Center on Budget: Comprehensive News Feed

Off the Charts Blog: New Renters' Credit Should Complement Existing Housing Development Credit

Thu, 16 May 2013 17:03:47 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Distribution Estimates Critical to Tax Reform Efforts

Thu, 16 May 2013 09:30:15 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Facts on SNAP, Part 4: SNAP Responded to the Recession and Will Shrink as the Economy Improves

Wed, 15 May 2013 12:29:16 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Coming Cuts to Safety Net Hospitals Reinforce Importance of Medicaid Expansion

Mon, 13 May 2013 15:21:07 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: House Agriculture Committee Proposal Would Force 2 Million People Off SNAP

Mon, 13 May 2013 12:03:38 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: North Carolina Should Reinstate Its EITC

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:10:53 -0400

House Agriculture Committee Farm Bill Would Cut Nearly 2 Million People off SNAP

Mon, 13 May 2013 16:00:04 -0400

On May 10, Rep. Frank Lucas, Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, and the Committee’s ranking member, Rep. Collin Peterson, released their proposed 2013 farm bill (the Federal Agriculture Reform and Risk Management Act of 2013, or FARRM).[1] The Committee will consider the bill at a “mark-up” scheduled for May 15. The proposed legislation would cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as the Food Stamp Program) by almost $21 …

Off the Charts Blog: The Facts on SNAP, Part 3: SNAP Is Efficient

Fri, 10 May 2013 09:20:34 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: “Debt Prioritization” = Default by Another Name

Thu, 09 May 2013 16:28:52 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: The Facts on SNAP, Part 2: SNAP Supports Work

Thu, 09 May 2013 14:52:55 -0400

Paul Van de Water Testimony: Health Reform's Health Insurance Tax

Thu, 09 May 2013 10:03:41 -0400

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Hahn, and members of the subcommittee, I appreciate the invitation to appear before you today. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) will extend health insurance coverage to 27 million people and help assure that Americans have access to affordable coverage. And it will do so in a fiscally responsible way. In fact, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that health reform will reduce the deficit — modestly in its first ten years, but …

Tax Credits for Lower-Income Working Families Help 21 Million Mothers

Thu, 09 May 2013 08:29:39 -0400

Two working-family tax credits — the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) — have proven to be powerful tools for reducing children's poverty and advancing their long-term well-being.[1] About 21 million low- and moderate-income working mothers received either the EITC or the low-income portion of the CTC in 2010. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) figures show that over 27 million Americans claimed the EITC, includingabout 21 million filers with children.…

Off the Charts Blog: What You Need to Know About International Tax Reform Options

Thu, 09 May 2013 09:18:56 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: The Facts on SNAP, Part 1: SNAP Provides Modest Benefits to Vulnerable People

Wed, 08 May 2013 11:17:55 -0400

Medicaid Per Capita Cap Would Shift Costs to States and Undermine Key Part of Health Reform

Wed, 08 May 2013 09:26:18 -0400

Two prominent congressional Republicans have proposed placing a “per capita cap” on federal Medicaid funding, under which the federal government would no longer cover a fixed share of each state’s overall Medicaid costs but instead would limit each state to a fixed dollar amount per beneficiary.[1] The per capita cap proposal, part of a larger package of Medicaid changes proposed by House Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton and Senator Orrin Hatch, the top …

Off the Charts Blog: The Case for Fairer Sales Tax Rules

Tue, 07 May 2013 16:46:48 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: New Study from Treasury Analysts Highlights Risk of Corporate Tax Reform Trap

Tue, 07 May 2013 15:02:58 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Bernstein Debates State Taxes and Economic Growth: Live

Tue, 07 May 2013 11:03:07 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Bernstein: How to Reconnect Economic Growth and Jobs

Mon, 06 May 2013 16:36:00 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: After Reinhart-Rogoff, Reflections on the Relationship Between U.S. Debt and Economic Growth

Mon, 06 May 2013 15:46:10 -0400

Statement by Chad Stone, Chief Economist, on the April Employment Report

Fri, 03 May 2013 10:50:05 -0400

Today’s jobs report shows that labor markets still bear the scars of the Great Recession despite 38 straight months of private-sector job growth and a drop in the unemployment rate from 7.9 percent to 7.5 percent since January. Unemployment remains stubbornly high and many people who would likely have a job in a stronger economy are not even looking for work. Consequently, the share of the population with a job remains well below what it was over the two decades before the …

Off the Charts Blog: SNAP Will Take a Hit Even Before the Farm Bill Battle Begins

Thu, 02 May 2013 15:11:16 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Why the FAA Vote Isn't a Model for Dealing with Sequestration

