Blog
Q & A with Chad Stone on Climate Change Legislation
Today, we sat down with the Center’s Chief Economist, Chad Stone, to discuss how the new climate change legislation will affect low-income households.
This page shows a chronological list of all CBPP materials.
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Podcast: Climate Change Legislation and Low-Income Households
The Center’s Chief Economist, Chad Stone, discusses how the new Kerry-Lieberman climate change legislation will affect low-income households.
Duration: 3:29
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“YouCut” Stacks the Deck Against Emergency Fund
Given the wildly inaccurate description of the TANF Emergency Fund on the “YouCut” website, the vote to eliminate the program is meaningless. Far from a “backdoor way to undo” welfare reform, the fund has enabled states to expand work-focused programs within TANF despite high unemployment and a weak economy.
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Understanding the CMS Actuary’s Report on Health Reform
The analysis of the health reform legislation prepared by the chief actuary of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has been widely misrepresented and misunderstood.[1] This brief...
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The Recovery Act’s Best-Kept Secret, Cont.
In an earlier post, I explained that the TANF Emergency Fund is helping to place some 180,000 low-income parents and youth who would otherwise be unemployed into paid jobs in the private and public sectors. The table below lists the estimated number of jobs in most of the 35 states that are operating jobs programs (or are planning to) using the fund.
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In case you missed it...
This week on Off the Charts, we examined the new Senate climate change proposal, fact-checked claims about health reform, and discussed federal and state tax policies and their effects on deficits.
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Robert Greenstein Receives 2010 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize
Last night, the Center’s executive director, Robert Greenstein, received the 2010 Daniel Patrick Moynihan Prize, from the American Academy of Political and Social Science “to honor those whose careers in the academic or public arena have been dedicated to the use of social science research to improve public policy.” Daniel Patrick Moynihan was U.S. Senator from New York, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, official in four presidential administrations, Harvard professor, prolific author, and leading public intellectual on a wide range of domestic and international issues.
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Employer Responsibility in Health Reform
The recent health reform legislation requires larger employers to share the responsibility for assuring that their employees have health coverage. [1] Large firms that employ full-time workers who...
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On Estate Tax, Lawmakers Partying Like It’s 2001
Commenting on Senate negotiations over cutting the estate tax below last year’s already-low level, the Wonk Room correctly noted, “We need to be looking at ways to responsibly raise revenues and find cuts in spending that won’t harm already vulnerable residents, not cut taxes for those at the very top of the income scale.”
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Kerry-Lieberman Climate Proposal Does Well on Consumer Relief
Senators Kerry and Lieberman performed CPR on climate policy yesterday, releasing a discussion draft of the bill they have been crafting with Senator Graham. Admittedly, Congress is still a long way from passing a comprehensive climate and energy bill. But in an area of particular concern to the Center — protecting vulnerable low-income households — the senators have done a good job.
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“SEVRA” Housing Voucher Reform Bill Would Update and Streamline Program
Key Findings:
- The Section 8 Voucher Reform Act (SEVRA) would make important improvements to the housing voucher program, which helps 2 million low-income families find affordable housing in the private market. Congressional action on the bill is urgent given widespread foreclosures and rising homelessness and poverty.
- The bill would reform how HUD distributes voucher funds, helping to control program costs while assisting more families with the funds Congress provides.
- It would also make the program more efficient and effective by streamlining rules governing rent payments, housing inspections, and other areas.
- However, a deleterious provision of SEVRA would sharply expand the Moving-to-Work demonstration, which exempts state and local housing agencies from many federal rules. The expansion would be much larger than is needed to test and evaluate alternative policies. This aspect of the bill could have adverse effects, including exposing close to 750,000 low-income families to policies such as rent increases, unless Congress limits the expansion and institutes certain protections related to it.
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More on Taxes and the Poor
David Brunori at State Tax Notes discusses our recent report on states taxing low-income residents (we blogged about this here and here) and agrees with our key arguments:
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Dispelling Confusion About New CBO Letter on Health Reform Law
Has the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) just upped its cost estimate for the new health care law by $115 billion, as several media outlets are reporting? Not at all.
