All Research
Blog Post
What DOGE Flagged as Unemployment Fraud Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg—Most of Which Will Never Be Recovered
…projected in fraud involving pandemic unemployment benefits. It gets worse. A recent Department of Labor (DOL) Inspector General report leaves little doubt that nearly all of these losses, which veteran lawmakers have called “the greatest theft of tax dollars in US…
Blog Post
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…
Blog Post
Democrats’ Automatic Stimulus Proposals Undermine the Administration’s “Strongest Economy” Claims
Today’s US jobs report finds the nation’s unemployment rate increased to 4.3 percent in July. According to a measure often cited by liberal policymakers, that suggests the US has entered…
Blog Post
Key Takeaways from a New Report on Potential Unemployment Insurance Reforms
…policy recommendations,” but instead “is intended to provide policymakers, advocates, and the media with a range of thoughts” on the broad range of UI reform topics the task force reviewed. I…
Blog Post
Liberals Should Decide Whether Being a Homemaker Is Demeaning or Worthy of Huge New Government Benefits
…a mother.” Many liberals seemed horrified—and apparently unaware that liberal lawmakers have long promoted homemaking over paid employment. In response to Butker’s remarks, Change.org circulated an online petition that suggested his comments “reinforce harmful…
Blog Post
New “Scorecard” Report Promotes Better Use of Data to Prevent Unemployment Fraud
…blocks, policymakers can’t know if state UI systems are prepared for future shocks—and whether providing expanding federal assistance will, as lawmakers intend, reach citizens in need or instead be siphoned…
Blog Post
Washington, District of Benefit Cliffs
As the welfare state expands while policymakers struggle to contain its costs, one unintended result is the creation of significant benefit cliffs. A little-noticed September 2023 report authored by Elias Ilin and Alvaro Sanchez…
Blog Post
Recalling Pandemic Lessons on “Self-Certifying” Eligibility
…But policymakers should be on guard that this seemingly innocuous expansion in self-certification for minor workforce programs is not used to someday justify reviving the same policy for far costlier…
Blog Post
Tax Extenders Package Would Cut the Child Tax Credit’s Annual Work Requirement in Half
…what happened when Hurricane Katrina struck in mid-2005 and Congress allowed affected adults to use 2004 earnings to claim the EITC and CTC. Lawmakers applied the same logic nationwide during the pandemic emergency. In December 2020, they created a “temporary special rule” letting individuals use 2019 earnings to claim the EITC and CTC for 2020….
Blog Post
Making the Child Tax Credit “Fully Refundable” Converts It into Welfare Checks
…According to press reports, policymakers are apparently negotiating a possible year-end tax package that would temporarily expand the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and revive certain business tax breaks….The CTC expansion reportedly includes full…
Blog Post
Lawmakers Continue Trying to Revive Pandemic-Style Benefits
…[is] it’s an opportunity to do things that you think you could not do before.” Lawmakers applied Rahm’s rule liberally during the pandemic, providing record stimulus checks, massively expanding unemployment benefits, and far…
Blog Post
Now the Administration Is Legislating on Welfare, Too
…treads much of the same legislative ground as recent congressional reauthorization proposals. That should trouble members of Congress in both parties who value their institutional role as lawmakers—not administration regulation-followers….