. Any changes to the income rules would be targeted to people who are trying to work & are very poor. "That just kind of feels like a win-win for both the economy & for the individual." (via )
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Chantel Boyens
@ChantelBoyens
Principal Policy Associate at the Urban Institute. Former OMBer.
Washington, D.C.Joined June 2017
Chantel Boyens’s Tweets
In this paper, we consider how increasing the monthly earned income disregard from $65 to $416 a month in 2022 would enable SSI beneficiaries to supplement their SSI benefit with earnings that could boost their total income above the federal poverty level.
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The SSI program provides an essential safety net for low-income people with disabilities. Many SSI beneficiaries have a desire and capacity to engage in some work that would supplement their benefit. However, SSI rules are complicated and haven't been indexed for inflation.
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Front page of the Washington Post today. Lisa Rein's excellent article on how field office closures are hurting low-income people and people living in rural areas.
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analysis: pandemic response added over $600 billion to federal #kids' spending, but increase will end by 2027. Passing #BuildBackBetter would be a major new investment in children and the nation's future #BBB #budget #ChildTaxCredit #preK #childcare
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Estimate: Federal spending on children will be nearly 50% higher in 2021 than it would have been without the pandemic response, write Julia Isaacs & @CaryTLou. urbn.is/3Fselx8
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Excellent article by Jonathan Stein and David Weaver discussing the approximately 500,000 people who would have been awarded SSI and SSDI but were unable to obtain benefits due to the continued closure of SSA field offices during the pandemic.
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SSI’s been forgotten for so long, even the damn hearing is historic:
The last Senate hearing on SSI was in 1998.
And the last Senate hearing on SSI’s eligibility criteria was in 1987—in a hearing that even then was titled “The Forgotten Safety Net.”
#DemolishDisabledPoverty
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Let me spell this out . . . SSA needs MONEY, lots more of it, to give beneficiaries the service they've paid for and they deserve. Policymakers have shortchanged SSA for over a decade and we desperately need to rebuild. cbpp.org/blog/ssa-needs
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"SSA needs resources. Even with recent investments in IT, SSA continues to rely on 40-year-old computer systems," she says.
"This is the moment when SSA must move into the 21st century -- so we can give the public the service they deserve."
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This may have been the most difficult and rewarding essay I've ever written. I'm eternally grateful to my co-author and the many colleagues who provided thoughtful comments and suggestions.
Rethinking Economics in the Black Lives Matter Era urban.org/research/publi
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. & : "The American Families Plan suggests that enacting a federal paid leave program that dramatically expands access while reducing disparities across wage levels & occupations can be achieved at a reasonable price tag."
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Check out my latest blog the inclusion of paid leave in the American Families Plan.
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.@ChantelBoyens & @JSmalligan: "The American Families Plan suggests that enacting a federal paid leave program that dramatically expands access while reducing disparities across wage levels & occupations can be achieved at a reasonable price tag." urbn.is/3gvecQj
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BREAKING: A coalition of House & Senate Democrats—led by w/—have teamed up to call on to include long-overdue updates to Supplemental Security Income (SSI) in the #AmericanFamilyPlan 👇
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.: "Insisting that there is actually a fixed definition of what infrastructure is — bridges, but not baby care — perfectly encapsulates the ways in which the world is still shaped by men." Read more in :
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🧵Policymakers can and should establish a permanent #PaidLeave program in the #RecoveryPlan. Here's why: 1/
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Children are worth investing in. Great piece on NPR. Thank you for covering these issues and for including me.
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It was great talking with @NPRCoryTurner about the Biden-Harris and Romney child allowance plans. Also featuring the great @ElaineMaag @bl_hardy and Tim Smeeding. npr.org/2021/02/19/968
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A national paid leave program could be financed in many ways, but and I suggest the Biden tax pledge doesn't have to be violated to embrace a payroll tax if you consider the NET effect on workers from an overall package that also expands the CTC, DCTC, EITC & others.
