Skip to main content

Publications

Governors across the country oppose Senate Republicans’ latest efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. Citing concerns ranging from gutting Medicaid, lack of transparency, stripping health care away from millions, passing costs onto states, and severe funding cuts, Governors have serious concerns about the potential impact of Graham-Cassidy on their states and constituents.
Republicans’ last-ditch effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Cassidy-Graham bill, repeals ACA tax credits that help working Americans afford health insurance. This year, nearly 9 million Americans are receiving an average monthly tax credit of $371, amounting to nearly $4,500 in annual savings. Alaskans stand to lose even more, at $11,700 per year. In eliminating the guarantee of these tax credits, Cassidy-Graham dramatically increases premiums for 84 percent of people on the individual market and threatens to place health coverage out of reach for millions of Americans.
As the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Federal Reserve’s policy setting arm, meets this week to discuss whether to change the federal funds rate, one new issue it will be considering is the impact of hurricanes Harvey and Irma on near-term economic growth.
Without adequate public funding for quality early learning and care programs, costs of quality private programs remain out of reach for many working families or relegate their kids to lower quality care. JEC research shows that in families earning less than $100,000, children are 27 percent less likely to be enrolled in high-quality early learning. Universal access to public pre-K is key to meeting the needs of working families and setting all kids on the path to success.
Democrats’ A Better Deal plan will open new opportunities for millions of Americans to get back into the labor force and connect with good-paying jobs. While the low headline unemployment rate in 2017 suggests that the U.S. economy is operating at full employment—the maximum rate thought not to spark inflation—a closer analysis of the labor market data reveals that millions of Americans have fallen to the wayside.
Since the U.S. Senate, the American people, and stakeholders across the health care industry rejected Republicans’ efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), bipartisan discussions are showing promise towards solutions to stabilize the health insurance marketplaces and lower health care costs for all Americans. We are now moving forward towards a compromise proposal under regular order. Yet, the Cassidy-Graham-Heller-Johnson bill undermines this bipartisan progress and threatens to send us backwards by simply repeating the failed ideas of the former TrumpCare bills.
Ensuring that every child has the opportunity to succeed is the bedrock of the American Dream. A high-quality education that starts early and continues into adulthood enables students to develop the skills necessary to thrive in the modern economy. Unfortunately, many children today are starting off behind and entering kindergarten classrooms with little or no formal education. For these children, catching up to their peers can be a lifelong struggle.
Analysts left and right agree: killing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, will cost the U.S. economy a quarter to a half trillion dollars over the next decade and stick taxpayers with a bill for creating a significant and draconian deportation force. See how DACA repeal will impact your state’s economy.
As Congress heads into a busy September, it must reauthorize funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) by the end of the month. Currently, CHIP provides health care to 8.9 million children, or 12 percent of all children nationally. In particular, children in rural areas depend on public insurance: 47 percent are on Medicaid or CHIP, compared to 38 percent of children in urban areas.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program currently allows nearly 800,000 undocumented individuals to work and live in the United States. President Trump’s decision to end the program not only flies in the face of what the United States stands for, but kicks out important contributors to the economy, undermining recent economic progress.