Report
Podcast: New Fiscal Year Brings More Tough Times for States
Policy Analyst Phil Oliff discusses what the new fiscal year brings for states.
Duration: 2:56
This page shows a chronological list of all CBPP materials.
Blog
Fixing WIC’s Costly Blind Spot
Tomorrow a House committee will consider a bill to renew the WIC program, which provides carefully selected foods and nutrition services to 9 million low-income pregnant and postpartum women and young children. As I explained in this paper (and this blog post and this podcast), the program spends about $90 million extra each year on higher-priced infant formula with ingredients that supposedly boost children’s health and development — but it has no idea whether these ingredients actually work. Congress now has a chance to address the issue.
Blog
Required Reading for Tomorrow’s Senate Tax Cut Hearing
Tomorrow morning the Senate Finance Committee begins debate on what to do with the Bush tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of the year. Here’s some homework to prepare for this important hearing:
Blog
TANF Emergency Fund Jobs Provide an Alternative to Welfare
South Carolina is one of 30-odd states that are using the TANF Emergency Fund to help create nearly 200,000 subsidized jobs across the country — and one of many states that will have to start shutting down their programs in the next few weeks if Congress fails to extend the fund. States are using the fund, which Congress created in last year’s Recovery Act, to help cover the wages for private- or public-sector jobs for low-income parents and youth, including people who would otherwise qualify for cash assistance through the regular TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) program.
Blog
In Case You Missed It...
This week on Off the Charts, we examined the state budget crisis, job creation, growing income inequality, affordable housing, and ways to address concerns about rising property tax bills.
Blog
Obama Affordable Housing Plan Deserves Action
Today the Washington Post praised a major Obama Administration plan to preserve the nation’s supply of affordable housing, which has shrunk alarmingly in recent years even as the need has grown. While some (including the Post) have concerns about certain aspects of the plan, which is stalled on Capitol Hill, on the whole it deserves strong support.
Blog
Federal Loans a Poor Alternative to State Fiscal Assistance
In a New York Times op-ed, Chris Edley rightly warns that state budget cuts and tax increases are undermining federal efforts to boost the economy; that’s why we’ve recommended (most recently here) that Congress extend the state fiscal assistance in last year’s Recovery Act.
Blog
Blaming the Victim Won’t Solve State Fiscal Crisis
Those who are blaming states for their severe budget shortfalls and arguing that Congress shouldn’t provide much-needed assistance until states “clean up their act” (here’s a recent example) are wrong on both counts.
Blog
Top 1% Leaving Others in the Dust, Cont.
I recently wrote about new Congressional Budget Office data showing that over the past three decades, after-tax incomes jumped by a stunning 281 percent for the richest 1 percent of Americans, while rising just 25 percent and 16 percent for households in the middle and bottom of the income scale, respectively. The table gives the relevant dollar figures for different income groups. (All figures here are adjusted for inflation.)
Report
Childless Adults Who Become Eligible for Medicaid in 2014 Should Receive Standard Benefits Package
Among those who will qualify for Medicaid when the program is expanded nationwide to 133 percent of the poverty line in 2014 are poor and low-income adults who do not have a disability or live with...
Blog
Jon Shure on CBS Evening News: "We could see the loss of 900,000 jobs"
Jon Shure, deputy director of state fiscal policy, appeared on the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric to discuss implications of the budget problems states are facing in the recession, including the potential loss of 900,000 private- and public-sector jobs due to budget cuts.
Report
The Ryan Budget's Radical Priorities
I. SummaryThe Roadmap for America’s Future, which Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) — the ranking Republican on the House Budget Committee — released in late January, calls for...
Blog
Q & A with Iris Lav on Property Taxes
Today, we sat down with Senior Advisor Iris Lav to discuss property taxes, and good and bad ways to address concerns about rising property tax bills.
Report
Podcast: Property Taxes
Senior Advisor Iris Lav discusses property taxes, and good and bad ways to address concerns about rising property tax bills.
Duration: 3:40
Blog
More Praise for Job-Creating TANF Emergency Fund
“A Jobs Program that Works” is New York Times columnist Bob Herbert’s apt description of the TANF Emergency Fund, which more than 30 states are using to help create private- and public-sector jobs for nearly 200,000 adults and youth. The job market’s continued weakness shows why these programs remain important tools for boosting employment and the overall economy. But as I’ve warned, many states will begin shutting down their programs in the next few weeks unless Congress extends the fund.