Thu, 02 May 2013 09:50:56 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Three Facts About EITC Overpayments

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 14:57:43 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Tax Reform Reality Check

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 16:20:43 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: User-Friendly Applications Will Help Uninsured Gain Coverage

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 15:12:49 -0400

Reducing Overpayments in the Earned Income Tax Credit

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 13:10:57 -0400

A recent report from the Treasury Department’s Inspector General raised the issue of overpayments in the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC).[1] The EITC, a tax credit for low- and moderate-income working families that has been shown to increase work, lower welfare receipt, and reduce poverty, has a significant error rate that needs to be reduced.[2] But, in addressing EITC errors, policymakers should understand three facts: EITC errors occur primarily because of …

Off the Charts Blog: Friedman and Parrott: The President's Budget Achieves Substantial Deficit Reduction and Largely Protects Low-Income Americans

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:04:08 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Congress Addresses Flight Delays But Leaves Other Sequestration Problems Unsolved

Fri, 26 Apr 2013 14:29:02 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Not Much “Shock” in CareFirst's Proposed 2014 Maryland Health Insurance Rates

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 16:40:37 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Swapping State Income Taxes for Bigger Sales Taxes Would Make Tax Systems Even Less Fair

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:52:40 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Medicaid Expansion Would Not Collapse Private Insurance

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 16:55:48 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Fairer Sales Tax Rules Take a Big Step Forward

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 15:29:18 -0400

Commentary: Think Obama's Medicare Savings Aren't Significant? Take a Closer Look.

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 13:33:34 -0400

Commentators, pundits, and some policymakers routinely say that while the President’s new budget takes useful steps to reduce the cost of health care programs, the steps are small and rather timid. This judgment seems rooted in the belief that the budget’s changes affecting Medicare beneficiaries, which save a modest $64 billion over the first ten years (the budget’s Medicare changes as a whole would save $371 billion), are very limited in their impact. This belief is …

Chained CPI Proposal Would Cut Social Security Retirement Benefits by About 2 Percent, on Average

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:22:06 -0400

The President’s new budget proposes to use the chained Consumer Price Index (CPI) for computing cost-of-living adjustments in Social Security and certain other federal benefits, as well as for indexing key parameters of the tax code.[1] The effect of this proposal on Social Security retirement benefits would vary by a person’s age and benefit level and would differ for current and future beneficiaries, but most future beneficiaries would experience a benefit reduction …

Off the Charts Blog: Looking for Common Ground in the Income Tax Debate

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:13:20 -0400

Policy Basics: State Supermajority Rules to Raise Revenues

Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:46:11 -0400

Legislatures in most states (34 states plus the District of Columbia) can approve tax bills with a simple majority vote in each house, the same margin required for practically every other bill. In the other 16 states, some or all tax bills require a supermajority vote of each house (plus the governor’s signature). Most states with supermajority requirements impose them only in limited circumstances, but in seven states, the constitution requires a supermajority vote of each house, …

The Earned Income Tax Credit and Refundable Child Tax Credit in Rural America

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 10:00:07 -0400

In 2010, 22.9 percent of rural tax filers — compared with 20 percent of filers nationwide — claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), according to research by the Brookings Institution and the Carsey Institute.[1] This difference reflects rural areas’ generally lower wage levels. The EITC brought $10.5 billion in benefits to rural America in 2010, an average of $2,245 for nearly 4.7 million rural EITC filers. The share of rural EITC filers that also receive …

Off the Charts Blog: Want More Low-Income Workers to Have Health Coverage? Expand Medicaid.

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:44:38 -0400

Fact Sheet: The Earned Income Tax Credit and Refundable Child Tax Credit in Rural America

Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:59:21 -0400

Strategies to Address the State Tax Volatility Problem

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 11:42:35 -0400

State revenues plummet in recessions, just when states can least afford the loss. Some proposals to address this flaw in state tax systems would change the systems’ structure — for instance, by replacing state personal income taxes with sales taxes — but wouldn’t solve the problem and would exacerbate others in state tax systems. States have to balance their annual budgets so they cannot just run up debt during recessions, but they could better address …

Off the Charts Blog: Benefits of the Earned Income Tax Credit Extend to the Next Generation

Wed, 17 Apr 2013 15:37:18 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: SSI, Helping the Poorest Elderly and Disabled Americans

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 15:12:59 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: President's Budget Leaves Little Room for Further Compromise

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 13:32:28 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Helping Consumers Choose the Right Health Plan Under Health Reform

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 10:25:47 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Not So Hale and Hearty: Explaining Disability Rates in One Alabama County

