July 2, 2025
Congress Could Rein In Graduate Student Loans
Congress is on the verge of eliminating Grad PLUS—the program which extends effectively unlimited taxpayer-funded loans to graduate students—and imposing caps on graduate loans for the first time since 2006. On Tuesday, the Senate passed a budget reconciliation bill ending the program, which has fueled tuition hikes, exploded student debt, and padded the budgets of wealthy universities….
July 1, 2025
More Information Sharing Means Fewer Taxpayer Losses to Fraud
Last month, Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-TX) introduced a resolution of inquiry objecting to the Trump administration’s development of a “centralized database” that “compiles American citizens’ personal information across federal agencies and departments.” The resolution states that personal information includes “confidential taxpayer, identity, wage, child support, bank account, student loan, health, medical, financial, or other information.” Left unsaid…
June 30, 2025
America’s Six Million Home Shortage: Why California Is at the Epicenter
A growing body of research estimates that the US faces a severe housing shortage, with missing homes numbering between 3.8 million and 8.2 million. Using the midpoint—approximately six million missing homes—new AEI Housing Center analysis shows where this shortage is most acute and why about two million missing homes can be traced back to California and its neighbors….
June 23, 2025
Boston’s Backward Housing Policy: More Demand Will Only Exacerbate the Supply Crisis
Boston’s housing policies keep treating symptoms while ignoring the disease. Last month, the city proudly unveiled its Co-Purchasing Housing Pilot Program, offering $50,000 in zero-interest, deferred-payment loans to help lower-income households cover down payments and closing costs on multi-family homes. The idea is to allow multiple individuals to pool resources and purchase homes together. It sounds…
June 20, 2025
Senate Embraces “Do No Harm” for Higher Education
The Hippocratic Oath is coming for higher education. Last week, Senate Republicans released a package of higher education reforms that includes a “do no harm” standard for colleges: Degree programs would be ineligible for federal student loans if their former students’ earnings are too low. If enacted, the proposal would improve on the status quo, as the…
June 12, 2025
The Senate’s Higher Education Reforms Are Strong (But Could Be Stronger)
Senate Republicans recently unveiled their suite of higher education reform proposals, part of a broader tax-and-spending bill making its way through Congress. The package is strong: it would impose commonsense limits on federal student loans and create a saner loan repayment system. However, it forgoes obvious changes that would save taxpayers more money and would better hold…
June 10, 2025
The Surprising Epilogue to an Infamous Conn Job
In government scandals, some surnames are especially memorable, even decades later. A fugitive financier named Marc Rich (and his partner Pinky Green) were famously pardoned by Bill Clinton in what “reeked of payoff” for contributions to the Clinton Library. Then there’s former Rep. Pat Swindall (R-GA), who was indicted for perjury. The puns write themselves. But nothing…
June 5, 2025
More Evidence of How Housing Regulation Is Bad for Housing
The American Dream’s geographic escape hatch is slamming shut. New research reveals that once-affordable sunbelt cities like Phoenix, Dallas, and Miami now mirror the restrictive housing markets of San Francisco and New York. The implications for economic dynamism are profound and worrisome. For decades, America’s housing market operated on a simple safety valve principle: When…
May 29, 2025
How Non-disabled Medicaid Recipients Without Children Spend Their Time
The reconciliation bill passed by the United States House of Representatives imposes community engagement requirements for childless non-disabled Medicaid recipients age 19–64, starting in 2027. The requirement can be met by spending 80 hours in at least some months either working, going to school, participating in a work program, or doing community service. In a…
May 28, 2025
An Evaluation of Approaches to Cut and Reform SNAP
House Republicans narrowly passed their version of President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” last week, and the legislation contains major changes to SNAP, including expanded work requirements, reduced federal and state exemptions and shifting more of the costs to states. Changes are likely as the Senate takes up the bill, and Kevin Corinth, senior fellow and deputy…