This week the House Budget Committee advanced legislation to create a fiscal commission – a move that many warn could fast-track cuts to Social Security and Medicare, as well as a wide swath of non-defense discretionary programs important to the human needs community. During a Thursday hearing that lasted almost four hours, it was apparent – time and again – that cuts to Social Security and Medicare are on the table.
Archives: Voices
CHN’s Human Needs Watch: Tracking Hardship, January 13, 2024
The Child Tax Credit expansion edition. House and Senate negotiators reportedly are close to reaching a deal on expanding the Child Tax Credit (CTC), although final details remain uncertain. There are at least 19 million reasons to expand the CTC – that’s the number of kids who don’t receive the full credit (or any credit at all) because their families do not earn enough money. The proposal as reported so far would improve the credit for about 80 percent of those children and lift an estimated 400,000 above the poverty line, as estimated by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
More than 1,100 groups oppose cuts to non-defense discretionary funding in letter to Congress
The Coalition on Human Needs joined more than 1,100 local, state, and national groups in urging Congress to reject harsh cuts in federal funding and instead to push ahead to finish the FY24 appropriations process, using the bipartisan Senate funding framework as a starting point for negotiations. In a letter, the groups warned that a lengthy continuing resolution “would be disastrous for the capacity of the federal government to serve the public, assist those in need, fuel innovation, and address national and global threats.”
CHN statement: There is still a long way for Congress to go to meet our nation’s needs
After many months, Congressional leaders have reaffirmed the funding levels agreed to as part of the negotiation to avoid a federal default last year. Members of the Coalition on Human Needs have waited with increasing concern that congressional failure to act would result in millions of people losing vital help, limiting their ability to afford rent, food, heat, health care, and much more. We very much hope that confirming the spending framework will result in quick steps forward to make funding decisions that meet current needs.
America’s drug addiction epidemic is a real emergency. Let’s treat it like one.
Some congressional critics, ultra-conservative think tanks, and certain media vehemently dispute the need for domestic funds and services. Not real emergencies, they say. For those of us committed to social justice and providing essential human services that these funds support, it’s disheartening to hear the bogus, self-righteous arguments made in opposition to our advocacy efforts.
Voices for Human Needs: A quick look at 2023 in review
A special note to our readers: In 2023, we avoided a number of disasters on the human needs front. There was no government shutdown. There was no default on the national debt. In most instances, we avoided debilitating cuts in government funding to the programs that so many people depend on. Right-wingers in Congress threatened massive cuts and default, but their efforts were turned back, for this year, at least.
Celebrating the resilience of low-income women
It’s been a difficult few years for poor people in this country. Just a year after the pandemic era safety net expansion saw poverty fall to its lowest level on record, we saw a historic 60 percent increase as those programs expired. Women and children have been among the hardest hit. In 2022, the last year we have data for, at least 32 million women and children were living in poverty. Despite that hardship, I feel some hope.
Advocates warn of the cost of cutting IRS funding
The Coalition on Human Needs and more than 50 groups sent a letter to House and Senate leaders warning of proposed cuts to the IRS – cuts that would harm the agency’s ability to provide customer service and pursue wealthy tax cheats while actually increasing the nation’s deficit.
CHN’s Human Needs Watch: Tracking Hardship, December 18, 2023
The bipartisanship edition. When many Americans view Congress these days, they see partisan gridlock. Yes, gridlock is painfully real on many issues, including the basic issues of how to fund government – and what to fund in government. Already there is talk of possible government shutdown(s) in January and February because more extremist members in the House are pushing back on topline spending levels passed as a part of the debt ceiling package with bipartisan support earlier this year..
Advocates sound alarm on negotiations that could alter border policy, harm immigrants
Immigrant advocacy groups and other human rights activists are sounding the alarm as policymakers seek ways to push through permanent and substantial changes to immigration policy in a supplemental funding measure that would provide billions in international aid. Republicans are holding up the measure unless President Biden agrees to restrictions relating to what they call “border security.”
353 Groups tell Congress: Expand the Child Tax Credit to lift children out of poverty
This week, 353 groups, including the Coalition on Human Needs, signed a letter, delivered to every member of Congress, urging members to expand the Child Tax Credit and to do so in a way that particularly helps children in families with the lowest incomes. You can view the letter in its entirety and see who signed here.
Bipartisan legislation could elevate SSI into the 21st century, encourage savings, and make life easier for people with disabilities
Eddie felt he had met the love of his life after meeting Jen, becoming her boyfriend, and eventually proposing marriage – she said yes. But then reality – in the form of America’s antiquated SSI system – intruded. Eddie, who lives in an adult foster home, has an Intellectual and Developmental Disorder. Jen has a spinal condition that requires 24-hour medical assistance. Both receive Supplemental Security Income benefits. Both say they could lose benefits, including SSI, if they got married because of punitive rules that disqualify single people or married couples if they earn too much or save too much.