Public Policy "NEWS"

  For most of us, the idea of young children working in dangerous jobs with no legal protection belongs to the past, consigned to the pages of history and Dickens novels.  EPI shines a light into the dark corners of our labor market to expose injustice. Please help EPI spread the word by sharing this chart with your networks and, if you are able, please consider making a gift to support EPI’s important work.

On Monday, Rachel Maddow praised Indivisible activists for doing “some of the most practical, strategically interesting organizing in the country.”

The Biden-Harris Administration today released the President’s Budget for Fiscal Year 2024. The Budget details a blueprint to grow the economy from the bottom up and middle out, lower costs for families, protect and strengthen Medicare and Social Security, and reduce the deficit by ensuring the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share—all while ensuring no one making less than $400,000 per year pays more in taxes.  "Still, the scope of the budget—which includes significant funding for the climate, childcare, democracy, education, healthcare, housing, violence prevention, and more, made possible in part through tax hikes for wealthy individuals and corporations—was celebrated by the likes of Sharon Parrott, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities" (CBPP). For more information on the President’s FY 2024 Budget, please visit: https://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/ .

Asthma is a condition where the airways become constricted or narrow. The inflammation in the area will keep the airways from being open, thus triggering breathing issues. The body will produce mucus that can stick in the airways and will be hard to cough up.  PHI’s Regional Asthma Management and Prevention (RAMP) program advanced two critical Medi-Cal policies to provide coverage for home-based asthma education, environmental trigger assessments and asthma remediation supports. "Both policy wins have major implications for increased access to home visiting services for people with poorly controlled asthma, which will improve health outcomes, reduce asthma disparities, and decrease healthcare utilization costs," said RAMP director Anne Kelsey-Lamb. Read more here

School districts use vouchers to enable white students to attend private schools, which could (and still can) limit admission based on race. As a result, the schools that served those white students were closed, and schools that served black students remained chronically underfunded. Education savings accounts are a kind of super-voucher. While traditional vouchers give parents a chunk of taxpayer money that they could use for tuition at the school of their choice, an ESA gives parents a chunk of taxpayer money that they can spend on private school tuition or a variety of other educational expenses. Jersey Jazzman: "Kingdom Gain" Through School Vouchers: It's Already Working ESAs, like vouchers, have proven to be a way to use public tax dollars to fund private religious schools. In fact, in states where voucher programs exist, vouchers  primarily fund religious schools  (particularly Catholic ones). While the separation of church and state, when it comes to education, is

These were the five most banned books in America in 2022. Gender Queer: A Memoir , by Maia Kobabe, traces the author's life from adolescence to adulthood, including Kobabe's exploration of their gender identity and sexuality. All Boys Aren't Blue , by George M. Johnson, chronicles Johnson's life growing up as a queer Black man in New Jersey and Virginia. Out of Darkness , by Ashley Hope Pérez, explores themes of segregation and chronicles a teenage love story involving a Mexican American girl and a Black boy. The Bluest Eye , by Toni Morrison, tells the story of a young Black girl growing up following the Great Depression who is consistently regarded as "ugly" due to her dark skin. The Hate U Give , by Angie Thomas, traces the life of a 16-year-old Black girl from a poor neighborhood who attends an elite, white private school and witnesses a white police officer shoot and kill her childhood friend.  Notice some common themes? Racism, segregation, gender identi

"President Biden and Vice President Harris promised to move quickly to deliver results for working families. That's what they've done."  The White House Fact:  The White House is worth  $397.9 million , according to US-based real-estate listings firm Zillow, who calculated the price in 2017. That is equivalent to £290 million, making it worth more than the most expensive house in Britain.