Elizabeth Lower-Basch

Deputy Executive Director for Policy
Policy expertise: 
Cross-Program Benefit Access
Federal Spending Priorities
Health and Mental Health
Immigrant Access to Benefits
Income and Work Supports
Medicaid
Refundable Tax Credits
SNAP
TANF
Work-Based Learning and Subsidized Employment

Elizabeth Lower-Basch is the deputy executive director of policy at CLASP. In this role, she provides leadership, strategic guidance, and support for the organization’s policy and advocacy agenda. She is an expert on federal and state cash assistance, Medicaid, SNAP, and refundable tax credits, how they impact the lives of people with low incomes—including immigrants—and how they could be improved to increase racial equity and justice. Ms. Lower-Basch has expertise in both federal policy development and in effective and cross-cutting implementation of federal policy. Key professional accomplishments include maximizing state use of the TANF Emergency Fund during the Great Recession and helping launch and lead the Protecting Immigrant Families, Advancing Our Future campaign, a multi-organizational campaign dedicated to protecting access to income and work supports programs for immigrants and their families. In February 2022, Ms. Lower-Basch was selected to serve as a policy expert on the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Equity Commission. From 1996 to 2006, Ms. Lower-Basch worked for the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this position, she was a lead policy analyst, supporting legislative and regulatory processes during the implementation of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant and managing research projects. She received a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University, writing her thesis on pro- and anti-immigrant tendencies in the 19th century American labor movement and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government.