Off the Charts Blog | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities

This week on Off the Charts, we focused on the federal budget and taxes, the economy, health care, food assistance, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

• On the federal budget and taxes, Chuck Marr pointed to a Tax Policy Center analysis showing how hard it would be to cut tax expenditures like the mortgage interest deduction enough to pay for cuts in marginal tax rates.  He also showed that President Obama’s proposal to extend the “middle class” tax cuts would also benefit high-income households.  We highlighted a conference that we co-hosted this week with Demos, the American Prospect, and the Georgetown Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy on understanding poverty in America.

• On the economy, Chad Stone explained that policymakers’ unwillingness to enact additional fiscal or monetary stimulus is impeding the recovery.  Hannah Shaw noted that tens of thousands of unemployed workers in three states were cut off of unemployment insurance (UI) this week, as federal UI benefits continue to wind down.

• On health care, Judy Solomon highlighted a landmark study showing the many benefits of Medicaid coverage, and January Angeles explained that the federal government will cover nearly all of the costs of health reform’s Medicaid expansion.  Shannon Spillane listed four things we would lose and four things we won’t achieve if Congress repeals health reform.

• On food assistance, Stacy Dean described the cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in the House Agriculture Committee’s proposed farm bill, which end SNAP benefits for 2-3 million Americans.

• On TANF, Donna Pavetti outlined five reasons why the waivers that the Administration will grant states to operate demonstration projects in their TANF programs will strengthen welfare reform.

In other news, we released papers on health reform’s Medicaid expansion and state budgets and a proposed federal tax credit for renters.