d laugh, right?

Today’s jobs report shows a labor market that is still not generating enough jobs to lower the unemployment rate. Creating fewer than 100,000 more private sector jobs a month, the job market is barely treading water. The economy would have to create over 300,000 jobs a month for two years just to restore employment to where it was at the start of the recession, and more than that to restore full employment with a growing population.

Listen below to Executive Director Robert Greenstein and Senior Fellow Paul Van de Water discuss the new annual reports, released today, of the Social Security and Medicare trustees.