All Research
Commentary
The Medicaid Work Requirement’s Gambling Loophole
…through Medicaid expansion or certain state demonstration projects. Pregnant women, parents with a child under age 14, caretakers of individuals with disabilities, and various other populations are excluded. Congress allowed…
Blog Post
Welfare Reform and Its Discontents
…Welfare as We Knew It By the time PRWORA was enacted, momentum for welfare reform had been building for years. Policymakers and the public increasingly objected to a safety net…
Report
A Review of the Wide Variation Across States in Federal Pandemic Unemployment Benefit Funding
Abstract Federal lawmakers created major temporary unemployment benefit programs during the pandemic, which collectively distributed a record $700 billion to unemployed individuals nationwide. Little attention has been paid to wildly divergent…
Op-Ed
The Path Ahead for Welfare Reform
In the years since the landmark 1996 welfare reform law — which marks its 30th anniversary today — policymakers have missed opportunities to apply its lessons and expand its reach to…
Report
Wisconsin Childcare Subsidies, Regulations Fail for Families
…costs for families, policymakers often advocate for increased subsidies to providers or families. However, the effectiveness of this approach is undermined by evidence showing government assistance, including childcare funding, was a major…
Commentary
How Fixing SNAP’s Payment Error Rate Formula Would Change State Cost Shares
…in additional federal savings, illustrates the potential federal savings once the transition provisions no longer apply, starting with FY2027 payment error rates that determine FY2030 cost shares. As policymakers consider…
Op-Ed
The Ongoing Battle to Defend Welfare Reform
…for upper-income families) that didn’t depend on whether parents worked or not. In other words, policymakers should provide unconditional cash aid to low-income families without a work requirement attached, just…
Op-Ed
Thirty Years Later, Welfare Reform Is Still a Model That Works
…the dole, including noncitizens, inmates, and drug addicts, yielding major and continuing savings for taxpayers. Policymakers and the public interested in more personal responsibility and work and less welfare dependence…
Commentary
Lessons from the 1996 Welfare Reform Law Approaching Its 30th Anniversary
…housing agencies to apply work requirements and time limits to housing assistance. Lawmakers should expand those reforms by further strengthening work incentives, applying time limits to reduce dependence, and holding…
Report
The End of the Food Security Supplement in the Current Population Survey: Next Steps
Abstract Since 1996, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has published an annual report on household food insecurity in the United States, which policymakers, program administrators, the media, and researchers…
Op-Ed
When Washington Picks Up the States’ Tab, Waste and Fraud Follow
…a greater appetite to spend — and sometimes waste — federal tax dollars than their own funds. But it’s all the same taxpayers paying in the end. If federal lawmakers…
Op-Ed
Dem Policymakers Plan to Exploit AI Job Fears to Push the ‘Perfect Recipe for Fraud’
Behind the scenes in Washington, many policymakers are planning for an economic disruption: potential job displacement caused by AI. Yet some act like today’s safety net doesn’t exist, despite the…