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December 3, 2024

Avoiding an Unemployment Loan Bailout

Taxpayers in most states may have dodged a billion-dollar bullet on election day. That is, if the outcome had been different, liberal lawmakers would have been uniquely positioned to bail…

March 4, 2024

Exploring America’s Social Safety Net And The Political Fights Around It

View the full video here. Our new series, “America’s Safety Net,” is focused on the complex web of programs meant to help Americans in need. Over the coming weeks, we’ll…

October 31, 2023

Lawmakers Continue Trying to Revive Pandemic-Style Benefits

In 2008, Rahm Emanuel, chief of staff to President-elect Barack Obama, famously issued Rahm’s rule: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste. And what I mean by that…

June 16, 2023

The Missing Context Behind “Cuts” in Fast-Growing Welfare Programs

Official Washington just completed a heated debate on the debt limit, punctuated by intense partisan differences over strengthening work requirements for key welfare programs. On one side stood House Republicans,…

May 31, 2023

Ending the Small Checks Scam

It’s no secret that strengthening work requirements for key welfare benefits has been a flashpoint in the debt limit negotiations. House Republicans, led by Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), insisted on including stronger…

May 23, 2023

The White House Defender of Welfare Work Requirements

If someone asked you to name a US President who also was a longtime defender of work requirements for welfare benefits, whom might you guess? Ronald Reagan? Donald Trump? George…

May 3, 2023

Work-for-Welfare Gains Traction Among Republicans

Last week, U.S. House Republicans included expanded work requirements for Medicaid, food stamps, and cash welfare benefits in their legislation to extend the federal debt limit. As employers continue to struggle to find workers, states,…