| April 7, 2008 |
On the heels of the latest job report of an 80,000-U.S. nonfarm job loss in March, stimulus efforts may intensify in Congress. So, what is the best approach, and what does it mean for Iowa? Read the backgrounder.
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| Feb. 20, 2008 |
President Bush’s proposed 2009 budget fails to keep pace with Iowans’ priorities for public services including child care, education, energy assistance and the environment, according to a new report.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) today issued a report detailing $20 billion nationally in real domestic discretionary spending cuts proposed by the White House. CBPP noted those cuts in actual and/or inflation-adjusted dollars come on top of sizable cuts made in recent years. Read the news release.
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Nov. 25, 2007 |
| At this holiday season, thousands of Iowa families face uncertainty about adequate food - and uncertainty about what Congress will do about it. "About the time a minority of senators have stalled important legislation to improve Food Stamps, we also find out that 1 in 9 Iowans face serious questions about putting food on the table for their families," notes IPP director David Osterberg. Read the press release.
Updating Food Stamp benefits would recognize real family expenses such as child care. Read the one-page backgrounder from the Iowa Fiscal Partnership.
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| October 18 , 2007 |
The U.S. House today fell short of enough votes to override President Bush's veto of a bipartisan House-Senate compromise package on children's health insurance. The legislation would have expanded the 10-year-old State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to reach more kids in low- to moderate-income working families who otherwise would not have insurance. Read the Backgrounder. From the Iowa Fiscal Partnership, read the Press Release that sets the record straight on inaccurate claims about access for undocumented immigrants. Also read the Backgrounder and the Press Release about what's at stake for Iowa, from the Iowa Fiscal Partnership. The success of SCHIP in reaching uninsured children in working families is indisputable. See the two-page backgrounder from the Iowa Fiscal Partnership.
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| September 13, 2007 |
| October marks the 30th birthday of the Food Stamp program, a celebration of success in helping low-income working families to put food on the table and "make work pay" — but one that also calls attention to its signs of age. Food Stamp benefits have been held artificially low, something that Congress and the President can consider in the current work on the Farm Bill. Updating benefits would recognize the real costs of family expenses such as child care. Read the one-page backgrounder from the Iowa Fiscal Partnership. |
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| June 27, 2007 |
| Despite a late campaign to block bipartisan efforts to expand health-care access for kids, the success of SCHIP in reaching uninsured kids is indisputable. Read the Backgrounder. |
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| February 21, 2007 |
| President Bush's proposed budget for fiscal 2008 cuts services for Iowans and shifts more responsibilities to state and local governments, according to an analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Read the Backgrounder. |
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| February 20, 2007 |
| Iowa is short funds from the federal government for the State Children's Health Insurance Program, or hawk-i program. hawk-i provides health insurance to children in low- to moderate-income working families who do not have other coverage. Read the Backgrounder. |
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| September 21, 2006 |
| Absent congressional action to fill the gap, Iowa will be short of $15 million or more in federal funds needed to provide health coverage for low-income children next year. Iowa is one of at least 17 states facing shortfalls in federal funding through the State Children's
Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Read the Press Release and the Letter from 12 Governors to President Bush. |
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| June 29, 2006 |
| A new report from Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) shows 99 percent of Iowans are losing ground as a result of federal tax cuts and deficits since 2000 - the price of borrowing money to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy. Read the Press Release and the CTJ summaries for Iowa and the U.S. |
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| June 5, 2006 |
Myths surrounding the estate tax are so prolific they can overshadow reality. This package of backgrounders offers a better understanding of the estate tax — the impact on revenue, the impact on estates, and the funny language that surrounds it. Read the 5/25/06 Backgrounders: I (fiscal impact), II (estate impacts), and III (funny language) and the 06/01/06 update Backgrounder.
A new report shows Iowans' small businesses and farms are rarely affected by the tax. Read our 06/05/06 Press Release and the Citizens for Tax Justice Factsheet. |
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| May 10, 2006 |
| The purpose of reconciliation, Congress claimed, was to reduce deficits. Instead, a new tax cut package would increase deficits by extending large tax cuts to millionaires and providing chump change to middle-income families. Read the Backgrounder. |
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| April 21, 2006 |
| The House Budget Committee's FY07 budget would leave future generations of Iowans holding the bill for today’s tax cuts. Current proposals would not reduce deficits, but raise them well beyond the $681 billion already projected over the next five years. Read the Backgrounder. |
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| April 5, 2006 |
| The 2007 U.S. House budget resolution will result in cuts to Iowa's health insurance program for children, hawk-i, unless funding shortfalls are addressed. Read the Backgrounder. |
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| February 23, 2006 |
| A glimpse of the impact on Iowans from the president's proposed FY07 budget. Read the Backgrounder. |
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| December 12, 2005 |
| Many services now threatened in Washington negotiations are counted upon by thousands of Iowans. Read the Backgrounder. |
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| July 1, 2005 |
| Federal budget choices offer more of the same: more for the haves, and less for the have nots. Read the Policy Points. |
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| June 17, 2005 |
| Food stamp cuts have become increasingly likely — a potential blow to a nutrition safety net for low-income working families, at the same time taxes are being cut for the wealthy. Read the Policy Points. |
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| May 6, 2005 |
| Services to thousands of Iowans are in jeopardy as a result of the new budget agreement approved in Congress. Read the Policy Points. |
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| May 5, 2005 |
| The budget resolution calls for $10 billion in reductionsto the Medicaid program, which provides access to health care for low-income, disabled and elderly Americans, including 261,000 people in Iowa. Read the Policy Points. |
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| March 30, 2005 |
| Basic nutrition and health-care assistance to low-income children and families in Iowa are threatened by proposed federal cuts at the same time state lawmakers are dealing with budget shortfalls. Read the Press Release and Fiscal Facts. |
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