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January 12, 2026

The “Upward Mobility Act” Seeks to Overcome Benefit Cliffs

Recent scandals in Minnesota have spotlighted billions of dollars lost to welfare fraud across multiple food, health, and childcare programs. Yet even when not being actively ripped off, those programs can still…

December 23, 2025

The Policy Lessons from Minnesota’s Massive Welfare Fraud

Numerous reviewers have spotlighted shocking welfare fraud perpetrated by members of the Somali community in Minnesota. Writing in the Wall Street Journal, Kim Strassel (“The Lesson of Minnesota’s Fraud”) recently…

December 2, 2025

What To Do About Benefit Cliffs?

Everyone wants poor families to work their way off welfare and ascend the income ladder. Yet an increasing number remain trapped on government benefits, struggling to support themselves. Some blame…

December 2, 2025

Stranded by the Safety Net: How to Fix the Benefit Cliff Problem

Key Points The safety net for low-income families aims to offer temporary and targeted assistance so that, among other things, work-capable individuals and families can achieve their economic goals. Too…

November 10, 2025

The Welfare Program You Never Heard About During the Shutdown

Americans have heard plenty about how, effective November 1, the federal government shutdown suspended regular food stamp payments to 42 million individuals. Food stamps are important welfare benefits paid to…

October 21, 2025

Reliability of Government Data Often Requires Asterisks, a Hazard That Predates Liberal Gripes About Trump Manipulating Statistics

Seattle slugger Cal Raleigh this year matched what once stood as a signature baseball record: Babe Ruth’s 60 home runs for the 1927 Yankees. Roger Maris first surpassed Ruth’s record, hitting 61 homers in…

September 23, 2025

Trump Halts ‘Food Insecurity’ Report — Because Democrats’ Doublespeak Is Falling Flat

Last week President Donald Trump’s Agriculture Department canceled the government’s annual Household Food Security  survey — arguing the “nonstatutory report has become overpoliticized,” and amounts to “subjective, liberal fodder” that does “nothing more than…

September 23, 2025

A Second Reconciliation Bill Should Focus On Reducing Deficits

Republicans on Capitol Hill are starting to debate a second budget bill, following the One Big Beautiful Bill signed into law by President Donald Trump on the Fourth of July….

September 3, 2025

About Those “Devastating” Welfare Caseload Reductions

Newly-elected President Barack Obama famously lectured opposition leaders that “elections have consequences.” That’s never been more apparent than in recent Republican-crafted changes projected to shrink welfare caseloads in the coming…

August 8, 2025

The One Big Beautiful Bill Includes Conservative Welfare Reforms Worth Expanding

Republicans have plenty to tout in their One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), including its extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, improved border security, and strengthened national defense. . .But…