Saturday, April 16, 2022
Even for a naturally industrious woman like Del Toro – who worked 12 hours a day and six days week at a furniture manufacturing plant and earned the nickname “the monster” for her work ethic – making ends meet has become an all-consuming task. When the...
Tuesday, January 25, 2022
The Build Back Better bill has stalled. On one point, we agree with Senator Joe Manchin that it is time for Congress to start with a “clean sheet of paper” by evaluating how each policy in the legislation betters American society. In this...
Saturday, October 23, 2021
It’s difficult for kids to go to school ready to learn when they’re hungry, battling toxic stress or experiencing any number of the devastating effects of poverty. As a former teacher, I ask that Congress make the Child Tax Credit (CTC) benefit...
Friday, October 1, 2021
Budget reconciliation negotiations among Democrats have hit an impasse over Senator Joe Manchin’s worries about extending the Child Tax Credit (CTC) without a work requirement. As he put it in his agreement with Majority Leader Chuck Schumer,...
Friday, September 24, 2021
With COVID-19’s disruptions in employment, child care, and education, it is unsurprising that child poverty substantially increased in 2020—roughly 1.2 million more children were living in poverty in 2020 when compared to 2019 (an increase from 15.7% to...
Thursday, September 23, 2021
Greg DeLaat canceled a job interview for a phone call that took eight months and two state lawmakers to nail down. The 57-year-old Parma man owes at least $21,000 in unemployment benefits that he never received. Despite having a master's degree...
Friday, September 17, 2021
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) today released a report warning that millions of renters and their families may suffer previously avoided economic harms of the COVID-19 pandemic as federal and state relief programs end. The report, “...
Monday, August 30, 2021
The dangerous delta variant is spreading. The future of schools is unclear. And millions of workers are about to be kicked off unemployment. On Labor Day, expanded unemployment benefits put in place in response to the pandemic are set to expire, and...
Friday, August 27, 2021
The sudden and unexpected arrival of the new child tax credit has thrown the future of the traditional welfare program into question. The two share the same goals: eliminating child poverty and many of its miserable consequences. They offer much the...
Tuesday, August 24, 2021
The share of Americans living in poverty shrank to an estimated 9.2% in 2020, according to the Urban Institute, a think tank that closely tracks this rate with a widely used model. There were 29.3 million Americans living below the poverty line, the...