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Podcast: Health Reform is a Good Deal for States
Policy Analyst, January Angeles, discusses how the Medicaid expansion in the new health reform law is a good deal for states. Duration: 3:58
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Amazon's Brawl with States Hurting Local Communities
As ABC reports today, Amazon.com is fighting North Carolina’s attempt to collect sales taxes that residents owe on their online purchases. This is one of several ongoing fights between the company and states trying to collect the roughly $8.6 billion they’re owed each year from Internet sales. With states laying off thousands of teachers and taking other painful steps to close huge budget shortfalls, Amazon’s actions are coming at the expense of the public interest.
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Q & A with January Angeles on Health Reform and the States
Today, we sat down with one of our health policy analysts, January Angeles, to discuss how the new health reform law is a good deal for states.
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How Health Reform Helps Reduce the Deficit
The new health reform law will extend coverage to over 30 million uninsured Americans and provide important consumer protections to tens of millions of insured Americans whose coverage may have...
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A Reality Check on Health Reform
We’ve launched a series of fact sheets called Moving Forward with Health Reform to help people (especially non-wonks) understand how the new health reform law will work — and whether the claims from opponents are true.
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In Case You Missed It...
This week on Off the Charts, we took a closer look at the economy and efforts by states to balance their budgets.
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Podcast: The April Employment Report and What It Means for the Economy
The jobs report for April is discussed by Chief Economist, Chad Stone.
Duration: 3:23
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Q & A with Jim Horney on Health Reform and the Deficit, Part 5
This Q & A is part five in a series on myths about health reform and its impact on the federal budget deficit with Jim Horney, our director of federal fiscal policy.
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Statement: Chad Stone, Chief Economist, on the April Employment Report
Today’s jobs report contains much encouraging news, but it also reminds us that the economic recovery will have to gather more strength to bring down the unemployment rate.While the economy has...
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Podcast: Health Reform Myths & Realities, Part 5
Jim Horney, Director of Federal Fiscal Policy, discusses the false claim that the law doesn’t slow health costs because its coverage expansions will increase total national spending on health care. Duration: 2:14
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Today's Jobs Report in Pictures
As we said in this morning’s statement, there’s lots of good news in the April jobs report, but we’re going to need many more months like April to pull unemployment down toward pre-recession levels. The charts below help flesh out the story.
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QPAI RIP?
To help balance the state’s budget, the Vermont legislature has voted to suspend a scheduled increase in an obscure corporate tax break known as the “domestic production deduction.” It’s a sensible move. Other states with this tax break should consider freezing it or, better yet, joining the 22 states that have killed it altogether.
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Ryan’s Response to Center’s Analysis of “Roadmap” Is Off Base
We are quite disappointed that, in responding to our analysis[1] of his budget plan, Rep. Paul Ryan accuses[2] the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities of “partisan demagoguery” as well...
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States Split on Taxing the Poor, Cont.
To follow up on last week’s post on state taxes and the working poor (and TAPPED’s post on our recent report), these maps show the progress states have made over the past two decades in eliminating income taxes on working-poor families.
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Q & A With Nick Johnson on State Budgets and Education Reform
As today’s USA Today details, policymakers, unions, and celebrities are speaking out against large-scale teacher layoffs across the country — the Obama Administration estimates that as many as 300,000 teachers could lose their jobs. School districts face tough spending choices due to state budget cuts and an end to federal Recovery Act funding.
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Podcast: State Budget Cuts Put Education Reforms at Risk
Nick Johnson, Director of the Center’s State Fiscal Project, discusses the risk that state budget problems will derail education reform. Duration: 4:58
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Key Health Insurance Market Reforms Not Achievable Without an Individual Mandate
Some opponents of health reform argue that the new law’s individual mandate — the requirement that individuals must have health coverage or face a penalty — should be repealed but the...
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TANF Emergency Fund Extension Has Wide Support
With the TANF Emergency Fund slated to expire on September 30, public officials and private experts are calling for its extension as part of jobs legislation because it is an important tool...
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State Budget Cuts Slowing Economy
Analyzing the new GDP figures issued Friday, which showed state and local spending falling at the fastest rate in three decades, Matt Yglesias made the important point that the large cuts in state and local spending are a drag on the economy. The new figures are just the latest evidence that Congress should extend the Recovery Act’s fiscal relief to states.
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The Recovery Act’s Best-Kept Secret
A little-known component of last year’s Recovery Act is helping to place some 180,000 unemployed individuals in subsidized jobs across the country. But the program — and almost all of those jobs — will disappear soon unless Congress acts.
