Budget Bill Siphons off an Additional $54 Million from Welfare Reform Block...
Upping the Ante on an Act 10 Tactic (of Tapping TANF) Helps Free up Funds for Tax Cuts The “budget repair bill” signed by Governor Walker two years ago today contained a number of significant changes...
View ArticleGoing, Going, Gone – How the Budget Eliminates the TANF Balance and...
Several important aspects of the budget bill’s funding for public assistance programs have received little or no attention: The bill siphons off funding intended for low-income families and uses it for...
View ArticleJFC Cuts GPR Support for the EITC, but Not by as Much as Governor Proposed
Omnibus Motion on DCF Issues Frees Up Additional TANF Funds to Address Recent W-2 Growth The Joint Finance Committee (JFC) approved an omnibus motion (#364) late today that makes a few improvements in...
View ArticleNew Stats on W-2 Participation Contradict Rosy Assumptions in JFC Budget
Budget’s Diversion of Funding for Low-income Families Is Based on Faulty Assumptions When legislators take floor votes this week, they will decide whether and how much to cut spending for the Wisconsin...
View ArticleTen Reasons Why This a “Robin Hood in Reverse” Budget
In a long Q & A format interview in the Capital Times, I described a number of the faults of the 2013-15 budget bill. One of the defects I mentioned in that interview is that the bill employs a...
View ArticleThe Effects of the Federal Government Shutdown for Wisconsin Children and...
A Significant Economic Hit to the National Economy and a Gradually Expanding Erosion of Key Programs Economists expect the federal government shutdown to have significant adverse consequences for the...
View ArticleDCF and DHS Plan Would Close Part of the W-2 Funding Shortfall
Since late spring we’ve been raising concerns that the biennial budget bill cuts funding for the welfare-to-work program known as Wisconsin Works (W-2) based on faulty assumptions. This June 17 paper...
View ArticleLegislature Approves Unfunded Transitional Jobs Bill
New LFB Paper Illustrates Why Tapping TANF Funding Appears Unlikely The Assembly overwhelmingly approved a bill today that we strongly support, because it is aimed at expanding a program to provide...
View ArticleTaking Stock of the Earned Income Tax Credit on EITC Awareness Day
Despite Using Far More TANF Funds for the WI EITC, Total Spending Declines Today is EITC Awareness Day, when the IRS works with community organizations, elected officials, state and local governments,...
View ArticleImportant Choices Tuesday on Funding for Welfare to Work and Child Care Programs
New Federal Money Provides Chance to Close Large Hole in W-2 and Improve Child Care Wisconsin got some good news from Washington over the last couple of months, in the form of supplemental federal...
View ArticleProposed EITC Funding Shift Reveals another Budget Hole
TANF Funding Squeeze Creates a Substantial Budget Challenge The Department of Children and Families (DCF) budget proposes a very large cut in the portion of funding for the Earned Income Tax Credit...
View ArticleWelfare Reform Block Grant Funds Once Again at Risk in Wisconsin
The Joint Finance Committee will vote Thursday on whether to divert more funds from the federal welfare reform block grant to help finance unrelated parts of the state budget. The amount of those...
View ArticleIn Some Parts of Budget, JFC Shows Affinity for Federal Funding
By Siphoning off More TANF Funding to Pay for the EITC, Committee Undercuts Arguments Against Using Federal Funds The Joint Finance Committee votes Thursday, May 21, on a wide range of Medicaid...
View ArticleFailing to Adjust Assistance for Inflation Hurts Wisconsin’s Low-wage Workers
State policy choices contribute to the growing divide in income and wealth between the richest and poorest Wisconsinites. Although most parts of the state and federal tax codes and federal entitlement...
View ArticleCritics Use Wrong Yardstick to Measure Safety Net’s Success
Anti-poverty Programs Lift about 830,000 Wisconsinites above Poverty Line Speaker Ryan and other conservatives are calling for sweeping changes that would seriously weaken safety net programs, and a...
View ArticleBlock Grant’s Flexibility for States = Less Support for Families
Taking a Look at TANF on its 20th Anniversary The welfare reform block grant program known as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) turns 20 on August 22nd, and that anniversary is not a cause...
View ArticleTANF at 23: It’s Not Getting Better with Age
52,000 More Families Could be Getting Support to Meet their Basic Needs and Supports to Work in Wisconsin On August 22 of this year, the law creating the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families program...
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