As Hurricane Florence prepares to make landfall somewhere in the Carolinas, many who live along the Eastern Seaboard are questioning whether federal authorities are prepared to help them weather the disaster. And President Trump doesn’t seem to be helping – neither do reports out this week about alleged corrupt conduct…
Archives: Voices
Progress in Fighting Poverty Slows — And for the First Time in Years, the Number of Uninsured Americans Does Not Significantly Decline
Editor’s note: CHN on Wednesday, Sept. 12 issued the following statement in response to the U.S. Census Bureau’s latest census and poverty data. For more information, please visit our 2017 Census and Poverty Data Resource Page. After years of progress, the decline in the poverty rate slowed between 2016 and…
Kavanaugh Hearings: Justice Kennedy Was a Voice of Reason on Youth Justice, Now What?
Editor’s note: This piece was written by Brian Evans, State Campaigns Director at Campaign for Youth Justice. It was originally published on CFYJ’s blog on September 5. CHN is urging national-scope organizations to sign a letter opposing Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the Supreme Court. Additional signers will be accepted until 11am…
You can teach kids hard work, but feed them first
Editor’s note: The following piece is cross-posted from OtherWords. Growing up, I hated being on “food stamps.” I hated being walked into a welfare office and inspected, queried to make sure we were really our mother’s children. I hated standing in line at the grocery store, knowing we weren’t going…
President Trump’s Labor Day contempt for workers
It’s Labor Day Weekend. President Trump has just ordered a pay freeze for federal workers to start in January. Although of course his action is particularly brazen coming just before a national celebration of workers, it is far from the only expression of contempt for workers coming out of the…
Opposing Kavanaugh’s Confirmation
“[Judge Kavanaugh’s] opinions threaten people across the economic spectrum, but their consequences will fall especially heavily on the poor and near poor, communities of color, immigrants, and people with disabilities.” CHN doesn’t usually work on judicial appointments. But we’ve looked at Judge Kavanaugh’s record and have concluded his positions pose…
Hurricane Maria deadlier than Katrina, new study finds
What many Puerto Ricans have long suspected is now official: Hurricane Maria was the deadliest hurricane in modern history to strike the U.S., leading to many more deaths than originally estimated. The government of Puerto Rico this week officially embraced a sweeping study conducted by researchers at George Washington University….
Head Smacker: States suing to end DACA would lose billions
As reported by our friends at the Center for American Progress (CAP), 10 states suing to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program stand to lose billions of dollars if they “win” their lawsuit. These states are arguing that they will lose money if DACA continues because of…
CHN commends Senate’s appropriations vote; urges future House-Senate conferees to avoid poison pill amendments
Editor’s note: Deborah Weinstein, Executive Director of the Coalition on Human Needs, issued the following statement Friday, Aug. 24 in response to Senate passage of the combined $854 billion Labor-HHS-Defense-Education appropriations bill. “We commend Senate passage of the Labor-HHS-Defense-Education appropriations bill on a bipartisan 85-7 vote. The bill includes additional…
Join Us: Sept. 6 CHN Webinar To Preview New Census Data
Unemployment is down, but workers’ pay is losing ground. Did low-income people make gains in 2017? What is helping? What is standing in the way? On Thursday, Sept. 6 from 2-3:30 p.m. ET, CHN will host its annual Census webinar to help prepare advocates for the new data coming out…
Protecting immigrant children from abuse
On Aug. 16, the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations held a hearing on what federal agencies are doing – or rather, aren’t doing enough of – to protect unaccompanied migrant children from abuse and human trafficking once they enter the U.S. Witnesses from the U.S….
GOP tax law isn’t just about taxes — it’s undermining American health care
Editor’s note: The op-ed excerpted below was written by Frank Clemente, executive director of Americans for Tax Fairness, and Margarida Jorge, co-director of Health Care for America Now! It was originally published by The Hill on Aug. 9. On Aug. 12, the New York Times editorial board published a piece titled,…