A paralegal by training, Terry has been out of work for two years and his unemployment insurance benefits ran out in May. He has not insisted on staying in the same field and has retrained in electronic health records. He applies for jobs and the latest has been at a hardware store.

But like many workers in Minnesota, where the number of job seekers outnumbers job openings by 24 to 1 in some regions, there are no job offers. He gets by on food stamps, depleting his retirement savings and what he calls a hodge podge of short-term assistance.

He is 62, just old enough for Social Security and has already applied — although he would rather work. Applying for Social Security early is not good for him: he will receive lower benefits amounting to only 40 percent of what he was receiving through unemployment insurance. Nor does discontinuing temporary unemployment benefits to Mr. Hokenson and having him turn to permanent social security benefits save the federal government any money.

Here is a link to an interview in one of the local daily newspapers a couple of weeks featuring Mr. Hokenson: http://www.individual.com/story.php?story=118895697

Today marks the 29th day that millions of unemployed workers have been left without jobless benefits as Congress continues to stall on passage of the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act (HR4213). The bill failed a third time just last week, unable to get the 60 votes necessary to get through the Senate.

Write your senators today and urge them to act swiftly to extend unemployment insurance and other job-creation measures such as:

• Providing State Fiscal Relief in the form of Medicaid, known as FMAP, for another six months
• Extending the TANF Emergency Fund through FY 2011 to save 205,000 jobs
• Providing funding for summer jobs for youth

Write your Senator Now!

The House and Senate are discussing the possibility of extending unemployment benefits through November 30, 2010 as a stand-alone bill. Inaction means that 1.2 million unemployed workers will have lost access to jobless benefits by the time July 4 rolls around and a total of 2 million workers will lose their benefits by the end of July. Cutting off unemployment insurance undermines a nascent economic recovery and can have dire effects on families, as these personal stories show.

And without congressional action to provide fiscal relief to states and extend the TANF Emergency Fund, states will lose $16 billion in Medicaid aid. This means that as states start their fiscal years on July 1, hundreds of thousands of jobs and needed services could be cut, both of which undermine the economic recovery. And if Congress does not act soon, business that have partnered with state governments to create 205,000 private-sector jobs will begin shutting down these opportunities for vulnerable workers.

That is why we need you to ACT NOW!

Unemployment across the country is hovering around 10 percent, with low-income communities, youth, single mother households, and communities of color facing disproportionate rates of joblessness. Congress has already, in the name of deficit-reduction, significantly scaled back the help for the jobless and FMAP assistance, cutting unemployment benefits by $25 a week and removing COBRA health benefits from the bill.

Write your senators and tell them to support an extension of unemployment insurance, Medicaid assistance and TANF Emergency fund. These measures will increase the short-term deficit by less than 1 percent and actually put us on stronger economic footing in the long term by contributing to economic recovery and creating jobs.

They need to hear from Half in Ten activists that we want them to invest in job creation. Tell them to finish the job on the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes bill and to vote for an extension of unemployment insurance. We need your help to get the 60 votes to move this bill forward.

Take Action Now. Write your Senator before the vote.

One of the biggest antipoverty initiatives in President Barack Obama’s budget is his proposal to “make work pay” for low-income families through improvements to the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), which will be considered after Memorial Day.

These two policies will make a huge difference in lifting working families out of poverty. However, improvements to both the CTC and the EITC are set to expire at the end of 2010 without immediate Congressional action to preserve and build upon these vital programs.

To learn more about what is at stake in the months to come and find out what you can do to help build the campaign to preserve these critical tax credits, listen to an English- or Spanish-language podcast with Reverend David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World.

Congress voted last year to help hardworking Americans make ends meet by expanding the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit. But the expansions to these critical tax credits will disappear if Congress does not act soon.

Contact your representative today to demand that they don’t let improvements to these credits expire.

Refundable tax credits like the EITC and CTC help ensure that work pays more than welfare, but they are at risk of losing much of their effectiveness. If Congress does not extend the improvements to the programs, a parent who works full time in a minimum wage position will have his or her annual credit reduced from $1,800 to $320 at the end of 2010. This would have a devastating effect on children in low-income families.

Research conducted by the Tax Policy Center reveals that 8 million children would lose the tax credit entirely if Congress allows the current Child Tax Credit improvements to expire, and an additional 10 million children would lose some of the credit. This change would lead as many as 600,000 more children to become poor and 4 million already poor children to fall deeper into poverty, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

We must stand up to preserve the 2009 reforms to the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit. But there is room for additional federal leadership, as well. If the current improvement expires, a family’s first $13,000 in wages will not count toward calculating the Child Tax Credit. Congress should change the law so that all earnings count in calculating the credit. A family with two children will receive $2,000 if full-time, year-round minimum wage earnings are all counted; but the same family will receive only $312 if the improvements expire.