Statement
Statement: Chad Stone, Chief Economist, on the June Employment Report
The good news in today’s jobs report is that the private sector continued adding jobs in June — though, as expected, the economy lost jobs overall due to the scheduled reduction in temporary...
Report
Podcast: The June Employment Report and What It Means for the Economy
The jobs report for June is discussed by Chief Economist, Chad Stone. Duration: 2:48
Blog
In case you missed it…
This week on Off the Charts, we focused on the latest job numbers, explained the causes and proposed some solutions to coming federal deficits, fact-checked claims about the health reform law, and looked ahead to the new fiscal year for states.
Blog
Today’s Jobs Report in Pictures
The good news in today’s jobs report is that the private sector continued adding jobs in June — though, as expected, the economy lost jobs overall due to the scheduled reduction in temporary census jobs. The bad news is that private sector job creation must be much stronger going forward— at least 200,000 to 300,000 jobs per month — to bring people back into the labor force and lower the unemployment rate at the same time.
Blog
Taming the Deficit? Hardly!
My colleagues and I have written repeatedly (for instance, here, here, and here) about the need for Congress to enact another round of stimulus legislation that would extend unemployment benefits and provide additional fiscal relief to states, both of which would help strengthen the fragile recovery.
Report
Podcast: Testimony of Robert Greenstein before the Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
Robert Greenstein, the Center’s Executive Director, discusses the need to be careful in addressing budget deficit in a testimony before the President’s Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform on June 30th, 2010.
Duration: 6:46
Blog
Tackle the Deficit…But Carefully
Today, the Center’s Executive Director, Robert Greenstein, and Director of Federal Fiscal Policy, Jim Horney, testified before the President’s Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Here’s some of what they said:
Testimony
Testimony of Robert Greenstein, Executive Director and Jim Horney, Director of Federal Fiscal Policy before the Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform
Members of the Commission,Thank you for giving us the opportunity to speak to you today.The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities is a nonpartisan research and policy institute that focuses both on...
Blog
Unhappy New Year
The new fiscal year starts in most states tomorrow, but don’t expect governors and state legislators to mark the occasion with champagne. From Augusta to Austin, Tallahassee to Sacramento, the mood is dour.
Report
Unlimited Estate Tax Exemption For Farm Estates Is Unnecessary and Likely Harmful
Proponents of repealing the estate tax have made farmers, along with small business, the face of their cause, driving some policymakers to push for special preferences for farms in estate tax law....
Report
New Fiscal Year Brings More Grief for State Budgets, Putting Economic Recovery at Risk
Dismal state revenue collections caused by the severe recession are setting the stage for a new round of state budget cuts as fiscal year 2011 begins in most states on July 1. The states’...
Blog
Q & A With Sarah Lueck on the New Health Insurance Option for Young Adults
Today, we sat down with Sarah Lueck, health policy analyst at the Center, to discuss a provision in the new health reform law that will start helping young adults this fall.
Report
Podcast: New Health Insurance Option for Young Adults
Health Policy Analyst Sarah Lueck discusses a provision in the new health reform law that will start helping young adults this fall. Duration: 3:04
Blog
Another Misguided Charge Against Health Reform
Critics claim that the new health reform law’s expansion of Medicaid eligibility will place heavy new financial burdens on states and prompt large numbers of insured people to drop their private coverage for Medicaid. The first claim is incorrect, as I explained recently, and here’s why the second one is too:
Blog
Deficits Redux — Don't Forget Interest Costs
A recent Heritage Foundation backgrounder would have you believe that President Bush’s tax cuts, two wars, and a new prescription drug program under Medicare “play a relatively minor role in the growth of future deficits.” Quite the contrary, the tax cuts alone are a huge factor.
Report
Critics Still Wrong on What’s Driving Deficits in Coming Years
The data in this analysis has been updated, but this version has a detailed critique of a misleading report by the Heritage Foundation that places blame for the deficits on rapid growth in Social...
Blog
In case you missed it…
This week on Off the Charts, we discussed the Senate jobs bill, state tax policies, and the growth in income inequality.
Report
Income Gaps Between Very Rich and Everyone Else More Than Tripled In Last Three Decades, New Data Show
The gaps in after-tax income between the richest 1 percent of Americans and the middle and poorest fifths of the country more than tripled between 1979 and 2007 (the period for which these...