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 16:41:54 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Proposal to Delay DSH Cuts No Reason Not to Expand Medicaid

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 15:28:56 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: In Case You Missed It

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 17:43:18 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Debating Foreign Tax Havens

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:42:53 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Four Governors Whose Radical Tax Plans Have Taken a Beating (and Why They're Not Giving Up Yet)

Fri, 12 Apr 2013 10:28:43 -0400

President Obama's Deficit-Reduction Package and Other Proposals in the 2014 Budget

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:59:39 -0400

Overview The President’s 2014 budget is presented in two parts. One part includes the package of deficit- reduction policies that the President included in his last offer to Speaker Boehner during the “fiscal cliff” negotiations in December 2012. This package would reduce the deficit by $1.8 trillion over the next decade and go somewhat beyond stabilizing the debt as a share of the economy, setting it on a slight downward path. When coupled with the …

Off the Charts Blog: Brownback's Claims Wilt Under Scrutiny

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:48:34 -0400

Statement by Robert Greenstein, President, on President Obama's FY 2014 Budget

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 16:34:46 -0400

President Obama’s budget includes a $1.8 trillion deficit reduction package that reflects his last offer to Speaker Boehner during their budget talks in December. The new budget — like the President’s offer — represents a substantial compromise on the President’s part; compared to the President’s original offer to the Speaker from earlier in December, it contains $400 billion less in new revenue, $200 billion more in discretionary program cuts, and the …

Off the Charts Blog: President's Budget Affirms That Washington Will Pay Nearly All the Costs of Expanding Medicaid

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 14:53:58 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: New Study Makes Headlines About “Rate Shock” But Sows Confusion

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 13:31:53 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Most Deficit Savings Have Come from Program Cuts

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 10:10:16 -0400

Commentary: The Debate Over the Chained CPI

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:46:22 -0400

The news that President Obama’s new budget will propose adopting the “chained” Consumer Price Index (CPI) for cost-of-living adjustments in Social Security and other retirement programs, and annual inflation adjustments in the tax code, has intensified the debate on this issue. Some commentators portray this proposal as a test of fiscal rectitude, arguing that the chained CPI more accurately measures inflation — period — and that if you’re opposed to …

Off the Charts Blog: Who's Serious About Getting a Budget Deal?

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 16:34:08 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Some (Relatively) Good News in Today's Jobs Report

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 14:35:11 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Ryan Budget, Not Medicaid, Creates a Two-Tiered Health Care System

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:39:55 -0400

Statement by Chad Stone, Chief Economist, on the March Employment Report

Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:53:32 -0400

Today’s jobs report, with disappointing job growth and a large drop in the labor force, shows that a robust jobs recovery remains elusive. That situation won’t likely improve in coming months as the sequestration budget cuts begin to slow the economic recovery and make it harder for the unemployed — especially the unprecedented numbers of long-term unemployed (see chart) — to find a job. Adding insult to injury, sequestration also cuts federal unemployment …

Off the Charts Blog: No Surprise, Disability Beneficiaries Experience High Death Rates

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:20:36 -0400

Mortgage Interest Deduction Is Ripe for Reform

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 14:28:19 -0400

Costing about $70 billion a year, the mortgage interest deduction is one of the largest federal tax expenditures, but it appears to do little to achieve the goal of expanding homeownership. The main reason is that the bulk of its benefits go to higher-income households who generally could afford a home without assistance: in 2012, 77 percent of the benefits went to homeowners with incomes above $100,000. Meanwhile, more than a third of homeowners with mortgages — most of …

Off the Charts Blog: Administration Did Not Reverse a Proposed New Cut to Medicare Advantage Plans

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 16:46:48 -0400

Tax Foundation Figures Do Not Represent Typical Households' Tax Burdens

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 17:36:40 -0400

The Tax Foundation released its annual “Tax Freedom Day” report today that, once again, can leave a strikingly misleading impression of tax burdens — showing an average federal tax rate across the United States that’s likely higher than the tax rate that 80 percent of U.S. households actually pay. To project the day when “the nation as a whole has earned enough money to pay its total tax bill for the year,”[1] the Tax Foundation calculates the average tax …

Sequestration Could Deny Rental Assistance to 140,000 Low-Income Families

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 12:52:22 -0400

The budget cuts known as “sequestration,” initiated on March 1, will likely force state and local housing agencies to cut the number of low-income families using Housing Choice Vouchers to afford housing by roughly 140,000 by early 2014.[1] This represents a sharp break from Congress’ bipartisan commitment — which it has met for most of the voucher program’s nearly 40-year history — to renew assistance for at least the same number of families from year …

