The latest CHN Human Needs Report: Budget updates, Medicaid work requirements, low-income tax credits, and more

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November 12, 2019

CHN just released another edition of the Human Needs Report. Read on for the latest on Congress’s work on spending bills, a judge’s ruling on immigration and health care, how Medicaid work requirements fared at the ballot box, efforts to expand low income tax credits, and more. You can download a PDF of the report here.   

In This Edition:

With government funding set to run out in less than two weeks, appropriators in Congress are in talks over the length of the next stopgap spending bill, known as a Continuing Resolution or CR. The current CR, which was passed just before the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1, provides funding for all government agencies through Nov. 21. Fights over spending allocations amongst the various government agencies and funding for President Trump’s border wall     have held up progress in getting spending bills through Congress. READ MORE »

The Senate Budget Committee on November 6 passed legislation that contains changes to the budget process considered highly problematic by advocates. The legislation would trigger a new, automatic deficit-reduction process in the second year of a budget if the debt projection calculated by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is higher than that projected in the budget resolution for the final year covered by the budget resolution. In the event of an economic downturn, this could lead to deep cuts in mandatory programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance subsidies, SNAP, and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). READ MORE »

A federal judge in Portland, Oregon has blocked a Trump Administration rule requiring immigrants to prove they will have health insurance or can pay for medical care before they can get visas and enter the United States. READ MORE »

Opponents of Medicaid work requirements received good news with several Election Day outcomes this past Tuesday. In Kentucky, which has been at the forefront of efforts to impose the work requirements, Democrat Andy Beshear apparently defeated incumbent Gov. Matt Bevin by about 5,000 votes. And in Virginia, legislators are discussing repealing work requirements after Democrats captured both legislative chambers. READ MORE »

Advocates took to the phones on Nov. 6 as part of a national call-in day to tell their senators that any tax package that moves through Congress must include provisions to help low-income families. Members of Congress are expected to try to add a package of tax cut provisions onto end-of-year spending legislation. READ MORE »

Budget and Appropriations
Child Tax Credit
Earned Income Tax Credit
immigration
Medicaid