Monthly Archives: May 2005
- CHN: Head Start Bill Moves in House — Without Block Grant
A bill that reauthorizes Head Start cleared a key House committee on Wednesday, May 18 with bipartisan support. The 40-year-old early education program targets low-income 3- and 4-year olds and has long been viewed as a success by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress. The School Readiness Act (H.R. 2123), agreed to unanimously by the Read More »
Posted in Budget and Appropriations, Early Childhood Education, Education and Youth Policy Comments Off - CHN: Senate HELP Committee Approves Workforce Training Bill
The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee voted unanimously to report S. 1021, a bill reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998. The bill differs from the controversial version passed out of the House of Representatives, H.R. 27, in two key ways. First, the Senate bill does not include language consolidating adult, Read More »
Posted in Job Training and Education, Labor and Employment Comments Off - CHN: Minimum Wage Bill Introduced
The minimum wage has remained at $5.15 an hour for the past eight years. During this period, inflation has eaten away nearly one-sixth of the minimum wage’s buying power. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) and Representative George Miller (D-CA) are again attempting to correct this slide by introducing legislation to raise the minimum wage to $7.25 Read More »
Posted in Labor and Employment, Minimum Wage Comments Off - CHN: President Proposes Benefit Cuts That are Not Progressive; Plans’ Architect Turns Against Private Accounts
In late April, President Bush unveiled a new version of his proposal to partially privatize Social Security. He endorsed an idea first proposed by investment executive Robert Pozen to introduce sliding-scale benefit reductions that would, according to the President, shield the poor from cuts. Despite the label of “progressive price indexing” that Pozen and his Read More »
Posted in Social Security Comments Off - CHN: Administration-Appointed Commission to Draw Plans for Cutting $10 Billion From Medicaid
After promising Congressional allies of Medicaid that a commission would be formed to make sound policy recommendations for the program, the Bush Administration has now made clear its intention to appoint all the voting members of the commission on its own. The move follows a months-long struggle on the part of Medicaid allies to prevent Read More »
Posted in Budget and Appropriations, Health, Medicaid Comments Off - CHN: Reconciliation Instructions Put Human Needs Programs at Risk
Armed with the budget blueprint they approved on April 28, members of Congress are beginning to contemplate how to meet the blueprint’s requirements to cut spending on low-income programs. In June and July, Congressional committees will begin writing legislation that will cut spending and reduce taxes as part of the reconciliation process. But tough talk Read More »
- CHN: Congress Ponders Multiple Tax Cuts
Despite a record-high federal deficit, Congress may be contemplating a collection of tax cuts this year, many of which are expected to benefit the well-off. The budget resolution approved on April 28 makes room for $100 billion in tax cuts over five years, but does not specify which taxes shall be cut. Of this amount, Read More »
Posted in Budget and Appropriations, Health, Labor and Employment, Social Security, Tax Policy Comments Off - CHN: The President’s Proposed Benefit Cuts: Not Progressive, Not Voluntary, Not Necessary
President Bush, in his press conference last week, proposed cutting Social Security for some beneficiaries in order to improve the program’s solvency. Unfortunately, as a recent paper from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities explains, the President’s proposed cuts 1) are not progressively targeted but rather squeeze the middle class, 2) are not voluntary Read More »
Posted in Social Security Comments Off
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