Category Archives: Federal Policy

New England´s leadership on early care and education

As part of the National Day of Action on early learning, CAHS and our partners at the New England Consortium have sent a letter to our Senators (PDF) asking for their support in expanding early care and education programs in the US. … Continue reading

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Tentative Budget Deal in the Legislature

Word has surfaced that Governor Dannel Malloy and the Democrat-controlled legislature have agreed on a tentative two-year budget plan. The initial budget plan that the governor proposed, which would have broken the designated spending cap, proved unsuccessful. Under Governor Malloy’s … Continue reading

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Chris Murphy and the SNAP challenge

The US Congress is debating the new farm bill this week, and this means talking about SNAP. The Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (the old food stamps) is one of the foundations of our safety net, and the biggest line item … Continue reading

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How Sequestration is Impacting Connecticut’s Children

  The National Head Start Association is facing a dilemma and this may have serious consequences on the future of our children.  Sequestration, which began on March 1st, 2013 is causing cuts for many areas of government spending.  Spending that … Continue reading

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Voters like abstract budget cuts, but support real spending

One thing that political scientists have known for awhile is that voters say that they prefer spending cuts to tax hikes on the abstract, but they are against cutting any specific social program when given a choice. The Pew research … Continue reading

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Reducing deficits the wrong way

Paul Ryan released today the House Republican budget. In Ryan´s own words, the main objective of his plan is reducing the deficit, the biggest issue that the country is facing right now: “Yet the most important question isn’t how we … Continue reading

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The worst policy idea in Washington: the sequester

In 2011, during the (dreadful) debt ceiling negotiations, the White House and congressional republicans reached an odd agreement. In exchange of not destroying the full faith and credit of the United States and blowing up the world economy, Congress created … Continue reading

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The high cost of income inequality

The Global Post has a lengthy, dense interview with Joseph Stiglitz about inequality. According to the Nobel-prize winning economist, inequality is damaging not just for the poor, but for society as a whole: Globalization, as it has been managed, has … Continue reading

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Innovative Financing and Focus on Outcomes: Dec. 4 forum

CAHS is always interested in the potential for CT to improve outcomes, and to better offer services that advance our mission of ending poverty by empowering, equipping and engaging people to build a secure future. Given the ever-increasing state budget … Continue reading

Posted in CAHS News, CAHS program work, Federal Policy, Fiscal policy, Numbers and data, State Policy | 1 Comment

Actually, people do die for lack of health insurance

Conservatives have been asserting this past week that having health insurance is really not that important.  Mitt Romney has mentioned in a couple of interviews than people do not die because have health insurance; if someone gets ill, they always … Continue reading

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