Contact your representative today to preserve and improve these essential programs.

May 25, 2010

What is the Earned Income Tax Credit and why does it matter?

The Earned Income Tax Credit is one of the single most important ways to make work pay. The EITC is a refundable federal income tax credit for low-wage working individuals and families. Refundable means that if a worker’s credit exceeds the amount of taxes owed, they can receive the difference in the form of a tax refund. Congress originally approved this program in 1975 in part to offset the burden of payroll taxes and to provide an incentive to work. Today, the EITC remains essential to promote economic security and allow low-income workers maintain a decent standard of living.

The EITC is a public policy that reflects basic values—at its core is the belief that individuals who work full time at minimum wage simply should not be forced to raise families below the poverty line. The EITC helps these Americans earn a sufficient amount so that work pays more than welfare. Parents who earn $10,000 to $20,000 each year are eligible under EITC for the highest credit, and the credit amount decreases as annual earnings increase.

Download this fact sheet (pdf)

Read more »

May 25, 2010

What is the Child Tax Credit and why does it matter?

The Child Tax Credit is one of the most important ways to protect families’ economic security. The CTC gives working parents additional funds to help them cope with the rising costs of maintaining a household and raising their children. Depending on the family’s earnings, the CTC allows families to claim up to $1,000 for each child. It represents an essential way to help families achieve and maintain their basic quality of life.

Yet the CTC’s effectiveness depends a great deal on how the credit is structured. The credit was not able to meet its full potential in the past because program rules often denied low-income families the full benefits of the credit. In fact, annual earnings below $13,000 were not considered in calculating tax credit, denying the credit to those who needed it most. Congress made sensible reforms to the CTC last year that allow families to count their yearly earnings below $13,000, but these changes are temporary and are scheduled to expire at the end of 2010.

An end of these improvements would be devastating for low-wage families across America. A parent who works full time in a minimum wage position will have his or her credit reduced from $1,800 to $320 at the end of 2010 if Congress does not make the change permanent. This reduction would seriously threaten the ability of low-income, hard-working families to maintain their economic security and self-sufficiency. And it would push 600,000 children of working families into poverty.

Download this fact sheet (pdf).

Read more »

The House of Representatives is expected tomorrow to consider H.R. 4213, also known as the “tax extenders” bill. This legislation provides much-needed help to American families and the economy by extending unemployment and COBRA health insurance benefits until the end of the year and providing fiscal relief to states to preserve critical health services and save jobs.

We asked Melissa Boteach, who is Manager of Half in Ten at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, to explain the tax extender provisions—what they are, why we need them, and what they will or won’t mean for the deficit.

Listen to the podcast (mp3)

Read more »

Call your representative TODAY: 1-877-442-6801, toll-free. Ask them to support a final jobs bill that:

• Extends unemployment insurance and COBRA health benefits
• Provides relief to states in the form of Medicaid funding
• Extends the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Emergency Fund, which is slated to expire on September 30
• Includes funding for youth summer jobs

You can read a quick explanation of what’s in the bill and why each piece is important or listen to a podcast with more information.

Read more »

The economy has lost more than 8 million jobs since the recession began in December 2007, including many positions that provide critical services in communities across the country. Unemployment remains distressingly high even amid economic recovery. March’s unemployment report revealed an overall jobless rate of 9.7 percent; the rate was a staggering 16.5 percent among African Americans, 12.6 percent among Latinos, 11.3 percent among women who head families, and 26.1 percent among youth. Creating decent jobs and ensuring that low-income workers can access them will be at the heart of a national strategy to cut poverty in half in the next decade.

With such shocking levels of unemployment, now is the time for bold action. The Local Jobs for America Act (H.R. 4812), sponsored by Rep. George Miller (D-CA) and 150 other members of Congress, will create or save more than 1 million public and private sector jobs in local communities while restoring services our communities need badly.

Support Local Jobs Now Read more »

Every year, we look to Congress to pass a budget resolution. The resolution defines our country’s fiscal priorities for the year and sets the framework for the federal government’s spending decisions. This framework is essential for laying the groundwork to pursue key antipoverty policies such as job creation, the earned income tax credit, and child care.

President Barack Obama’s budget request for fiscal year 2011 offered a good model, with investments in child care and expanded tax credits for low-income families. But we are hearing murmurs around Washington, D.C. that Congress may not even pass a budget resolution this year. And if they do, deficit peacocks may make a show of fiscal responsibility—without making much of a dent on deficits—by tightening the president’s already strict limit on non-defense discretionary spending, which funds critical antipoverty initiatives.

Tell your members of Congress to pass a budget that reflects the principles of shared economic recovery! Read more »