Off the Charts Blog: Four Reasons Not to Move to Biennial Budgeting

Tue, 02 Apr 2013 13:59:18 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Bernstein on Investing in Public Goods

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:11:42 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Avoiding the Corporate Tax Reform Trap

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 13:44:49 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Economics of Risky Tax Proposals Don't Add Up

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:35:05 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: State Eligibility Changes Not Major Factor in SNAP's Growth

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:31:50 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: The Tax Code's Foreign Tilt

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 15:27:22 -0400

The Value of TANF Cash Benefits Continued to Erode in 2012

Thu, 28 Mar 2013 12:12:22 -0400

Cash assistance benefits for the nation’s poorest families with children fell again in purchasing power in 2012 and are now at least 20 percent below their 1996 levels in 37 states, after adjusting for inflation. Unlike in 2011, when six states reduced the already-low benefits they provide through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, no states cut benefit levels in 2012. A few states increased their family grants, but most states kept them …

Off the Charts Blog: SSI Provides Critical Support for Disabled Kids and Their Families

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:07:38 -0400

Ryan Budget Would Shift Substantial Costs To States and Localities

Wed, 27 Mar 2013 11:58:21 -0400

The budget that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan developed and the full House passed recently would cause federal support for services that state and local governments provide — schools, health care, clean water facilities, and law enforcement, for example — to decline precipitously over the next several years. These reductions would be on top of deep cuts in federal funding for states and localities already scheduled under current law. The Ryan budget …

Off the Charts Blog: The State of Disability

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:21:47 -0400

Ryan Block Grant Proposal Would Cut Medicaid by Nearly One-Third by 2023 and More After That

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 13:57:23 -0400

The Medicaid block grant proposal in the budget plan proposed by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, which the House of Representatives passed on March 21, would cut federal Medicaid (and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP) funding by 31 percent by 2023, because the funding would no longer keep pace with health care costs or with expected Medicaid enrollment growth as the population ages (see Figure 1). These cuts would come on top of repealing the health …

Off the Charts Blog: Senate Calls for Level Playing Field for Main Street Retailers

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 16:42:55 -0400

Off the Charts Blog: Claim About Health Reform “Rate Shock” Is “Unfounded,” Urban Analysis Finds

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:51:06 -0400

Ryan Roundup 2013: Everything You Need to Know About Chairman Ryan's Latest Budget

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 17:10:16 -0400

Below is a compilation of the CBPP analyses and blog posts on House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s budget, which the House has passed. Overview/General Statement: Robert Greenstein, President, on Chairman Ryan’s Budget Plan March 12, 2013 “When House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan released his previous budget last year, I wrote that for most of the past half century, its extreme nature would have put it outside the bounds of mainstream …

Sequestration by the Numbers

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:57:28 -0400

The automatic budget cuts known as “sequestration” took effect on March 1. Under the requirements of the 2011 Budget Control Act (BCA) as amended by January’s American Taxpayer Relief Act (ATRA), both defense and non-defense programs were automatically cut, or sequestered, reducing total funding by $85 billion. While the press and public have focused on the programmatic effects of sequestration, this analysis explains the dollar and percentage calculations …

Off the Charts Blog: Ryan Budget Would Make Safety Net Less Effective in Promoting and Supporting Work

Fri, 22 Mar 2013 10:18:31 -0400

A Technical Assessment of SNAP and Medicaid Financial Eligibility Under the Affordable Care Act (ACA)

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:57:03 -0400

Beginning in 2014, the number of low-income people eligible for Medicaid will expand dramatically. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) sets a national minimum standard for Medicaid eligibility to cover most individuals with incomes below 133 percent of the poverty line.[1] The Supreme Court ruling leaves it up to states to decide whether or not to expand, but Medicaid will still be a critical pathway to health coverage for millions of low-income Americans in all states. Health coverage …

Ryan Budget Would Undermine Safety Net's Work Supports

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 12:30:51 -0400

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan justifies the massive cuts he proposes in programs for low- and moderate-income Americans in part by claiming that the current safety net “can create a powerful disincentive to get ahead.”[1] He uses this argument to defend converting both Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly food stamps) into block grants at substantially shrunken funding levels relative to current law. These claims, however, …

Off the Charts Blog: Putting Housing Money Where the Need Is

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 10:02:42 -0400

State Personal Income Tax Cuts: A Poor Strategy for Economic Growth

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 11:09:11 -0400

Policymakers in a number of states including Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin are promoting deep cuts in personal income taxes as a prescription for economic growth — an approach that has not worked particularly well in the past and is not supported by the preponderance of the relevant academic literature. States that enacted major personal income tax cuts in the 2000s, before the most recent recession hit, were as likely to lose economic ground as to gain …

