The state budget and the taxes that help finance it have a huge impact on children and families. The budget provides most of the funding for vital government services, such as education, health care, transportation, child welfare and other safety net programs.
For more detailed analysis, visit the Wisconsin Budget Project website.
The Joint Finance Committee meets on Tuesday, December 14, and will vote on whether to approve the Department of Children and Families’ five-year sustainability plan for the child care quality rating and improvement system (QRIS) called YoungStar. Click here for the summary of the request by the Legislative Fiscal Bureau. The meeting is...
Although the deal President Obama has brokered with Congressional Republicans is disappointing in many respects, the President won some significant concessions for low-income households. In addition to reviving the extended federal unemployment benefits, the proposed deal includes a two-year continuation of Recovery Act improvements to...
Ronald Reagan called the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) "the best anti-poverty, the best pro-family, the best job creation measure to come out of Congress." Wisconsin's EITC, like the federal credit, has enjoyed broad bipartisan support, and it was signed into law by Governor Thompson. Nevertheless, a columnist speculates in the...
The “Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act” (S. 3307) passed today in the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill provides an additional $4.5 billion over 10 years to federal child nutrition programs and will be a significant first step in reducing childhood hunger and obesity. It will increase the reimbursement rates for school lunches, set...
As of today, it’s official: The program that provides federal benefits to long-term unemployed workers has expired. There’s hope for the program to be revived, but until then, long-term unemployed workers are getting no further help making ends meet.Read more about what this means for out-of-work Wisconsinites at the Wisconsin Budget...
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