In the United States, nearly 13 percent of people are food insecure, living without reliable access to basic nutrition. But the problem is even more dramatic on college campuses, where a recent study found that 48% of students report food insecurity and live without regular access to food. One solution campuses across the country increasingly are employing is on-campus emergency food pantries. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), in September 2018, more than 650 colleges reported having a food pantry on campus.
Archives: Voices
The U.S. Supreme Court, the Census, and the citizenship question
This Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments on whether the Department of Commerce may include a citizenship question as part of next year’s U.S. Census. Experts say including this question would result in as many as 6.5 million people declining to fill out and return their Census forms, particularly among immigrant and people of color communities, with children disproportionately among those left out.
New report documents the dismantling of consumer financial protection
Imagine that that the community where you live has a police department, a fire station, and emergency medical service. Yet calls to 911 go unanswered. And police officers, firefighters and ambulances never respond to actual emergencies. Now imagine that the nation’s largest consumer finance regulator and civil enforcement authority, launched in the wake of the 2008 Great Recession to protect the public from unscrupulous financial service providers, practically stopped providing any protection whatsoever. You don’t have to imagine. It actually is happening.
Trump and the courts: Why so much losing?
Baltimore Oriole slugger Chris Davis and President Trump have never met each other, at least as far as I know. But they actually have something in common. Davis, the first baseman for a team that has seen better days, recently set a Major League Baseball record when he managed to go hitless in 62 plate appearances. Trump, who talked a lot about “winning” when he was out on the campaign trail, has found himself on the losing side in federal court more than 63 times so far in his administration.
Building the American Dream: a documentary
By one measurement, Texas is home to four of the nation’s five fastest-growing cities with populations over 50,000. That creates a tremendous need for new housing, which in turn opens up a lot of construction jobs. There are about one million construction workers in Texas, almost half of whom are undocumented workers. “Building the American Dream” lays out just how vulnerable those workers are. Two of the most common problems are wage theft and job safety.
Register now: May 2 webinar on Trump Administration’s effort to repeal payday lending protections
Join the Coalition on Human Needs and Americans for Financial Reform for a webinar that will tell you all about rules that protect consumers from payday loans and other forms of predatory financing – and how the Trump Administration is trying to repeal those protections. The webinar is May 2 at 2 p.m. ET, 11 a.m. on the west coast. During the webinar, you’ll learn how to slow down the Administration’s efforts by commenting on the dangers of their proposal.
“Judge Flores…Judge Flores…Where are you when we need you?”
Complaining about a build-up of migrants at the border while visiting Calexico last week, President Trump blamed the build-up on “some very bad court decisions,” singling out the “Flores decision” as a “disaster.” I have to tell you, Judge Flores, whoever you may be, that decision is a disaster for our country,” Trump said. Problem: “Flores,” in this context, is not a judge. She was a 15-year-old girl named Jenny Lisette Flores, who fled El Salvador in the 1980s and was detained upon trying to enter the U.S. to live with her aunt.
The latest Human Needs Report: budget steps, disaster aid stalled, food assistance threatened, Dreamers update, and more
CHN just released another edition of the Human Needs Report. Read on for a the latest on Congress’s budget and spending work, stalled disaster aid for Puerto Rico, the loss of food assistance for millions, a new bill to protect Dreamers, and more.
Op-ed: Why Congress must lift the spending caps to help low-income families
Every year, the Coalition on Human needs compares funding for well over 150 human needs programs starting in fiscal year 2010 and continuing to the current fiscal year (this year, 2019). CHN uses 2010 as a benchmark because that is the year before the Budget Control Act passed Congress and was signed into law by President Obama. That law called for automatic cuts in spending if Congress could not curtail spending on its own. This year, CHN tracked spending for 184 human needs programs. CHN found that 131 of the programs, or 71 percent, lost ground since 2010. And 54 programs were cut by 25 percent or more.
Religious freedom advocates call on elected officials to protect the ability to practice faith without fear
More than 140 religious liberty advocates have signed on to a letter asking elected officials to ensure that individuals and communities are able to practice their religion without fear for their physical safety. Among the letter’s signers was CHN Executive Director Deborah Weinstein. The letter was delivered today to the White House and to leaders in Congress. The letter cited recent attacks in the U.S., New Zealand and Canada.
CLASP applauds court’s decision to protect Medicaid in Arkansas and Kentucky
Yesterday, the Federal District Court for the District of Columbia blocked the Trump Administration’s attempt to take away health coverage from people who can’t document new work reporting requirements in Kentucky and Arkansas. The judge concluded that the administration’s approvals of these new requirements were “arbitrary and capricious.”
What’s next for the ACA?
There’s a lot to unpack from President Trump’s decision, announced earlier this week, to join a federal lawsuit that seeks to overturn the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. Not surprisingly, the decision drew criticism from defenders of the ACA. What is noteworthy, however, is the volume of criticism coming from other sources – right-wing legal scholars, Republican senators, and even the Republican attorney general of Ohio, who announced he is intervening to oppose the Administration.