New America Policy Papers: 2010

The Social Security debate is the longest-running domestic political tug-of-war in Washington. It began in 1981 when President Reagan floated a proposal to drastically cut old-age and survivors' benefits that met with immediate rejection from leaders of both parties in Congress.

The Great Recession continues to spread hardship far and wide. Poverty rates are increasing, and once stable households are falling behind and increasingly vulnerable to economic uncertainty. The longer economic insecurity persists, the harder it will be for families to move forward in their lives. The breadth of households turning to existing safety net programs for assistance is exposing the limits of the prevailing policy framework designed to prevent families from falling deep into poverty, mitigating hardship, and providing a pathway toward financial stability.

With legal challenges to the health care reform law moving forward, a brief from the New America Foundation's Health Policy Program, The Law Behind Health Reform, explores the legal and Constitutional dimensions of the legislation, with a focus on the individual mandate and penalty for not buying "minimum essential coverage." This brief clarifies the legal arguments and judicial history and concludes that the Obama administration has the law on its side.

The Let’s Get Specific series is intended to help focus the national discussion on specific policies that could help to reduce the deficit and create a better understanding of the types of policy changes that will be required. The policies recommended in this series are not necessarily endorsed by all the members of the Board of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Tax Expenditure Reform Framework