Blog
Top 1% Leaving Others in the Dust
After-tax incomes nearly quadrupled for the top 1 percent of Americans in the last three decades, while barely rising among middle- and lower-income households, according to new data from the Congressional Budget Office. Here’s how different income groups did over that period:
Report
What States and the Economy Lost When the Senate Jobs Bill Failed
The Senate’s failure to pass its version of jobs legislation, which would have extended federal assistance to states, will force the states – which are struggling with an unprecedented drop in...
Blog
What’s Killing the Jobs Bill?
Combining bad economics with bad fiscal policy, opponents are on the verge of defeating the compromise jobs bill before the Senate, and we can expect more hardship and a slower economic recovery as a result.
As I’ve said before, the case for extending unemployment insurance (UI) benefits and state fiscal assistance is powerful:
Blog
For Richer or for Poorer?
When New Jersey Governor Chris Christie claimed that his proposed budget would “protect and care for the most vulnerable among us,” he apparently was referring to the state’s millionaires rather than its low-wage workers.
Blog
Subsidized Jobs Programs Peaking as Expiration Looms
I’ve been calling the TANF Emergency Fund the Recovery Act’s best-kept secret, but the secret is out — just ask the nearly 200,000* adults and youth who will get jobs through one of the many subsidized jobs programs the fund supports across the country (see map). The Senate is considering jobs legislation that would extend the fund (which expires September 30) for a year and fully offset the cost. This may be the last chance for congressional action before both the fund and most of those jobs disappear.
Blog
Q & A With Chad Stone on Unemployment Insurance
Today, we sat down with Chad Stone, the Center's Chief Economist, to discuss the policy basics of Unemployment Insurance.
Report
Podcast: Unemployment Insurance
Unemployment Insurance, a critical program that helps workers who lose their jobs and strengthens the economy, is discussed by Chief Economist, Chad Stone.
Duration: 3:27
Report
Medicaid Expansion in Health Reform Not Likely to “Crowd Out” Private Insurance
Contrary to claims by some critics, the Medicaid expansion in the new health reform law will overwhelmingly provide coverage to people who otherwise would be uninsured, rather than shift...
Blog
If You Tax Them, Will They Flee?
As Ezra Klein’s research desk explains, most studies show that rich people don’t flee higher-tax states for lower-tax ones and “the revenue generated by state tax increases on high earners overwhelms that lost from taxpayers’ leaving.” (Brad DeLong and Matthew Yglesias also discuss this issue here and here.) In fact, raising taxes on the highest-income households — a group that’s enjoyed the greatest rise in incomes and the greatest decline in taxes in recent decades — is a sensible and effective way for states to help offset the huge drop in revenues during the recession.
Blog
In case you missed it…
This week on Off the Charts, we focused on several aspects of the jobs bill under consideration in the Senate.
Report
Using TANF Emergency Funds to Provide Food Assistance to Struggling Families
States can use federal stimulus dollars provided through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Emergency Fund to provide emergency food assistance to needy families through food banks,...
Blog
Senate Moving Backwards on Jobs Bill
With the country facing high unemployment and a weak economy in the short term and severe budget problems in the long term, you’d think that senators negotiating a jobs bill would be trying to maximize both its short-term economic boost and its long-term budget savings. You’d be wrong.
Blog
The Top 10 Reasons Congress Needs to Stand Tall on Stimulus
“Most striking is the sense of political paralysis in both chambers and an almost visceral hunkering down in the face of the tough choices ahead,” Politico’s David Rogers wrote this morning regarding the Senate’s failure thus far to approve pending jobs legislation.
Report
Health Reform Is a Good Deal for States
Contrary to claims that the health reform law’s Medicaid expansion will place an unaffordable burden on states, the federal government will shoulder nearly all of the cost of the expansion,...
Report
Thune Response to CBPP Report Misses Mark
We reported on June 15[1] that Senator John Thune’s proposal to cut $140.6 billion in budget authority from discretionary (i.e., non-entitlement) programs in fiscal year 2010 would shut down much...
Blog
Senator Thune’s Response to Center's Report Doesn’t Hold Up
After we issued a report explaining why Senator Thune’s amendment to the pending jobs bill would essentially shut down much of the federal government through the end of the fiscal year (and blogged about it here), he responded that we were “confusing budget authority and outlays” (at around the 6:30 mark of this video clip). In reality, however, it’s the senator’s response that reflects an apparent misunderstanding of federal laws and budget processes, as we explain in a new report.