"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."
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.
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.
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.
Pip is designed to support disabled people with the additional costs of daily living and mobility, yet for many claimants it has instead become a source of prolonged uncertainty, financial hardship and distress. Waiting months and in some cases more than a year for a decision can push people into debt, rent arrears and poverty, especially as Pip unlocks other support such as carer's allowance.
The UK's poorest families are getting poorer, with record numbers of people classed as in very deep poverty meaning their annual household incomes fail to cover the cost of food, energy bills and clothing, according to analysis. Although overall relative poverty levels have flatlined in recent years at about 21% of the population, life for those below the breadline has got materially worse as they try to subsist on incomes many thousands of pounds beneath the poverty threshold.
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.