In Case You Missed It...

This week on Off the Charts, we focused on the economy, the federal budget and taxes, international budgeting, state budgets and taxes, health reform, and the safety net.

• On the economy, Chad Stone explained that the October jobs report sends distinctly mixed signals about the job market.
• On the federal budget and taxes, we pointed to our new chartbook that shows everything you need to know about the congressional budget negotiations in 11 charts.
• On international budgeting, we highlighted a speech from International Budget Partnership director Warren Krafchik on the importance of budget transparency.
• On state budgets and taxes, Chris Mai noted that local and federal government funds don’t compensate for state cuts to K-12 education and showed that while state tax revenues have returned almost to pre-recession levels, they haven’t truly recovered from the recession and aren’t adequate to address growing needs.
• On health reform, Edwin Park pointed to a warning from the American Academy of Actuaries that a one-year delay in health reform’s individual mandate would raise premiums and add to the ranks of the uninsured, and he explained why early enrollment in Medicaid that’s outpacing enrollment in the new health insurance marketplaces so far is no cause for concern.
• On the safety net, Arloc Sherman explained that the poverty rate would have been nearly twice as high in 2012 without the safety net, using the Census Bureau’s Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM).  Danilo Trisi illustrated that, under the SPM, SNAP and unemployment insurance kept millions out of poverty last year.  Douglas Rice warned that sequestration could cut housing vouchers for as many as 185,000 low-income families by the end of 2014.  Finally, in honor of Veterans Day, we highlighted some of the ways that the safety net helps many low-income veterans make ends meet.

In other news, we issued Chad Stone’s statement on the October employment report and a chartbook on deficit reduction, the economy, and budget negotiations.  We also issued papers on how rental assistance helps more than 300,000 veterans afford homes and how sequestration could cut housing vouchers for as many as 185,000 families by the end of 2014.  We updated our chartbook on the legacy of the Great Recession, our backgrounder on the number of weeks of unemployment benefits available in each state, and our paper on historical trends in income inequality.

A variety of news outlets featured CBPP’s work and experts recently.  Here are some highlights:

Sequestration Could Cut Housing Assistance For 185,000 People Next Year
Think Progress
November 7, 2013

Budget Grief for the Poor and Jobless
New York Times
November 1, 2013

As Budget Talk Start, Beware The Bogus Revenue Hikes
Forbes
October 31, 2013

Millions on food stamps facing benefits cuts
CBS News, MoneyWatch
October 31, 2013

As Cuts to Food Stamps Take Effect, More Trims to Benefits Are Expected
New York Times
October 31, 2013