March 25, 2026
Compiling My Work on Work Incentives
At the American Enterprise Institute Center on Opportunity and Social Mobility, which I run, we’re…
June 24, 2025
Putting the CBO’s Estimates of SNAP’s Work Requirement into Context
Recent proposals to expand the work requirement in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) have…
June 17, 2025
Work Requirements For Medicaid Could Increase Income and Reduce Poverty
New Congressional Budget Office figures last week indicate that the reconciliation bill passed by the House…
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…
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…
May 14, 2025
An Evaluation of Cost-Saving Reforms to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
Congress is considering ways to reduce spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $230 billion over 10 years. Reforms will likely include one or more of the following cost-saving elements: reducing the maximum SNAP benefit, reducing deductions, expanding work requirements, and ending broad-based categorical eligibility. I analyze each of these reforms, focusing on the consequences for the SNAP benefit schedule, targeting of benefits to low-income households, and work incentives.
March 14, 2025
Trump Administration Touts Work Requirements in Reconciliation Bill
Multiple themes define the massive budget reconciliation bill currently winding its way through the House. Since it extends major…
February 28, 2025
Less Than Half of Medicaid Recipients Work Enough to Comply With a Work Requirement
Congress is considering implementing work requirements for Medicaid. This reform could help Congress achieve its…
August 30, 2024
Harris’s Child Tax Credit Plan Punishes Working Families
Vice President Kamala Harris recently announced an economic plan for her presidential campaign. A centerpiece…
February 8, 2024
CTC Expansion Rooted in Desire to Roll Back Work-based Welfare
Modifications to the child tax credit (CTC) are included in H.R. 7024, the Tax Relief…
January 31, 2024
The Wyden-Smith Child Tax Credit and Work: Responding to Critics
The Wyden-Smith tax bill under consideration in the House has rekindled a debate about the…
January 29, 2024
Per-Child Benefit in Wyden-Smith Child Tax Credit Bill Would Discourage Full-Time Work for Families with Multiple Children
The Wyden-Smith proposed tax legislation would make four changes to the Child Tax Credit (CTC). First, it…