#welfare-spending

#welfare-spending

For years, giant tax prep companies like TurboTax and H&R Block have rigged our system so they can cash in on your hard-earned dollars. It's amazing that anyone could oppose this-especially when filing your taxes is something that Americans are required by law to do each year.

Trillions flow into the United States government on Tax Day, yet a significant share is directed toward war and defense contractors, rather than essential services.

"There are people who have come here after escaping violence and persecution and torture. These are communities that we have historically said, 'You are welcome here. We have the support for you. We're going to help you get established in our country.' And now, the federal government is abandoning them."

The insights from this report help us think about potential gaps in the loss mitigation waterfall and the types of homeowners who may benefit from targeted support when they experience a crisis.

Luna Rosado, a single mother, has seen her gas expenses rise by $40 weekly due to a 30 percent increase in prices after the war in Iran. This has resulted in $160 less for groceries and other necessities each month, forcing her to constantly adjust her budget.

EBT card theft is a huge, huge problem. In New York alone, in the first six months of last year, $14 million of SNAP benefits were stolen. We get these complaints all the time to our office.

Starting this summer, most college programs will have to show that their students earn more than someone with only a high school diploma to avoid being cut off from federal funding, as part of a new accountability measure. Congress created the earnings test known as Do No Harm when it passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last summer. The Education Department is still working to finalize the regulations that outline how it will work.

Cash transforms health when four particular conditions are met. Most U.S. cash-transfer pilots have lacked them. But one major American policy does come close: the federal food-assistance program SNAP. Its success offers a road map for what effective cash assistance can look like in this country, if we choose to build on it.

My reforms changed the welfare system to make work pay and brought workless households to an all-time low. But because of the post-Covid collapse in vetting and rise of health-related welfare claims, millions of workers could take home more from welfare than wages after tax. This is an outrageous state of affairs. The system must stop writing off thousands every day and incentives to work need to be restored to end this ruinous waste of human potential.