Off the Charts Blog: Setting the Record Straight: Safety Net Dollars Go to People — Not Red Tape

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 14:19:42 -0400

Commentary: Why Balancing the Budget by the End of the Decade Is Not the Right Goal

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 15:45:55 -0400

As the House and Senate consider their respective budget resolutions this week, a key point of debate will be whether balancing the budget over the decade is an essential goal. We don’t think it is. We agree with Alice Rivlin, a former director of both the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Office of Management and Budget, who told the New York Times last week, “There’s nothing magic about exact balance. The really important thing is to keep the debt …

Off the Charts Blog: The Ryan Budget's Skewed Tax Cuts

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 12:13:38 -0400

Testimony of Kathy A. Ruffing Senior Fellow, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Before the Subcommittee on Social Security Committee on Ways and Means U.S. House of Representatives

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:05:25 -0400

Mr. Chairman, Ranking Member Becerra, and members of the subcommittee, I appreciate the invitation to appear before you today.[1] The Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) program provides modest but vital benefits to workers who become unable to perform substantial work on account of a serious medical impairment. Although some critics charge that spending for the program is “out of control,” the bulk of the rise in federal disability rolls stems from demographic …

Off the Charts Blog: Ruffing: Pending Insolvency of Disability Insurance Expected and Should Be Addressed

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:25:32 -0400

Media Briefing: Examining States' Dramatic Higher Education Cuts and Tuition Increases

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 14:43:41 -0400

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities held a conference call briefing to discuss the deep cuts almost every state has made to public universities and colleges, and explains how those cuts hurt students and state economies.

Ryan Budget Understates Defense Spending by $100 Billion

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:46:15 -0400

The Ryan budget understates defense spending by $100 billion over the next ten years. It claims $100 billion in defense savings that, in reality, would not materialize because they are flatly inconsistent with Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates of the amount of defense spending that would result from the amount of defense funding the budget contains. This is politically significant: without these phantom savings, the Ryan budget does not achieve balance in any of the …

An Apples-to-Apples Comparison of the Deficit-Reduction Figures in the House and Senate Budget Plans

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 15:56:40 -0400

The House and Senate are scheduled to consider the budget resolutions that their respective budget committees approved last week. These two budgets — one drafted by House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan, the other by Senate Budget Committee Chair Patty Murray — offer sharply contrasting visions.[1] Yet they are not strictly comparable because they use different sets of starting assumptions (known as budget baselines) from which to measure their policy proposals. …

Paul Van de Water Testimony: Financing Medicare and Medicaid

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 12:15:42 -0400

Chairman Pitts, Ranking Member Pallone, and members of the subcommittee, I appreciate the invitation to appear before you today on the importance of preserving Medicare and Medicaid. Budgetary entitlements of many kinds are designed to guarantee Americans adequate protection in case of illness, disability, or economic misfortune. Efforts to control the costs of health care entitlements (including Medicare and Medicaid), must continue, if we are to meet the needs of an aging population.…

Statement by Robert Greenstein, President, On Unifying the District of Columbia's Health Insurance Marketplace

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 12:24:03 -0400

“The DC Health Benefits Exchange Board’s recent decision to move to a unified health insurance market over the next two years will make it easier for small businesses to give their employees quality, affordable health insurance. “Starting in 2014, under the Affordable Care Act, the District of Columbia will have a new health insurance marketplace called the DC Health Benefits Exchange (HBX) for individuals and small businesses. Today, many small businesses have …

Off the Charts Blog: Greenstein Op-Ed: The Best Approach for Deficit Reduction

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 13:48:54 -0400

States Made Deep Cuts to Higher Education, New Report Finds

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 10:05:51 -0400

Public universities and colleges in nearly every state have seen their state funding decline sharply, according to a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Nationwide, states are on average spending 28 percent less this year than they did in 2008, a decrease of $2,353 per student. As a result, colleges and universities have had to raise tuition, make changes that undermine educational quality, or both. “Investment in higher education should be a …

Recent Deep State Higher Education Cuts May Harm Students and the Economy for Years to Come

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:32:58 -0400

As states prepare their budgets for the coming year, they face the challenge of reinvesting in public higher education systems after years of damaging cuts — the product of both the economic downturn and states’ reluctance to raise additional revenues. In the past five years, state cuts to higher education funding have been severe and almost universal. After adjusting for inflation: States are spending $2,353 or 28 percent less per student on higher …

Off the Charts Blog: Ryan Budget's SNAP Cuts Even Deeper Than We Thought

Tue, 19 Mar 2013 09:41:40 -0400