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The Administration and many in Congress are working to include paid leave in a second reconciliation package. As @ChantelBoyens and I explain in a new brief, the Biden tax pledge doesn’t have to rule out use of a modest payroll tax to make the program self-financing. Thread 1/7
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.: "Overall it saves employers money because workers stay home and prevent others from becoming ill... Even workplaces that don’t provide paid sick leave benefit from provision. This is a public health issue." (via )
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Colorado joins 8 other states + DC in creating a statewide #paidleave benefit, yet without a federal program, gaps in access to paid leave across race, educational attainment, and earnings will persist, writes
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Glad to see JCT reach a similar conclusion re: costs of extending emergency sick and family leave. Decisionmakers need the best data to inform debate over a policy that helps combat the virus so the recovery can happen--all while supporting workers and employers.
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More set than ever not to let Congress allow emergency #PaidSickDays #PaidLeave to lapse. This is 1/450 of total compromise bill cost, will save lives & jobs.
Politico Shift: JCT FINDS EMERGENCY PAID LEAVE CHEAPER THAN PROJECTED: $1.35 billion for 2 mo/$1.8 billion for 3 mo.
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While take-up has been lower than expected, FFCRA's had a significant impact. and Katherine Wen found that it “helped to flatten the curve” in states where workers gained access to paid sick leave through FFCRA. 11/11 #paidleave #paidsickdays
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Note that the number of employers claiming sick and family credits on behalf of workers is more than for the Employee Retention Credit and temporary employer-share payroll tax suspension combined, though both programs have disbursed far more in dollar terms. 10/11
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One estimate found that reduced absenteeism due to availability of paid sick leave could have saved employers $630 million to $1.88 billion per year on net, in 2016 dollars. A summary of key research can be found here. 9/11
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Studies have found that access to paid sick leave can significantly lower the general flu rate and overall worker absenteeism by reducing the spread of influenza-like illnesses, suggesting a potentially large return on investment. 8/10
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Of course, there is considerable uncertainty in these projections, as CBO/JCT explained. cbo.gov/system/files/2 7/10
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If we use assume that – at most - FFCRA will cost $20 B in total, it would imply that a clean extension of paid sick and family leave for 4-6 months could cost roughly $8 - $13B. 6/10
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With only $1.3 billion spent so far, remaining claims would need to exceed $18 B. While we expect the majority of the costs to show up at the end of the year, it would take an enormous spike in claims to reach that level, making this estimate conservative. 5/10
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Consider that if FFCRA reaches even one-fifth of its projected cost, it would total $20 B – about the same as the current amount projected by the CFRB’s COVID Money Tracker. 4/10 covidmoneytracker.org
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Recent data from GAO shows that roughly $1.3 billion in credits have been claimed through October 29th by 149,830 employers. This data indicates that the initial score for FFCRA of $105 B was far too high. 3/10 gao.gov/reports/GAO-21
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The cost could be as low as one-fifth of the original estimate for a policy intervention that one study showed likely reduced COVID cases by 15k per day nationwide and assisted working families and economic recovery. 2/10
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As negotiations heat up over the next recovery package, one thing not being talked about is how the cost of extending emergency paid sick and family leave provided in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act would come with a much smaller-than-expected price tag. THREAD 1/10
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Overall, 45% of retired workers report having been forced or somewhat forced to retire, write & .
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Excellent piece by explaining who benefits from repealing the much-hated (but equity-based) WEP and pointing to the need to address the more fundamental issue: covering ALL workers in Social Security!
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If @JoeBiden wants to help teachers, he should support universal Social Security coverage for all of them: brookings.edu/blog/brown-cen via @TeacherPension @BrookingsEd
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New guide to help organizations connect people with stimulus payment -- consumerfinance.gov/about-us/blog/ via
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On this new podcast episode, & discuss the challenges facing caregivers during the pandemic, how they affect economic reopening efforts, & what policies could help. urbn.is/2DBs9L7
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NEW at :
Research from & shows how states that guarantee #paidleave were helping families deal with their health & caregiving needs during #COVID_19 *weeks before* federal paid leave was available. (1/10)
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.: "Prepaid cards can be used to deliver tax refunds & government benefits, which can help unbanked people avoid fees associated with check cashing & other services." (via , )
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“The start of the fiscal year—July 1st in most states—is usually about as exciting as a 501(a) tax filing ...Not this time. State tax revenues collapsed in April, falling on average by half, according to the Urban Institute” cc
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just highlighted important new research from showing the #paidleave systems in #CA & #RI helped working families quickly in COVID times. US would have been better off with #FAMILYAct in place. #paidleaveforall
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