Effective anti-poverty programs like SNAP and Medicaid help millions of Americans, including working families, meet basic needs in times of struggle. At the federal level and in many states across the U.S., there are significant legislative and regulatory efforts underway to impose new policies that would remove health care and food assistance from people who do not meet a work requirement. These efforts have led many observers and researchers to re-examine the relationship between work and access to the safety net.
On October 15, The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities will co-host a forum to explore work requirements and the role of anti-poverty programs. The forum will feature framing remarks from Jason Furman, professor of practice of economic policy, Harvard Kennedy School and closing remarks from Robert Greenstein, president, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
The event will also include a panel discussion moderated by Catherine Rampell, syndicated columnist, The Washington Post, featuring: Michael Tanner, senior fellow, CATO; Sharon Parrott, senior fellow and senior counselor, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities; Marquita Little Numan, health policy director, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families; and Diane Whitmore Schanzenbach, Margaret Walker Alexander professor and director, The Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University.
The event will coincide with the release of a new Hamilton Project economic analysis that examines how work requirements affect the goals of a social safety net and analyzes who would be affected by new work requirements in Medicaid and expanded work requirements in SNAP.
For updates on the event, follow @HamiltonProj and @CenterOnBudget, and join the conversation using #LowWageWork.