INCOME & WORK SUPPORTS UPDATE
AUGUST 2023
[[link removed]]

Main Feature
National Survey: Families Faced Financial Strain When Expanded CTC Expired [www.clasp.org/publications/report/brief/national-survey-families-faced-financial-strain-when-expanded-ctc-expired/]
This report presents findings from a survey of families with children conducted in July 2022 on the impacts of the child tax credit (CTC) in the United States and Puerto Rico. In 2021, the expanded CTC—in addition to being delivered monthly—also had a higher value, ranging up to $3,600 for the youngest children. Not surprisingly, once the monthly payments ended, families had harder time affording essentials like bills and food, facing more financial stress, and reporting higher levels of food hardship—all of which can be harmful to children. 

Secondary Feature
Congress Must Simplify Confusing SNAP Rules That Contribute to Food Insecurity among Immigrant Families
[[link removed]]
As Congress debate provisions to include in this year’s Farm bill, they should consider how deeply interwoven immigrants are into the social fabric, economy, and food supply chain of the United States. The future of SNAP must include immigrants and their families by removing the five-year bar and creating a SNAP program that supports immigrants when they need it.

Secondary Feature
Free Direct File Tool Would Promote Equity in Tax Code [[link removed]]
Filing taxes can be a headache and requires an average of 8 hours of painstaking steps and about $140 to pay for tax preparation.  The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has been evaluating a free direct e-file tool to make filing taxes easier and more accessible. This exciting tool would promote equity and ensure that more eligible people can access tax credits and refunds.

In the News
June 24, 2023 | Washington Post
Work rules for benefits programs deter low-income people from college, advocates say [link removed]
June 23, 2023 | The Center for Public Integrity
Why the way we measure poverty matters [link removed]
June 17, 2023 | C-SPAN Washington Journal
Elizabeth Lower-Basch on Food Insecurity and Assistance Benefit Programs [[link removed]]

IWS Updates
Prior to the August recess, House Republicans in most subcommittees passed harmful appropriations bills that would severely reduce funding for public benefits and limit access. The conservative-led House bills would:
• Cut the fruit and vegetable benefit in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children by at least half, affecting approximately 5 million participants;
• Expand harsh work-reporting requirements in SNAP to people aged 50 to 55, risking benefits for 1 million older adults;
• Zero out funding for the Family Unification Program that offers housing choice vouchers to families that have been separated by child protective services and need stable housing to reunite;
• Reduce funding for already underfunded housing programs such as public housing, Section 811, and Section 202, which provide housing for people with disabilities and elders, respectively; and
• Cut funding for several agencies that administer benefits including the Social Security Administration, the IRS, and the civil rights offices within the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health and Human Services.

Considering that current funding levels for many programs are not adequate to serve the number of people who need assistance, the House’s proposed cuts would limit benefits access for millions. While the Senate’s bipartisan appropriations bill does not invest enough in public benefits, it does avoid severe cuts to programs. Failure to reconcile discrepancies between the Senate and the House significantly increases the likelihood of a government shutdown or a continuing resolution.

Lawmakers failed to produce a draft of the Farm Bill before the August recess, with neither chamber having circulated any version. However, there is optimism that mark-up bills for the Farm Bill will be made available upon Congress's return in September. Both the appropriation bill and the Farm Bill face imminent deadlines of September 30th.
_ _ _

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) just released a national summary of April Medicaid unwinding data. In April 2023, out of 2.2 million renewals started, over 700,000 people were disenrolled from Medicaid. Of those disenrolled, 79% were due to procedural reasons, not ineligibility. In response to the high levels of procedural disenrollments, CMS paused Medicaid redeterminations in 12 states to address noncompliance with renewal requirements, and ten states have chosen to delay procedural terminations. You can read more about what we do and don't know from the Medicaid unwinding data in this blog [www.clasp.org/blog/what-we-do-and-dont-know-from-the-medicaid-unwinding-data/] 
---
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is seeking comments about the burdens people experience while trying to access housing or homelessness programs such as Section 8, public housing, or emergency shelters. Participating in any public benefits program requires submitting a great deal of paperwork. Unfortunately, the methods that agencies use to collect information about a person’s circumstances can create burdens that deter people from applying for or recertifying their benefits. The comment period has a tight turnaround, with submissions due August 14, 2023. We encourage anyone who has navigated housing and homelessness programs to share those experiences with HUD so they can try to make accessing programs less burdensome. Please download this document [docs.google.com/document/d/1YSO0tBbkdbhVUiEVuAAbwm46k589I0HyZeMyCAgCX2E/edit?usp=sharing] to guide you as you write about the burdens you’ve experienced. You can answer as few or as many of the questions as you like! All comments can be submitted at this link [[link removed]].

Key publications and blogs
July 31, 2023 | Ashley Burnside
Lawmakers Should Increase SSI Asset Limits to Promote Equity and Economic Opportunity [[link removed]]
The SSI program provides modest monthly benefits to people with disabilities and the elderly, but the program has rigid and outdated asset limits. A single person can only have $2,000 in assets to remain eligible for the program, and a couple can only have $3,000. Congress must increase the SSI asset limits to promote savings and economic opportunity for disabled people.

July 28, 2023 | Kayla Tawa, Emily Kim & Marissa Howdershelt
Giving the Young People What They Want: A Policy Framework for Youth Peer Support [[link removed]]
This paper seeks to answer how a non-clinical practice like youth peer support can be reimbursed by Medicaid without being incorporated into a medicalized model. Receiving Medicaid reimbursement for youth-led peer support requires states to explore creative payment options under Medicaid.

July 18, 2023 | CLASP & Partners
Statement for the Record on DACA Health Care Rule [[link removed]]
This defensive statement was submitted to the House Committee on Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services for a hearing entitled “Why Expanding Medicaid to DACA Recipients Will Exacerbate the Border Crisis.” By specifically excluding DACA recipients from those classified as “lawfully present” and “lawfully residing” for the purposes of Medicaid eligibility, hundreds of thousands of youth and young adults have been denied affordable health care for far too long.

July 13, 2023 | Indivar Dutta-Gupta
25 Years of Progress for Children [[link removed]]
CLASP’s President and Executive Director testified to the Senate Finance Committee’s Subcommittee on Taxation and Oversight about the Child Tax Credit (CTC), its history and track record, and what Congress should do now. He urged Congress to expand the CTC and make it fully refundable.

What we’re reading
Tax Policy Center | Reviewing Three Years of State Tax Cuts [[link removed]]

Consumer Finance Protection Bureau | Even as rents increase, fewer people are buying [[link removed] ]

The Washington Post | Push to tie Medicaid to work is making a comeback. Georgia is at forefront. [[link removed]]

Bridge Michigan | Michigan’s new anti-poverty effort: $7,500 for Flint moms, no strings attached [[link removed]]


CLASP.ORG [[link removed]] | MAKE A DONATION [[link removed]] | UNSUBSCRIBE [unsubscribe: [link removed] ] [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]] [link removed] [[link removed]]
CLASP • 1310 L St. NW, Suite 900 • Washington, D.C. xxxxxx • (202) 906-8000onAddress}}
If you believe you received this message in error or wish to no longer receive email from us, please unsubscribe: [link removed] .