The Center mourns the loss of Paul Rudd, an esteemed member of CBPP’s Board of Directors since 2008, who passed away this week at age 47.

This week at CBPP, we focused on COVID-19 and the economy.

• On COVID-19, Michael Leachman explained that new economic projections from the Congressional Budget Office suggest even bigger state shortfalls. LaDonna Pavetti and Peggy Bailey urged policymakers to boost the safety net to help people with the fewest resources pay for basics during the crisis. Michael Mazerov stressed that loans are no substitute for direct aid to help states weather the COVID recession. Samantha Washington pointed out that the IRS’ challenges in issuing stimulus checks make clear that years of ill-advised funding cuts have left the agency understaffed and technologically out of date. We updated our fact sheet finding that most states are easing SNAP participation rules and providing added benefits in response to COVID-19.
   
• On the economy, we updated our backgrounder on how many weeks of unemployment compensation are available and our chart book tracking the post-Great Recession economy.

Chart of the Week — COVID-19 State Budget Shortfalls Could Be Largest on Record

A variety of news outlets featured CBPP’s work and experts this past week. Here are some of the highlights:

State Unemployment Funds Going Broke From Flood of Claims
Bloomberg
April 30, 2020

White House seeking tax breaks for business, consumers in COVID-19 stimulus package
McClatchy
April 30, 2020

Why the US shouldn’t let states go bankrupt
Vox
April 29, 2020

Coronavirus-hammered state budgets worse off than feared
Roll Call
April 29, 2020

Editorial: Letting state governments go bankrupt is a terrible idea
Los Angeles Times
April 28, 2020

As Trump puts partisan spin on federal aid for states, Republicans and Democrats warn of coming financial calamity
Washington Post
April 27, 2020

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