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Some States Scaling Back Tax Credits for Low-Income Families
Facing large budget shortfalls, a small number of states are scaling back tax credits for low-income working families, which not only harms some of the families hardest hit by the recession...
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In Case You Missed It…
With discussion about addressing the federal deficit in Washington this week, we focused primarily on this topic in Off the Charts:
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Q & A with Jim Horney on Health Reform and the Deficit, Part 4
This Q & A is part four in a series on myths about health reform and its impact on the federal budget deficit with Jim Horney, our director of federal fiscal policy.
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Podcast: Health Reform Myths & Realities, Part 4
Jim Horney, Director of Federal Fiscal Policy, discusses the false claim that the new health reform law’s cost estimate should include the cost of preventing a cut in the amount that Medicare pays doctors.
Duration: 2:51
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Another State Cuts Low-Income Tax Credits
Just before midnight last night, Georgia’s legislature voted to eliminate a tax credit for 1 million workers earning under $20,000, joining several other states that are cutting (or considering cutting) tax benefits for low-income families. While states face severe budget pressures due to the recession, sacrificing their low-income tax credits is a terrible idea, for a host of reasons:
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No Need for Middle Class to Call Their Brokers
Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal editorial warns of “the likelihood that the Senate budget resolution dividend tax rate of 39.6% will become law next year. The millions of Americans who receive dividend income — most of them not rich — need to begin adjusting their investment strategy accordingly.”
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Greenstein: Don't Forget Tax Expenditures
Following up our post yesterday about the Peterson Foundation’s National Fiscal Summit, here’s a bit of what the Center’s executive director, Robert Greenstein, had to say:
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The Impact of State Income Taxes on Low-Income Families in 2009
SummaryState income taxes affect working-poor families in different ways. Some states’ tax codes help working-poor families lift themselves out of poverty. Others push them deeper into poverty. An...
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States Split on Taxing the Poor
Over the past two decades, a number of states have recognized the folly of taxing working-poor families deeper into poverty and, instead, have eliminated their income taxes on poor — and, in some states, near-poor — households. But our new survey finds that 13 of the 42 states with an income tax still tax two-parent families of four with earnings below the poverty line ($21,947).
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A Program to Vouch For
As last week’s New York Times story on a new federal anti-homelessness program shows, the sharp recent rise in homelessness highlights the importance of helping low-income families afford decent housing. For years, one of our most effective tools has been the Housing Choice Voucher Program, which helps roughly 2 million low-income families — those at risk of homelessness as well as other families — cover the cost of renting modest units of their choice in the private market.
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Video Highlights from the Peter Peterson Foundation Event on Budget and Deficits
Suggesting a stronger move to fiscal conservatism, economic officials gathered at the first-ever National Fiscal Summit to advance the national dialogue on avoiding another economic crisis. Fmr. Pres. Clinton and the co-chairmen of the National Debt Commission were the morning keynote speakers. The summit coincides with the recent bipartisan fiscal commission meeting and Congress' current work on finance overhaul legislation.
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Fact of the Day
If we continue current policies, the federal debt will skyrocket to almost three times the existing record by 2050. That’s from 53 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of fiscal year 2009 to more than 300 percent of GDP in 2050. The existing record was set when the debt reached 110 percent of GDP at the end of World War II.
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Greenstein at 2010 National Fiscal Summit
Today, the Center's executive director, Robert Greenstein, is speaking at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation's National Fiscal Summit.
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Podcast: Transforming Rental Assistance
Will Fischer, a Senior Policy Analyst at the Center, discusses the President’s plan to preserve affordable housing. Duration: 4:22
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Budget Cuts or Tax Increases at the State Level
The recent, unusually long and deep recession is making it difficult for states to maintain balanced budgets, as nearly all of them are required to do by law. Almost every state has reduced...
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On Deficits, Tax Cuts Are Part of the Addiction
Kudos to the Wall Street Journal’s Gerald Seib for noting in his Capital Journal column today that the country has a major fiscal problem that demands a serious, bipartisan, and balanced policy response. I agree and commend him for the piece.
In this context, here are a few more things to keep in mind on the tax side:
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Deficits and Debt: Reischauer’s Testimony is a Must-Read
Those who seek a crisp primer on why experts worry about rising deficits and debt should look no further than this morning’s testimony before the President’s fiscal commission by Robert Reischauer, the former Congressional Budget Office director and a member of the Center’s Board of Directors.