Arloc Sherman
Center on Budget
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Past articles by Arloc:
Year-End Tax Policy Priority: Expand the Child Tax Credit for the 19 Million Children Who Receive Less Than the Full Credit
Policymakers should not enact any year-end corporate tax breaks without expanding the Child Tax Credit. → Read More
What to Know About Next Week’s Poverty, Income, and Health Insurance Figures for 2021
The figures will show the impact of extraordinary government efforts to bolster economic security and health coverage in the second year of the COVID-19 pandemic, including new data on the reduction in child poverty due to the expanded Child Tax Credit. → Read More
New Data on Hardship Underscore Continued Need for Substantial COVID Relief
Tens of millions of people are struggling to meet basic needs, according to the most recent Census data released on December 2, yet core parts of the relief that policymakers provided this spring have already expired or are slated to expire by the end of the year. → Read More
Immigrants Contribute Greatly to U.S. Economy, Despite Administration’s “Public Charge” Rule Rationale
The Department of Homeland Security’s recently finalized “public charge” rule directs immigration officials to reject applications from individuals who seek to remain in or enter the U.S. lawfully if they have received — or are judged more likely than not to receive in the future — any of an array of public benefits that are tied to need. The rule will have two main impacts. → Read More
Work Requirements for Cash Assistance Fueled Rise in Deep Poverty
Promoting the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program as a model, some state and federal policymakers are considering, or have imposed, policies to take away SNAP (food stamps), Medicaid, or housing assistance from people who don’t work or engage in work-related activities for a specified number of hours each month. → Read More
Census: Programs Eyed for Cuts Keep Millions from Poverty
Economic security programs like SNAP (food stamps), the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), and Social Security kept millions of people above the poverty line in 2017, the new Census figures show. President Trump and the House Budget Committee have called for deep cuts in several of the programs that, the data show, reduce poverty. → Read More
Census Chief Scientist: Citizenship Question Reduces Accuracy, Raises Costs
As I noted in March, the Trump Administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census will likely make the count less accurate and costlier. A newly released internal memo shows that the Census Bureau’s chief scientist told Administration officials the same thing — and also told them that the question was unnecessary to meet the Administration’s stated goals. → Read More
Citizenship Question Jeopardizes Census Accuracy, Undermines Funding Progress
The Trump Administration’s decision to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census will not only reduce responses by immigrants and thereby make the count less accurate, experts say, but it also could trigger new costs that offset part of the added census funding that the President and Congress just provided. → Read More
Don’t Underfund the Census, AEI and CBPP Researchers Agree
The American Enterprise Institute’s Andrew Biggs and I are together urging Congress to adequately fund the Census Bureau as it prepares for the 2020 census. → Read More
Census Data Show Robust Progress Across the Board in 2016 in Income, Poverty, and Health Coverage
Two consecutive years of progress on all three measures Is unprecedented. → Read More
What to Look for in Next Week’s Census Figures on Poverty, Income, and Health Insurance
Four points are worth noting in advance of the release. → Read More
Economic Security Programs Help Low-Income Children Succeed Over Long Term, Many Studies Find
Economic security programs can blunt these negative effects of poverty and bring poor children closer to equal opportunity, numerous studies find. → Read More
Census Funding in Crisis
Despite the need to ramp up preparations for the fast-approaching 2020 census, President Trump’s 2018 budget would boost funding for the Census Bureau by just 2 percent ($27 million) next year — far less than what’s needed to ensure a successful census. The House Appropriations Committee’s proposed bill, released today, does little better, providing just $10 million more than the President. → Read More
Obama’s, and the Safety Net’s, Anti-Poverty Achievement
With President Obama leaving office, it’s worth recalling, with updated data, one of his notable achievements: the 2009 Recovery Act, which helped prevent a historic rise in poverty despite the worst recession since the 1930s. → Read More
Social Security Keeps 22 Million Americans Out of Poverty: A State-By-State Analysis
Social Security benefits play a vital role in reducing poverty in every state. Without Social Security, 22.1 million more Americans would be poor. → Read More
Pediatricians: Safety Net Key to Children’s Health and Development
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) called on policymakers this week to do more for children’s health and development — and some of its strongest words concerned not health care but families’ economic security and opportunity. → Read More
Chart Book: The War on Poverty at 50, Section 3
Census data and new research show that the safety net today both keeps tens of millions of people above the poverty line and has positive longer-term impacts on children, including improved educational and employment outcomes. → Read More
Strengthening the EITC for Childless Workers Would Promote Work and Reduce Poverty
Working childless adults are the lone group that the federal tax code taxes into or deeper into poverty, largely because they are also the only group largely excluded from the Earned Income Tax Credit. → Read More
Citing Poverty’s Toll on Children, Pediatricians Call for Stronger Safety Net
Pediatricians have unique insights into children’s health and development, so yesterday’s statement by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) that “child poverty in the United States unacceptable and detrimental to the health and well-being of children” that calls for increased aid to poor children and their families deserves close attention. → Read More
Chart Book: The War on Poverty at 50, Section 2
Many changes in American society over the last 50 years have affected poverty. Some have exerted upward pressure on poverty, such as an increase in the share of economic gains going to top earners, higher rates of single parenthood, and diminished labor market prospects for less-skilled workers. At the same time, it’s often overlooked that other trends have pushed in the other direction, such as… → Read More