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Families & The Federal Budget

Head Smacker: Rental Assistance to Families with Children Falls as Need Rises

June 6, 2016
High rents, especially when combined with flat wages and an economic recovery that hasn’t reached low-income families, means an increased need for rental assistance. Unfortunately, however, a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that the number of families with children receiving federal rent subsidies has fallen by over 250,000 since 2004 and is at its lowest point in more than a decade, despite rising need.
Lecia Imbery's picture

Hiroshima and the Hope President: Tell Obama Not to Spend $1 Trillion on Nukes!

May 27, 2016
This week, President Barack Obama will make a historic visit to Hiroshima: the first place on earth where human beings were subject to the devastation of a nuclear weapon, dropped by the United States. He will be the first sitting U.S. president to make the trip. It’s worth celebrating this bit of...
Lindsay Koshgarian's picture

SNAP, TANF, and a Better Path

May 26, 2016
The nation’s core economic security programs are highly effective: they cut poverty almost in half, improve nutrition and health care for millions of people, and promote work. Protecting and strengthening anti-poverty programs is of utmost importance. That’s why the Coalition on Human Needs will be hosting a live-streamed event on June 16, 1-3pm ET, highlighting the good these programs do, how certain proposals would lessen their effectiveness and ways they can be improved upon.
Lecia Imbery's picture

Fact of the Week: 1 in 3 Moms Struggle to Pay for Diapers

May 23, 2016
Everyone knows babies go through a lot of diapers. But for low-income families, the cost of diapers often forces them to go without another necessity, like food or heat. For many, it can force them to leave babies in soiled diapers longer than they’d like, leading to physical and mental health issues for baby and mom. Despite the fact that families in the bottom fifth of the income ladder with infants spend 14 percent of their income for diapers alone, there is currently no federal assistance for purchasing diapers.
Lecia Imbery's picture

This Win Is Yours!

May 20, 2016
Yesterday the White House and Department of Labor announced a HUGE VICTORY for workers and it is all because of you!!! [1] The rules for overtime pay were changed so now 12.5 million more workers, including 6.4 million women, many of whom are moms, will be able to get paid for all the hours they...
Elyssa Schmier's picture

A Hug from Paul Ryan

May 17, 2016
Hugs are nice. But hunger advocates such as Tianna Gaines-Turner want policy-makers and members of Congress to know that as nice as a hug is, it does not put food on the table, workers in good-paying jobs, or families in affordable, secure housing. On Monday, Gaines-Turner, who lives in...
David Elliot's picture

Cellphones Bigger than a Backpack (Or Why Universal Preschool Isn’t a Priority)

May 11, 2016
VHS tapes, 8-tracks, a computer bigger than your car. Some things are better left in the past. Huge Pentagon budgets should be one of them. Although we are supposed to be ramping down efforts in Afghanistan, Congress continues funding the U.S. military at historically high levels: In 2016 we will...
Lindsay Koshgarian's picture

What Moms Really Need for Mother's Day

May 6, 2016
Flowers are purchased, cards are mailed and brunch reservations are made. Mother’s Day is here again. But what many moms really need for this holiday is something much different – and much more substantial. Just in time for Mother’s Day, the Department of Labor held an event yesterday to discuss...
Lecia Imbery's picture

Child Watch® Column: Stories of Mother Love

May 6, 2016
As we celebrate mothers and grandmothers, foster mothers, and all those who step in to parent children in need, let’s pledge to take responsibility not only for our own children and grandchildren but for all children or at least for one child who may not be our own.
Marian Wright Edelman's picture

Fact of the Week: Number of Children Benefiting from Federal Low-income Child Care Program at 16 Year Low

May 2, 2016
The number of children receiving child care funded by the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) fell to a 16-year low, according the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP ). The CCDBG is the primary source of federal funding for helping low-income families pay for child care, with half...
Lecia Imbery's picture

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