Good news for fans of rotisserie chickens and SNAP:

The latest farm bill has a provision directing NAS to conduct a study 'to assess the efficacy of allowing hot foods or hot food products ready for immediate consumption' with SNAP benefits. 😍 congress.gov/bill/118th-con…

Please don't ask for my thoughts on the upside American flag controversy unless you're referring to Rage Against the Machine's 1996 appearance on Saturday Night Live because that's the only one that comes to (my elder millennial) mind.

New Penn-Wharton cost estimates of permanently expanding TCJA. Note where the net costs come from - the big one is rate cuts, not the 'true' reform provisions (e.g. changes to personal exemptions, standard deduction, CTC, itemized deductions). budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2024/5/…

The Administration is letting states pad Medicaid payments to providers and insurers.

This will cost $50 to $220 billion over a decade.

Ugh.

crfb.org/blogs/cms-fina… via CRFB.org

There are many bipartisan efforts emerging on the Hill to support families. However, I believe one of the single best ways forward would be to re-up a national commission on families and children akin to what Reagan signed into law Early Learning Nation earlylearningnation.com/2024/05/new-re…

NEW COMMENTARY from Aaron Chalfin: Two goals should guide criminal justice reform efforts: (1) maximizing  public safety benefits (2) minimizing fiscal and social costs.

A few consistent empirical findings in crime research can help guide policymakers:
niskanencenter.org/efficient-crim…

If you missed our recent very excellent discussion of options for supporting new parents with Leah Libresco Sargeant, Stephanie H. Murray, and Elliot Haspel, the recording is now available on our website: niskanencenter.org/supporting-new…

Are the states with designated “workforce hubs” well-targeted?

As Matt Darling Matt Darling 🌐🏗️ of the Niskanen Center, has pointed out, the eight workforce hubs the Biden administration has designated are not located in states with exceptional need for economic development.

In

I wrote this almost four years ago and it is one of my favorite pieces because it still holds today. A lot of folks don't want to admit that the bones of TCJA are straight-up good but it's true! thehill.com/opinion/financ…

Dorothy Brown is absolutely right that the TCJA's changes to the standard deduction and SALT deduction were crucial for reducing the number of itemizers and making it possible to make further progress on tax reform by eliminating the SALT deduction altogether.

Wow, this is huge. After a frustrating veto of the Starter Home Act earlier this year, Hobbs has signed legislation legalizing ADUs and missing middle, allowing residential in commercial zones, and steamlining rezonings in Arizona.