In Case You Missed It…

This week on Off the Charts, we talked about the federal budget, the economy, state budgets, Social Security, housing, and poverty.

• On the federal budget, Robert Greenstein explained the depth of spending cuts under the various proposals from lawmakers of both parties to fund the federal government for the rest of fiscal 2011, Chuck Marr explained why President Bush’s tax cuts for upper-income Americans should return to the budget negotiating table, and Paul Van de Water knocked down the charge that the health reform law double-counts Medicare savings.
• On the economy, Chad Stone noted the economic implications of February’s unemployment report.
• On state budgets, Phil Oliff discussed findings from our recent update on state budget shortfalls.
• On Social Security, Kathy Ruffing pointed to a study showing that “means-testing” is not the way to close Social Security’s long-term funding gap.
• On housing, Douglas Rice emphasized the need for policymakers to respond to the growing number of homeless children.
• On poverty, Stacy Dean and Dottie Rosenbaum elaborated on ways in which federal and state governments can improve the coordination and delivery of services to needy families.

In other news, the Center released reports on the congressional debate over fiscal year 2011 appropriations, the consequences of turning Medicaid into a block grant, the House spending bill’s effect on housing programs, and a podcast on improving work supports.