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April 9, 2024

The Child Tax Credit: My Long-Read Q&A with Kevin Corinth

…get no matter what. So the Wyden-Smith bill does not go there, but it goes part of the way there and I think it sets up a negotiating position. If…

April 9, 2024

Biden Knows Student Loan Cancellation Is a Bad Idea

…It seems that this administration is more interested in scoring political points than enacting good policy. The math is simple: 30 million Americans with lower or completely forgiven student loan…

April 8, 2024

We Still Don’t Know How Much Taxpayers Lost Due to Pandemic Unemployment Assistance Fraud

…something else very strange about OMB’s math: it appears to be missing billions of dollars in additional federal benefits paid, in many cases improperly, to PUA recipients. The OMB report…

April 3, 2024

School Absenteeism Has Become A Big Problem. But We Can Do Something About It.

…Nat Malkus, who’s tracked the numbers on chronic absenteeism in his widely-referenced Return to Learn Tracker, has reported the situation is even worse in the nation’s poorest and low-achieving communities. In Los Angeles,…

March 11, 2024

How Many Forms of “Wage Insurance” Do We Need, Exactly?

…current safety net programs depicted below that assist low-income parents, along with major social insurance programs and even privately-funded benefits that specifically target non-workers. Source: Angela Rachidi, Matt Weidinger, and…

March 7, 2024

Growing Congressional Dysfunction Will Worsen Our Fiscal Problems

…this frustration is not to pretend that deficits don’t matter or ignore the challenge they pose — it’s for Washington to finally take deficits seriously and act to rein them in. Absent progress on bringing government spending…

March 1, 2024

How the Children’s Bureau Lost Its Way

…about infant mortality and children’s health. But it took longer for these matters to become the concern of the federal government. According to one article in the Encyclopedia of Chicago:…

February 29, 2024

Recalling Pandemic Lessons on “Self-Certifying” Eligibility

Sometimes what is left unmentioned can be far more important than what is said. A good example is obscure guidance issued last week by the US Department of Labor (DOL) encouraging workforce…

February 27, 2024

Options for Improving the Child Tax Credit Provisions in H.R. 7024, the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024

…debating the nation’s tax law for the coming years. Progressives are likely to push for a child allowance—that is, a fully refundable CTC paid even to nonworking parents, matching the…

February 22, 2024

Chronic Absenteeism Could Be the Biggest Problem Facing Schools Right Now

…really, and how can schools respond? My friend and colleague Nat Malkus has the most recent available numbers in his Return to Learn Tracker. In addition, he’s out with an…