Federal, State EITCs Can Ease Hardship, Promote Opportunity Thirty states plus Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico have adopted state EITCs to boost family income. (See map.) Most state EITCs are...

The $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan adopted in March 2021 provides a historic opportunity for states to jumpstart transformative investments in a stronger and more equitable future.

Across the country, large numbers of families who need help to afford housing sit on long waiting lists for assistance. Among the 44 housing agencies for which we have data, nearly all have more than 1,000 families on their waiting lists and many have more than 10,000.

The map and charts below illustrate changes in WIC, Medicaid, and SNAP participation between February 2020 and February 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic. These changes are discussed in Eligible...

Recent participation varies widely by state but lags behind Medicaid and SNAP.

More than 2 million adults, majorities of whom live in the South and are people of color, are uninsured and in the coverage gap, meaning they have incomes below the federal poverty line but no pathway to affordable coverage because their state is one of 12 that has refused to adopt the Affordable Care Act’s Medicaid expansion.

For those without a pathway to coverage, closing the coverage gap would expand access to critically needed behavioral health services — which include services to treat mental health conditions and substance use disorders (SUD) — at a time when the need for these services is high and increasing.

Created in 1935, unemployment insurance is a form of social insurance, with contributions paid into the system by employers on behalf of working people so that they have income support if they lose...

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...

State policymakers should be deeply concerned that Congress might act irresponsibly and fail to suspend or raise the debt limit — the maximum amount of money the federal government may legally borrow.

Social Security can pay full benefits for 13 more years, but then faces a significant, though manageable, funding shortfall.

The Build Back Better legislation approved by various House committees would help drive a more equitable recovery by making investments in children, workers, and health care that will enable more...

Everyone should have the resources to ensure they can maintain their health and that of their children without sacrificing their financial stability. But even before the COVID-19 pandemic, many...

The Build Back Better legislation approved by various House committees would help drive a more equitable recovery by making investments in children, workers, and health care that will enable more...

Medicaid HCBS supports seniors and people with disabilities who need help with activities of daily living such as getting dressed and bathing, preparing and eating meals, and taking medications.

The economic recovery legislation now being developed in Congress (also known as “Build Back Better”) would fund as many as 750,000 new Housing Choice Vouchers to help people with low incomes...

The economic recovery legislation now being developed in Congress would fund as many as 750,000 new Housing Choice Vouchers to help people with low incomes afford stable housing.

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Recent suggestions that Congress should deny the credit to children whose parents don’t have earnings are misguided.

As Congress considers economic recovery legislation, it should seize the opportunity to update and simplify Supplemental Security Income.

Protecting the full faith and credit of the U.S. government by suspending or raising the debt limit should not be a partisan issue.

Criminal fees fall heavily on the lowest-income people in the country and disproportionately on Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people, who already face severe barriers imposed by systemic racism, discrimination, and bias.

In addition to creating a permanent pathway to coverage for more than 2 million people in the Medicaid coverage gap, economic recovery legislation being considered by the House would strengthen Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) coverage for parents and children, people returning to their communities from jails and prisons, and people with disabilities and older Americans who need home- and community-based services.

The “Build Back Better” legislation approved by House committees includes groundbreaking investments to address problems that have plagued our nation for generations.

Safe, stable, and affordable housing remains out of reach for millions in the U.S. That is particularly true for people whose incarceration and conviction histories subject them to justice and...

Safe, stable, and affordable housing remains out of reach for millions of people with disabilities and their families, which can undermine their access to health care and force some to live in...

Safe, stable, and affordable housing remains out of reach for millions in the U.S., which can undermine their mental well-being and access to behavioral health care. People with behavioral health...

Safe, stable, and affordable housing remains out of reach for millions in the U.S., which can undermine their health and safety. The first and most effective step in addressing the nation’s...

Today the Census Bureau released data that highlight the successes of the government’s extraordinary if imperfect steps to bolster households’ incomes in 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic fallout.

The information reporting proposal is specifically designed to impose no burdens on taxpayers, to protect privacy, and to shield people with low or moderate incomes from higher audit rates.

The package would raise substantial revenue in three major ways: from high-income and wealthy individuals, from profitable corporations, and from better enforcement of the nation’s tax laws.