
A stronger IRS helps make our tax system fairer for families
Julia Beebe,
January 18, 2023
As tax filing season begins, you may be wondering about recent efforts to strip the IRS of billions of dollars of funding. Last week, House Republicans voted to rescind the $80 billion in new IRS funding included in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. While this cut will not ultimately be enacted (the Democratically-controlled Senate will not pass the bill and President Biden has indicated he would veto it), it brings attention to the critical need for more – not reduced – IRS funding.
COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship, January 13, 2023
CHN Staff,
January 13, 2023
The XBB.1.5 edition. New COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are on the rise in many parts of the country. Hospitalizations in particular are at the highest level they’ve been in almost 11 months. Some of this increase was anticipated due to the aftermath of the holidays – a time when many family members and friends gather indoors. But the increase in caseloads is also due to the rapid emergence of XBB.1.5, which is more transmissible than any other omicron subvariant we’ve seen so far.
Biden Administration offers mixed — and disappointing — steps on immigration.
Dominique Espinoza,
January 13, 2023
On January 5, 2023, the Biden Administration announced new border enforcement measures aimed at increasing security at the border and reducing the number of individuals crossing unlawfully. The first policy announced is two-fold: it includes a new pathway for Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans with the requirement of having U.S.- based sponsors to enter the United States. But also announced is an expansion of Title 42, a policy that allows for the rapid expulsion of individuals back to those same countries without the opportunity to apply for asylum.
I was incarcerated. These are the consequences of prison predatory phone rates.
CHN Staff,
January 11, 2023
Have you ever had to choose between phoning your sick mother or brushing your teeth? How about between wearing shoes or calling your favorite niece to sing happy birthday? I’ve had to make these decisions before, and I don’t wish it on anyone — and that’s because I was once incarcerated.
The other January 6
David Elliot,
January 10, 2023
When one thinks of January 6, one remembers the tragic and awful events of two years ago at our nation’s Capitol – anarchy and chaos and insurrection. Democracy bent that day but did not break. But there is another January 6 that plays a role in our country’s history – a day that contributes seminally and in an aspirational sense to the molding of our character as a nation.
