Congress is embarking upon an extended recess this month and beyond – but advocates for better health care and paid leave for every worker are using the August recess to advocate for a budget bill that includes their priorities. Protect Our Care has announced a 19-state tour that kicks off in Bangor and Portland, Maine this Monday, August 9. The nationwide tour – its third – will call for lowering health care costs, expanding coverage, and reducing racial disparities in care. And Paid Leave For All kicked off its bus tour with a stop in Providence, Rhode Island on Monday, August 2.
Archives: Voices
The ‘worst national eviction crisis in U.S. history?’ How you can help.
Just one day before a federal moratorium on evictions expires, House and Senate Democrats, the Biden Administration, housing advocates and local and state officials in some jurisdictions scrambled Friday to avert a nationwide humanitarian disaster. But one slim hope was dashed. The House of Representatives could not find the votes to pass an extension of the moratorium on its last day before recess.
New report: Corporate tax avoidance under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act
A new report published this week by Matthew Gardner and Steve Wamhoff of the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) found that 39 profitable corporations in the S&P 500 or Fortune 500 paid no federal income tax from 2018 through 2020, the first three years that the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) was in effect. The 39 corporations were profitable in each of those three years and, as a group, reported to shareholders that they had generated $122 billion in profits during that period.
America’s next health challenge: How to care for millions with “long” covid
Even as the U.S. remains in the throes of the deadly pandemic, medical experts, health care advocates, and policy makers are turning their attention to a profound challenge: how to provide care and economic security for potentially millions of Americans facing long-term COVID-19-related disability. As of this week, some 34.5 million Americans are confirmed to have contracted COVID-19 since the pandemic began – the number could be significantly higher. New, emerging studies show one –fourth or more of the people who contract the virus suffer from some form of “long covid.”
Across the country, families are benefiting from expanded Child Tax Credit
The Coalition on Human Needs, working with Public News Service, is telling the stories of communities and families that are benefiting from the Child Tax Credit expansion. Here are seven stories that have been produced in the past eight days.
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship, July 23, 2021
The Pandemic of the Unvaccinated edition. New COVID-19 infections are on the rise in all 50 states, in some cases sharply. The Delta variant is flourishing, racing through the bodies of the unvaccinated, particularly in Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana, where most people have not received their shots, and in Florida, which critics say opened up too fully and too quickly. In Arkansas, where only 44.5 percent are fully vaccinated, there are 38 new cases per 100,000 residents. Contrast that with Vermont, with its 77.3 percent vaccination rate and just two cases per 100,000 residents.
Immigrant advocates: In wake of latest ruling, only Congress can permanently protect DREAMERS
Last week’s ruling from U.S. District Judge Andrew Hanen of Texas bars the government from approving applications from future DACA applicants. It does not, however, immediately affect nearly 650,000 who currently have DACA protection. Still: it highlights the legal uncertainty facing these individuals, many of whom do not even remember their original country because they left it at such an early age. And it is a stark reminder that the only solution for DACA recipients – and others such as Temporary Protected Status holders, farm workers, and other essential workers – is immigration reform in Congress.
CHN’s Podcast Episode 3: How to Ensure Equity Before and After Birth for All Families? Investments in Paid Leave and Child Care – A Conversation with Advocate Joy Spencer.
CHN’s latest Voices for Human Needs Podcast discusses the investments in paid leave and child care with advocate Joy Spencer, the Executive Director of Equity Before Birth, a member of MomsRising, and a single mother of a three-year-old. During our conversation, Joy shares how she is channeling her lived experiences as a working mother to advocate on behalf of improving health outcomes for Black mothers and their children in addition to expanding access to affordable child care options and paid leave opportunities for all working parents.
Breaking: The CTC expansion has arrived, and there is much to celebrate
During the recent congressional recess, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) traversed his state, speaking with families about the new Child Tax Credit. A mother told Brown that because she now will be able to afford child care, she is returning to work full time. Another mother said she is going to save for her daughter’s future education. A father said he is sending his boy to summer camp for the first time ever. And another parent said their daughter will now be able to play fast-pitch softball because the family can afford to purchase the equipment, for the first time.
Budget stabilizer: Child Tax Credit payments arrive for Wisconsin families
Advocates for working families in Wisconsin say it goes beyond cutting poverty rates. They say it will remove a lot of monthly budget pressure for scores of households. The tax credit, expanded under the American Rescue Plan, includes monthly payments of $250 to $300 for each child through the end of the year. The Coalition on Human Needs said nearly 1.2 million Wisconsin children will benefit from the overall expansion, and 46,000 kids will be lifted out of poverty. But advocates warn it’s just a temporary increase, and there are repeated calls to make it permanent.
CHN’s COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship July 9, 2021
The door-to-door-vaccination-drive edition. As of Thursday, 605,000 Americans have died of COVID-19. The CDC estimates that the more dangerous Delta variant now makes up a majority of new cases in the U.S. 67.1 percent of adults have at least one vaccine dose; 58.3 percent are fully vaccinated. The U.S. has been averaging fewer than 15,000 new cases a day for nearly a month. In recent days, however, the average number of new cases has started to trend slightly upward, driven largely by localized outbreaks in places with low vaccination rates, including parts of Missouri, Arkansas, and Nevada.
Millions of evictions are coming. And rental assistance can’t arrive soon enough.
With a federal moratorium set to expire in a matter of weeks, the Biden Administration, state and local officials, and housing advocates are scrambling to avoid what could soon be the biggest eviction crisis in U.S. history. Although the order provided a certain amount of protection for a time, the moratorium did nothing to help renters whose accumulated debt has grown larger and larger during the pandemic. Estimates vary as to how many American households are behind on their rent, but most experts put the number somewhere between 8 million and 13 million. Many of the estimated 30 million people living in these households will be at risk of eviction in a few short weeks.