On December 4, the United States Department of Agriculture and the Trump Administration finalized their rule on SNAP time limit waivers. The rule restricts states' flexibility to waive SNAP's three-month time limit in areas with insufficient jobs and will take basic food assistance from 700,000 Americans including 10,100 West Virginians who struggle to find steady…
Budget Beat
On Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) published its final rule restricting states' ability to provide Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits to childless adults living in high-unemployment areas who are struggling to find a steady job. Here is the USDA's fact sheet on the rule. The final rule restricts states' ability to waive…
Last month, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Trump Administration unveiled their third attack in a year on the nation's nutrition safety net, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). This latest proposal would essentially force families to choose between paying their utilities and putting food on the table. The proposed rule, which…
While the United States is a low-tax country compared to most industrialized nations, for a majority of Americans it doesn't feel this way. That's largely because private health insurance companies receive a large portion of our income every month. If we sent our money to a publicly run health insurance plan (e.g., Medicare) instead, almost…
If the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upholds a lower court's decision, the entirety of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) could be invalidated (though it would almost assuredly go before the Supreme Court for a final decision before action is taken). Twenty million Americans, including 162,000 West Virginians, stand to lose their health care coverage…
What if we used the wealth from our natural resources to invest in a brighter future for West Virginians instead of sending that wealth out of state? Our new video out this week shows all the investments we could make in our people and communities if the natural gas severance tax was raised. This tax…
A Payment in Lieu of Tax (PILOT) agreement is a property tax abatement where a company (sometimes a non-profit) agrees to make annual payments to local governments instead of paying the property taxes it would normally owe. Usually these payments are just a fraction of what otherwise would have been paid over the time of…
On a beautiful day yesterday in Summersville, West Virginia, over 100 people from across the state and beyond came together for the second annual Food For All coalition meeting. Participants briefly celebrated victories from 2019 and then got to work planning a bold vision to make Food for All a reality in West Virginia through…
Earlier this year, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Seema Verma and the Trump Administration began encouraging states to apply for "block grant" waivers for their Medicaid programs. These waivers would allow states to bypass federal standards and beneficiary protections in exchange for agreeing to caps on the federal Medicaid funding they receive.…
Earlier this year, Governor Justice, as well as the Chamber of Commerce celebrated the fact that West Virginia had the nation's highest personal income growth in country in the first quarter of 2019, using the single data point as proof that their preferred policies were growing the economy. In fact, the Chamber of Commerce went…