News Clips

• Feb 02, 2012  |  The Daily Beast Mitt Romney and the Poor People's Safety Net Myth This notion that ours is a country with ample protections in place to protect the very poor rankles Elizabeth Lower-Basch, a senior policy analyst with CLASP, a D.C.-based research and advocacy group. "It's a pretty common misperception, this idea that we have a strong safety net in place," Lower-Basch says. "The truth is, we have a very patchy safety net" - and one that is under greater strain and facing ever more threats the longer the country's economic woes continue.
• Feb 01, 2012  |  The Huffington Post Republicans Aim to Ban Use of Welfare Debit Cards at Strip Clubs, Liquor Stores "This is another example of setting policies based on attention-grabbing news stories with little connection to the underlying reality and that are designed to reinforce the 'unworthy poor' stereotype," said Elizabeth Lower-Basch, a senior analyst at CLASP. "There's no evidence that this is a widespread problem. And even when funds are withdrawn in those locations, it doesn't mean that people are gambling away their benefits."
• Feb 01, 2012  |  CNNMoney Romney: "I'm not concerned about the very poor" "It is a common misconception that we don't have to worry about the very poor because they are covered by existing programs," said Elizabeth Lower-Basch, senior policy analyst at CLASP, which advocates for low-income Americans. "In fact, our safety net has many holes."
• Jan 20, 2012  |  The Huffington Post In South Carolina, the Plot to "Welfarize" Unemployment Insurance On drug testing unemployment insurance recipients, "It's clearly part of this overall trend to welfarize unemployment," said Elizabeth Lower-Basch, a senior analyst with CLASP. "It's part of this continuing attempt to blame unemployment recipients for being unemployed, as if it's because of their personal failings instead of an unemployment rate above 8 percent. If they can pin the blame on the individual there's no societal responsibility to help out."
• Jan 08, 2012  |  Atlanta Journal-Constitution Education Focus Shifts to Construction A soon-to-be announced program in Georgia will likely combine a pro-construction marketing campaign with attempts to connect young people with the state's many technical colleges. The idea has some support in Georgia industry, as well as among some experts. "Education and training are not single events. You help people move in steps along pathways," said Evelyn Ganzglass, director of Workforce Development at CLASP.
• Dec 29, 2011  |  The Seattle TImes State Child Care Cuts Force Hard Choices on Parents Some parents give up jobs and turn to the welfare system if they can't find affordable child care, but that isn't an option for those who have already used up their entitlements, said Danielle Ewen, a past director of Child Care and Early Education for CLASP. "For those families, there is absolutely no safety net and we don't know what is happening to their kids, but it is absolutely scary to think," Ewen said. "It becomes a very desperate, horrible cycle for poor families who are doing everything they can possibly do to become self-sufficient."
• Dec 28, 2011  |  Daily Tribune Layoffs Could Be Eased by Work Share The program, known as work sharing, allows businesses to keep employees during down periods in the economy by reducing their hours and wages. Twenty-three states have similar programs. President Barack Obama supported it as part of his jobs package, said Neil Ridley, a senior policy analyst with CLASP in Washington, D.C.
• Dec 16, 2011  |  MSNBC.com Good Graph Friday: That Child Care Bill Hannah Matthews, the director of child care and early education for CLASP, said it's not clear why child care costs have increased so substantially for very low-income families. One hypothesis is that child care costs are going up while incomes are dropping or staying steady.
• Dec 15, 2011  |  International Business Times Drug Testing for Unemployment Benefits Allowed in Payroll Tax Cut Bill "What is really driving this is stereotyping and this assumption that if you can't get a job you must be doing something wrong: you're not looking hard enough, you don't have an education, you're a substance abuser," said Elizabeth Lower-Basch, senior policy analyst at CLASP. "It's an assumption that when people are unemployed it must be because of their failings."
• Dec 13, 2011  |  Education Week Bill Eyes Diploma, Progress to GED for Unemployment Benefits The U.S. House of Representatives is set to consider a bill that would require those seeking Unemployment Insurance to have a high school diploma or GED-or be working toward one-in order to receive those benefits. The provision is part of a push to extend unemployment benefits while revamping the program, in part by shortening to 59, from 99, the number of weeks people are eligible. "It would fundamentally alter the program by creating a new condition for eligibility," said Neil Ridley, senior policy analyst at CLASP. He added that those without a high school diploma or GED are "one of the most vulnerable groups" of unemployed workers.
