COSM’s commentary page is home to timely analysis of pressing topics.
Despite more than $60 billion in annual federal spending on rental assistance, only one in four eligible families actually receives it. Recipient families receive, on average, more than $1,000 in federal aid each month, and because there is no time limit they typically remain on the program for over a…
March 16, 2026 | By Kevin Corinth
This week, senior House and Senate Members are introducing legislation designed to prevent a repeat of runaway fraud and abuse that afflicted…
March 5, 2026 | By Matt Weidinger
Let me start with the chart: Median pre-tax earnings of men ages 25-29 rose 24 percent ($10,800) from 1973 to 2024, and median post-tax compensation rose 40 percent ($15,500). The gains from 1989 to 2024 were 42 percent ($16,300) and 46 percent ($17,000). A few years ago (2022), I wrote…
February 26, 2026 | By Scott Winship
Matt Weidinger’s December 2025 commentary argued persuasively that complexity has become an impediment to rational reform of the nation’s safety net. By approving scores of new programs across several decades, Congress and the states have assembled such an unwieldy and uncoordinated anti-poverty portfolio that policymakers have difficulty fully grasping what…
February 9, 2026 | By James C. Capretta
Hunger in the United States, as most people understand it, is thankfully rare. According to the most recent Household Food Security in the United States report, approximately 5 percent of US households had “very low food security” at some point in 2024. This measure, defined as reduced food intake due…
February 3, 2026 | By Angela Rachidi
Last week, the Republican Study Committee released a legislative framework intended to make the American Dream more affordable. The goal is laudable, and many of the ideas are sound. But among the ideas that should be sent to the chopping block is a proposal to allow stay-at-home parents to claim…
January 22, 2026 | By Kevin Corinth
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called food stamps) is an important safety-net program that helps reduce hunger and decrease poverty among US households. At the same time, SNAP has significant flaws that make it inefficient, less effective than it could be, and in some cases harmful to upward…
January 13, 2026 | By Angela Rachidi
My AEI colleague Mark Warshawsky recently wrote an excellent summary of policy reasons not to extend the COVID-era enhanced ACA subsidies. His explainer adds to a substantial body of work (examples here, here, and here) describing the policy problems with the enhanced subsidies, notwithstanding their largely positive treatment in the…
December 23, 2025 | By Angela Rachidi
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 described how “Somali fraudsters bilked taxpayers out of more than $1 billion” while arguing the policy lessons extend well beyond…
December 23, 2025 | By Matt Weidinger
When President Trump tapped J.D. Vance as his pick for Vice President, it seemed likely that the second Trump administration would place special emphasis on family policy. Prior to his political career, Vance highlighted fertility decline as a core issue. As a politician, Vance continued to emphasize fertility and family…
December 11, 2025 | By Vanessa Brown Calder
September 11, 2026 | Kevin Corinth and Hannah Mayhew
Abstract Between 2017 and 2025, at least 122 pilots across 33 states and the District of Columbia evaluated the effects of a guaranteed basic income (GBI), allocating $481 million in GBI payments to more than 40,000 recipients. We summarize these studies’ methodologies and findings, focusing on their employment effects. Among the...
September 3, 2026 | Angela Rachidi and Jessi Troyan
In the season premiere of Cardinal Direction, host Jessi Troyan sits down with American Enterprise Institute senior fellow Angela Rachidi to examine America’s social safety net and why programs intended to help families can sometimes stand in the way of stability and upward mobility. Drawing on nearly three decades of...
September 2, 2026 | Angela Rachidi
Payment errors in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) have received considerable attention in recent months. While much of the debate has revolved around the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s (OBBBA) new requirements surrounding SNAP payment errors and the impact on states, many have overlooked the people most affected...
September 2, 2026 | Scott Winship
This is an edited version of Scott’s recent testimony before the Work & Welfare Subcommittee of the House Ways & Means Committee. In early 1995, the forerunner to this subcommittee began drafting legislation that would lead, 18 months later, to the enactment of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA)....