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INCOME & WORK SUPPORTS UPDATE
DECEMBER 2022
Main feature
State Opportunities to Provide Health Care Coverage for Child Care Professionals [[link removed]]
States are grappling with how to more effectively support their child care workforce, including ensuring providers have access to affordable health care. Just like parents, frontline early education professionals are better able to support children in their care when they are healthy.
Secondary feature
Year-End Congressional Priorities to Advance Economic Equity, Opportunity [[link removed]]
Despite a new legislative agenda when the 118th Congress is sworn in on January 3, 2023, there’s still time for the current Congress to act on a range of issues important to economic equity and opportunity. CLASP will be monitoring the Hill closely as we focus on advancing a permanent Child Tax Credit (CTC) and other key supports for people with low incomes.
Families Need a Fully Refundable, Monthly Child Tax Credit [[link removed]]
The 2021 Child Tax Credit (CTC) expansions demonstrated that monthly cash payments provided with little administrative burden effectively reduce child poverty and food insecurity. Congress allowed these payments to lapse at the end of 2021 but can restore them now. Federal policymakers shouldn’t provide corporations with tax relief without also helping families.
IWS Update
Like many of you, we began November holding our breath to see how the midterm elections would play out. We saw that while our democracy remains under threat, it is more resilient than many had feared. One striking figure is that only four percent of young people think that we are living in a “healthy democracy.” Yet young people turned out strong to make the difference in many races. They understand that the best way to respond to threats to democracy is engagement—not just in the voting booth.
The election also showed that voters care about both economic security and abortion rights, demonstrating that these two issues do not need to be pitted against each other. In addition to the failure of abortion restrictions in Kentucky and Montana, and the passage of protections in Michigan, California, and Vermont; voters supported Medicaid expansion in South Dakota; minimum wage increases in Nevada and Nebraska; an end to the subminimum wage for tipped workers in the District of Columbia; free school meals for all in Colorado; and a constitutional amendment to fund child care in New Mexico. Our team was ecstatic to see the success of these important ballot initiatives.
The IWS team and the Community Partnership Group (CPG) have been busy with presentations this month, with more events coming up soon.
Recent Events
- The CPG presented their anti-racist vision for SNAP, which challenged advocates not to limit our policy asks to what feels “possible” as we enter the fight for improvements to the 2023 farm bill.
- Senior Policy Analyst Suzanne Wikle participated in a plenary session about Medicaid for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. The discussion included planning for the “unwinding” of Medicaid when the COVID-related continuous coverage provisions end, steps advocates should take, and the anticipated inequities in Medicaid coverage loss by race and ethnicity.Senior
- Policy Analyst Ashley Burnside presented at a breakout session about the expanded CTC and its positive impacts for children and families during the Alliance for Early Success CONNECT conference.
- Research Assistant Jessi Russell was invited to speak about the housing insecurity for Gen Z at an event hosted by the Congressional Hunger Center.
Upcoming Events
- Senior Policy Analyst Parker Gilkesson will be presenting at a virtual briefing, on Monday, December 19th at 12:00pm EST, that will examine how the lifetime SNAP/TANF drug conviction ban continues to harm families and why the time for repeal is now. You can register here.
- On December 14, Elizabeth Lower-Basch will speak at Jobs for the Future’s Good Jobs Challenge Convening about the importance of providing support to help individuals move along their career pathways and into high-quality jobs. You can learn more about the event here.
Key publications and blogs
December 7, 2022 | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the Community Partnership Group
SNAP: Fighting Hunger & Feeding Futures [link removed]
December 1, 2022 | Rachel Wilensky
ARPA Saved Child Care, But Recovery Requires Significant Federal Funding [link removed]
November 30, 2022 | Sapna Mehta
Paid leave – not just a women’s issue [link removed]
November 16, 2022 | Lorena Roque
Worker Flexibility and Choice Act: The Corporate Attempt at Stripping Labor Protections [link removed]
What we’re reading
Center for American Progress | [link removed]
How Dehumanizing Administrative Burdens Harm Disabled People
Tax Policy Center | Does The Child Tax Credit Reduce Child Poverty Or Discourage Work? [link removed]
Southern Economic Advancement Project | Engagement & Equity First: Opportunities and Challenges for Federal Funding Implementation [link removed]
Urban Institute | Immigrant Families Faced Multiple Barriers to Safety Net Programs in 2021 [link removed]
CT Insider | Why half of affordable housing vouchers in CT go unused: ‘A slamming door in my face’ [link removed]
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