• Dec 13, 2011  |  The Rick Smith Show House Unemployment Bill to Extend UI & Payroll Tax Cuts Elizabeth Lower-Basch, senior policy analyst with the Workforce Development team at CLASP, discusses on the Rick Smith Show a current House proposal to extend payroll tax cuts and unemployment insurance with provisions that could hurt low-income workers, especially those with the least education.
• Dec 12, 2011  |  Huffington Post Unemployment Benefits: Party Leaders Stay Hush on Proposal To Drug Test the Jobless "Drug testing unemployment insurance recipients is part of a strategy of blaming the jobless for their predicament, rather than economic conditions," said CLASP Senior Policy Analyst Elizabeth Lower-Basch. "It's an insult to unemployed workers -- and a massive waste of taxpayer money -- to test millions of people for drug use with no reason other than the stereotype to believe they are using drugs."
• Nov 30, 2011  |  Stateline States Get a Chance to Experiment with Child Welfare Systems To get a waiver, states have to agree to adopt at least two of an array of "child welfare program improvement policies" that the federal government lists, among them extending the age limit for foster care benefits to 21 from 18 and doing more to place siblings in the same foster home. States will also have to track how well children allowed to remain outside foster homes do, compared to those who go through the foster home process. These new reporting and tracking requirements are crucial, says Rutledge Q. Hutson, of CLASP. WWe need to know what happens to the child," she says.
• Nov 21, 2011  |  Consumer Affairs Congress Slashes Legal Aid Budget "Legal aid grantees help low-income people with legal issues regarding foreclosures and evictions, consumer problems including predatory lending, restraining orders in domestic violence cases, child custody, child support, bankruptcy and more," said Alan W. Houseman, executive director of CLASP. "With the lingering effects of the recession, low-income people's need for legal assistance is growing," Houseman said.
• Nov 18, 2011  |  CQ Senators Introduce Bill to Strengthen Child Abuse Reporting Laws Rutledge Hutson, the director of child welfare for the Center for Law and Social Policy, lauded Casey's bill, saying more needs to be done to clarify what can sometimes be a complicated chain of command for reporting and reacting to child abuse. "Children cannot protect themselves, and we all have a moral duty to step in when we see or suspect they are experiencing harm," Hutson said. "That's part of being a community."
• Nov 18, 2011  |  Houston Chronicle Too Many Texas Children Live in Poverty In this pivotal moment, America should recommit itself to helping vulnerable children meet their potential. Unfortunately, the focus in Washington is on how to cut services that help children in order to preserve tax breaks and maximize income for wealthy Americans and corporations.
• Nov 10, 2011  |  Miller-McCune Improved Poverty Metrics Show Aid Does Help "It was Reagan who made the crack about the war on poverty 'and poverty won,' and I think to some degree, there is that popular perception," said Elizabeth Lower-Basch, a senior policy analyst with the Center for Law and Social Policy. "It is in part because the official poverty measure doesn't capture what are two of the largest anti-poverty programs, particularly for families and children at this point."
• Nov 08, 2011  |  Huffington Post New Supplemental Poverty Measure Doesn't Change Reality The new Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) released yesterday morning by the Census Bureau tells us that millions more are poor than what the standard poverty measure shows, but without government intervention poverty would be much worse.
• Nov 07, 2011  |  The American Independent Women Would Be Disproportionately Affected by Tax Plans Proposed by Cain, Perry, Experts Say "It would be horrifying to lose [the Earned Income Tax Credit and the Child Tax Credit]," said Elizabeth Lower-Basch, a senior policy analyst at CLASP. "That would particularly affect women. We have a basically progressive tax code. If we go to a flat code, it would significantly hurt low-income workers."
• Nov 03, 2011  |  Dekalb Daily Chronicle Displaced Workers Finding Edge Through Education According to a June 2011 study by CLASP, unemployment among workers with a high school diploma or equivalent is at 9.7 percent, compared to the unemployment rate of 4.5 percent among workers with a bachelor's degree or higher. The same study shows that the number of adults ages 25 and older are anticipated to enroll in college at twice the rate as traditional age students from 2009-2019.