In Case You Missed It...

This week on Off the Charts, we focused on jobs, the federal budget, and state budget and tax issues.

• On jobs, Chad Stone outlined the consequences of allowing emergency Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits to expire on their November 30th deadline, and pointed out that emergency UI benefits have never before ended with unemployment so high. Chad also revealed who would be affected if the benefits were allowed to expire.

• On the federal budget, Donna Pavetti highlighted some important misconceptions about the TANF Emergency Fund in a recent proposal to cut government spending, and Iris Lav discussed how House Republican leader’s latest budget plan would hurt the economy.

• On state budget and tax, Liz McNichol noted that states can free up resources by targeting tax breaks for the elderly toward low-income seniors, and Nicolas Johnson explained that state budget shortfalls have little to do with states’ partisan leanings.

In other news, the Center released reports on combined reporting, the Social Security shortfall, President Obama’s business expensing proposal, and the House GOP leader’s budget plan. We also released a podcast on emergency UI benefits, and a slideshow on the state budget crisis and the economy.