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 latest edition looks at the battle in Congress over funding for the Department of Homeland Security and immigration, the ongoing FY 2016 budget hearings in the House…
Archives: Voices
Sign to tell Congress to invest in America and stop the budget cuts
A few weeks ago we took to Twitter to rally and tell Congress to #StopTheCuts. With your help we raised our voices and even got #StopTheCuts trending in DC. We’re still working hard to show Congress that people across the country want economic security for all of us, not just…
Help Protect Social Security and Disability Insurance
Yesterday we joined with the Center for American Progress, Social Security Works, and organizations and individuals from around the country for a Twitterstorm telling Congress to save Social Security and the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) Trust Fund. Below is what some of you had to say. Thank you for raising…
Fact of the Week: Half of New Jobs Pay Less than a Living Wage
A few weeks ago, our Fact of the Week highlighted the historically low percentage of jobless workers who are receiving unemployment insurance benefits. We noted that unemployment and underemployment remain high, despite the growth in the number of jobs in recent years. But there’s another part of this story –…
Fact of the Week: Half of Low-Wage Workers Don’t Have a Single Paid Day Off
Almost half of workers in the lowest 25 percent of wage earners have no paid time off at all – not a single paid sick day, personal day, or vacation day, and no paid family or medical leave. For the lowest 10 percent of wage earners, the situation gets worse:…
Head Smacker: House Spends Billions on Business Tax Breaks, Leaves out Low-Income People
Last week was a big week for corporate tax breaks in the House of Representatives. Between Thursday and Friday, the full House passed a series of tax breaks for businesses at a cost of more than $93 billion over 10 years. The bills would make these breaks permanent parts of…
Do you realize how much your restaurant server needs your tip?
The shame of the $2.13 tipped minimum wage in the U.S. “There’s nothing worse than working a full-time job serving people food and going hungry yourself. Servers should be able to afford to put a roof over our heads, feed ourselves and our families and live our lives without fear…
Fact of the Week: Share of Jobless Workers Receiving Unemployment Insurance at Record Low
“There are a lot of people truly hurting… This isn’t just affecting individuals, but families, too…. You go from providing for yourself and your family and then, through no fault of your own, you can’t anymore. You send in application after application after application and sometimes you hear back but sometimes…
Human Needs Report: President’s FY16 Budget Request Paves Road for Needed Investments
This week the Coalition on Human Needs released a special edition of the Human Needs Report analyzing the President’s FY2016 budget request. The report provides an overview of the White House budget with sections on taxes, revenues, and select departmental funding that most directly impact low-income and other disadvantaged populations. The…
Keep Raising Your Voice with #StopTheCuts
Yesterday we partnered with MomsRising.org, MoveOn.org and more than 20 other organizations for a Twitterstorm telling Congress to #StopTheCuts to critical human needs programs in the 2016 budget. With your help and action we got #StopTheCuts trending in DC on Twitter! From the benefits of SNAP to the need for…
Fact of the Week: We Can Reduce Child Poverty in America by 60 Percent Through an Investment Equal to Only 2 Percent of the Federal Budget
“Child poverty is too expensive to continue.” That’s what Children’s Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman said in unveiling their new report, Ending Child Poverty Now. Remarkably, a dramatic reduction in child poverty is not too expensive to undertake. An increase of just 2 percent of the federal budget put…
Tell Congress it’s time to #StopTheCuts
This coming Monday the President will present his budget request to Congress for FY2016. We look forward to reviewing the President’s proposals, and we’ve already heard about important investments he’d make in child care and community college. We’ve heard he will start to reverse damaging cuts to human needs programs….