“These budgets massively disinvest in the country, and then they shred the social safety net… That is actually a recipe for putting a lot more people into poverty and eliminating opportunity.” – House Budget Committee Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) I listened to Rep. Van Hollen make this comment…
Archives: Voices
Americans Low Savings Rate A Bad Sign for Good Economy
This post was originally published on The Fiscal Times on April 26. We’re supposed to be enjoying an economic recovery since the Great Recession of 2008-2009 – yet many economists have questioned whether the last five years have been much of a “recovery.” Judging from the mood of the American…
Raise the Wage Act Would Help Millions of Working Families
Below is the Coalition on Human Needs’ statement supporting the Murray-Scott legislation to increase the minimum wage to $12 an hour. For sample tweets (with key facts) and graphics you can share with your networks to show support for this legislation, see this related blog post. Coalition on Human Needs Celebrates Introduction of Raise…
TANF’s Not Alright
[Editor’s Note: Today, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources is holding a hearing about Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Below you’ll find a very timely post by Indi Dutta-Gupta and Kali Grant, both of Georgetown University’s Project on Deep Poverty. The hearing is titled “Ideas for Improve Welfare…
Raise the Wage Act would increase minimum wage to $12 by 2020
Please join us for a #RaiseTheWage Twitterstorm on Thursday, April 30th, 1-2 pm ET, in support of the introduction of the Raise the Wage Act, which would raise the federal minimum wage to $12 by 2020. Tomorrow the Raise the Wage Act will be introduced by Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA) and…
Human Needs Report: Closing in on a joint budget resolution, CHIP extension, Estate Tax Repeal and more
CHN just released our latest edition of the Human Needs Report, our regular newsletter on national policy issues affecting low-income and vulnerable populations. This edition includes articles on the latest steps in the FY2016 congressional budget resolutions process, the beginning of appropriations season, CHIP extension, and the House repeal of the Estate Tax. See below…
When a Paycheck Isn’t Enough
“When jobs don’t pay enough, workers turn to public assistance in order to meet their basic needs. These programs provide vital support to millions of working families whose employers pay less than a livable wage.” – The High Public Cost of Low Wages Public assistance programs are indeed vital to…
A Town Hall with Substance!
[Editor’s Note: Richelle Friedman, CHN’s Director of Public Policy, attended a town hall meeting held by Senator Bernie Sanders. Her reflections on the event are below.] An enthusiastic crowd of 150 gathered at a church in northwest DC to hear from Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), described by one attendee as a…
Head Smacker: House Gives Millions of Dollars More to Wealthiest 5,000 Families
Yesterday, the House voted (270-179) to give millions of dollars more to heirs of the wealthiest estates in America and to add the $269 billion cost of doing so to our growing deficit, all while continuing to claim they care about poverty reduction, inequality, and reducing our debt. By repealing…
Your voice is needed: Sign by April 15 to tell Congress to #StopTheCuts
Sign to tell Congress to vote for investments, not wasteful spending. The Senate and House are making critical budget decisions that will deeply affect all Americans in 2016. All members of Congress need to hear from constituents before April 15 that cuts to programs that help Americans are not acceptable….
Care about inequality?
Do you think a tax change that would provide $269 billion to estates of millionaires and billionaires over the next decade would worsen or lessen inequality? Next week, the House of Representatives will vote on a bill (H.R. 1105) to repeal the estate tax, to give $269 billion to the…
Proposed budget cuts would be devastating, but it’s not too late
See below for a re-cap of the #StopTheCuts tweetchat and learn more about what must (and can!) be done. Then take action! There are deep, devastating cuts to critical programs that help children and families proposed in both the Senate and House budget resolutions that were recently passed. CHN, the…