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May 14, 2025

An Evaluation of Cost-Saving Reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program

Abstract Congress is considering ways to reduce spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $230 billion over 10 years. Reforms will likely include one or more of the following cost-saving elements: reducing the maximum SNAP benefit, reducing deductions, expanding work requirements, and ending broad-based categorical eligibility. I analyze each of these reforms, focusing on the…

By Kevin Corinth

May 14, 2025

Libraries Are Doing the Work—Let’s Fund Them Accordingly

Over the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of visiting libraries of all sizes—from quiet rural branches to vibrant urban hubs. Each one tells a story—not just through the books on its shelves, but through the people it brings together. Whether through informal social gatherings, intergenerational conversations, or access to essential services, libraries are…

By Shamichael Hallman

May 14, 2025

Graduation in the Time of COVID: The Weakened Relationship with Chronic Absenteeism

Key Points Read the full PDF. Read a brief with the research highlights. Executive Summary The COVID-19 pandemic and schools’ responses to it resulted in learning loss that reversed two decades of progress on student achievement and drove chronic absenteeism to unprecedented heights. Yet graduation rates did not fall over the same period— instead, they…

By Nat Malkus | Sam Hollon

May 13, 2025

Out of Work and On the Dole — Is Uncle Sam Contributing to Young Men’s Malaise?

American men are in trouble. From Richard Reeves’ “Of Boys and Men” to Nicholas Eberstadt’s “Men Without Work,” we have learned that men are opting out of our most important institutions — work, education and family — in record numbers.  But what or who is to blame for this male malaise? Uncle Sam.  This was Allysia Finley’s…

By Brad Wilcox | Grant Bailey

May 13, 2025

Common-Sense SNAP Reforms Included in House Agriculture Reconciliation Proposal

The House Agriculture committee released budget reconciliation text this week and scheduled a full committee markup. As part of the budget framework passed earlier this year, the Agriculture Committee was tasked with identifying cuts of $230 billion over 10 years. Nutrition programs account for the bulk of spending under the committee’s jurisdiction, with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)…

By Angela Rachidi

May 12, 2025

To Improve Student Outcomes, Focus On Classroom Practice, Not Policy

Last week, I had the privilege of delivering keynote remarks at Marquette University Law School’s Lubar Center for a conference focused on redirecting K-12 education reform toward classroom teaching. Inspired by my recent Marquette Today piece, the event—hosted in collaboration with the College of Education—brought together educators, researchers, and policymakers to discuss how improving classroom practice…

By Robert Pondiscio

May 10, 2025

How Single Room Occupancies Could Be the Answer to NYC’s Housing Crisis

It was another local tragedy attracting passing notice before being overtaken for our attention by the latest stray bullet homicides and subway assaults. But those concerned with “affordable housing” have much to learn from the Easter morning deaths of three Queens residents and the displacement of perhaps a dozen others in a fire in an…

By Howard Husock

May 7, 2025

Colleges Must Help Return Student Borrowers to Repayment

The four-year pause on student loan payments has left behind an alarming fallout: Millions of student borrowers, having disengaged from the student loan system, are not making payments on their debts. Now, the Education Department is asking for help from colleges to get borrowers paying their loans again. On Monday, the Department issued a Dear Colleague Letter to…

By Preston Cooper

May 7, 2025

Displacement by Design: How Bad Policy Made Housing Scarce, and How We Can Fix It

Musical chairs is one of the first games we play as children. The rules are simple: there are fewer chairs than players. When the music stops, someone ends up standing. Not necessarily because they weren’t fast enough—but because the game was designed for someone to lose. Now imagine blaming the child for losing. We question…

By Tobias Peter | Major Ethan Frizzell

May 7, 2025

Workforce Participation for Older Americans: Warning Lights Flashing

Over the past generation, the work trends for older Americans were one of the bright spots in an otherwise decidedly mixed labor force picture. But that is no longer the case. Both employment and labor force participation rates (LFPRs) for the 55-plus contingent in the American workforce fell sharply during the Covid-19 pandemic—but mysteriously, and…

By Nicholas Eberstadt