December 12, 2024
Senate Special Committee on Aging Hearing on Empowering People with Disabilities to Live, Work, Learn, and Thrive
Introduction: Chairman Casey, Ranking Member Braun and members of the committee, thank you for theopportunity to testify on the critical issues facing aging and disabled members of the Americanworkforce. I’d like to frame my remarks on this topic in two different but interrelated dimensionsof concern: the practical demands of the American economy and the moral…
December 5, 2024
SNAP and the “Make America Healthy Again” Agenda
President Trump has committed to “Make America Healthy Again.” Part of the solution will involve addressing issues within the federal government’s nutrition assistance programs. His nominees to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) will play a pivotal role in advancing this agenda. Nearly six in 10 Americans…
December 3, 2024
Avoiding an Unemployment Loan Bailout
Taxpayers in most states may have dodged a billion-dollar bullet on election day. That is, if the outcome had been different, liberal lawmakers would have been uniquely positioned to bail out California and New York unemployment benefit debts, and in the process shift large costs onto taxpayers in other states. All states levy payroll taxes…
November 7, 2024
Key Data on Federal Benefits Paid to Illegal Immigrant Households
Soaring illegal immigration during the Biden-Harris administration was a major campaign theme, with a pre-election Harvard poll finding Americans considered immigration the second-most important issue—right behind inflation and ahead of the economy. An AP exit poll seconded that ranking, with 39 percent of voters citing the economy as their top issue, followed by immigration at 20 percent—up from three…
November 1, 2024
Kamala Harris’s Policy Book Doesn’t Even Mention Immigration
The record surge in illegal immigration during the Biden-Harris administration, its consequences and costs, and what to do about it are all major issues in this year’s election. Recent polling suggests addressing immigration is voters’ second biggest priority, right after inflation and ahead of the economy. Yet Vice President Kamala Harris’s “policy book” doesn’t even mention immigration, much…
October 30, 2024
A SNAP Reform Framework Focused on the Future
No matter the outcome of next week’s election, we can be certain that the new President and Congress will confront urgent policy and legislative challenges. One priority issue for the new Congress will be renewing the Farm Bill. True to its name, the Farm Bill authorizes a wide range of programs to support farmers and…
October 23, 2024
Work Requirement Waivers Increased FoodShare Caseloads and Costs in Wisconsin
Employment plays a crucial role in helping families escape poverty and move up the income ladder. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, created through welfare reform in 1996, showed that linking government assistance to work could increase employment and decrease poverty among single-mother families. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, commonly known as food stamps,…
October 22, 2024
Poverty, Hardship, and Government Transfers
Abstract We examine how the well-being of those with few resources changed, amidst economic disruption and large, transitory government transfers. We find that in the years leading up to the pandemic and in 2020, the patterns for income and consumption poverty were very similar. In 2021 and 2022, however, changes in income and consumption poverty…
October 21, 2024
Dueling Child Tax Credit Proposals: Harris vs. Vance
JD Vance and Kamala Harris have at least one thing in common: proposals to expand the child tax credit (CTC). Currently, the CTC offers households up to $2,000 per child under the age of 17. It phases in as wages exceed $2,500 (an incentive to work) and phases out for high-income workers (a disincentive to…