Thanks to the stimulus, child allowances are here to stay

Abby McCloskey, Dallas Morning News, March 14, 2021

“The sheer magnitude of the $1.9 trillion stimulus bill masks its many components, but one of the most significant parts is an expanded child allowance. For the next year, American families will receive $300 monthly for every child younger than 6 years of age and $250 for every child age 17 or under, phasing out for couples earning more than $150,000.

While framed as a broad anti-poverty effort, the provision is no doubt penance to working parents and their children who have borne the brunt of the COVID-19 fallout. Closed schools and child care centers resulted in an exodus of 1 million mothers from the labor force, an increase in child hunger, and a catastrophic widening of racial and economic disparity in learning, the effects of which will be felt for a generation.

It’s unlikely that a monthly cash payment erases the hardship of this year, but perhaps it softens the blow (or brightens the image of the largely blue teacher unions and Democratic politicians that resisted reopening beyond what science suggested and now can be seen as benefactors).

But child allowances are likely to persist beyond the coronavirus recovery. This is because once a government benefit is in place it’s hard to claw back. It’s also because this proposal has bipartisan momentum despite our historically polarized politics…”

The Need for Continued Bipartisan Momentum on Paid Leave

Abby McCloskey, Adrienne Schweer, Bipartisan Policy Center, December 7, 2010

“We applaud the Senate’s bipartisan framework for a COVID-19 relief package. It represents a needed return to the collaborative congressional response that marked the beginning of the pandemic, and we hope it sets the tone for a more productive 2021 and beyond.

We understand that the nature of a moderate package means that not everyone gets what they want. That said, there’s an obvious bipartisan component missing from the deal: paid leave.”

The Supreme Court represents a huge missed opportunity for Biden

Abby McCloskey, Dallas News, October 21, 2020

“The Supreme Court vacancy is a huge opportunity for Joe Biden to demonstrate how he would govern, win over the exhausted majority, and restore normalcy to politics. Instead, he’s turned it into a liability.”

Our Unequal Recovery

Abby McCloskey, The Dispatch, October 20, 2020

“There are long term problems on the horizon, and not so far off. We can already see them: the lost schooling, the rising share of the unemployed, and how both intersect with existing racial and income disparities. Sooner rather than later, it will be time to pivot our crisis response to address the structural issues emerging from it. This will require Republicans to give more energy to the crisis response than they’ve given it, which in many cases amounts to talking about the crisis in past tense and thus far proposing only a skinnied-up version of what’s been passed so far. And it will require Democrats to focus their desire to spend more money on specific structural issues instead of boiling the ocean with taxpayer money that will eventually need to be repaid or using the crisis as an opportunity for wide-reaching partisan reforms only loosely related to the crisis at hand. “

Pence was right. Now is not the time to raise taxes. But it's also not time to undercut recovery with neglect.

Abby McCloskey, The Dispatch, October 9, 2020

“Pence delivered an effective critique of the Biden tax plan and progressive agenda, but lacked a positive agenda for moving us forward. Coming out of the VP debate, both political parties would be well advised to give more thought to how we rebuild our economy coming out of this pandemic—instead of launching a partisan spending spree only loosely related to the crisis or pretending that by simply keeping on with the status quo, this nightmare will be behind us in no time.”

PODCAST: Slate / New America - Caregiving in the 2020 Campaign

Abby McCloskey, Crisis Lab Communications, October 2, 2020

Political pundits have long insisted that care issues like childcare, elder care and paid and unpaid caregiving are not “bread and butter” economic issues that move voters or swing elections. Will that change in this unprecedented time of COVID-19? Are voters beginning to see that care work is no longer just “women’s work,” but central to a functioning economy? And what difference could that make on Nov. 3?

To take on this topic, Better Life Lab's Brigid Schulte is joined by:

  • Roselyn Miller, Policy Analyst, Better Life Lab

  • Amanda Brown Lierman, Managing Director, Supermajority

  • Abby McCloskey, Founder, McCloskey Policy LLC

To hear more of this episode including stories and questions from callers, click here. You can also find this episode wherever you listen to your podcasts. The video and transcript of the conversation are down below.

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NEW PAPER: Designing a paid leave policy to support our most vulnerable workers

Abby McCloskey, Angela Rachidi, Peyton Roth, AEI, October 7, 2020

  • While the academic and political case for paid leave advanced considerably in recent years, questions remain regarding how a national paid leave program would affect low-wage workers.

  • Research shows that many existing paid leave programs in the US and other countries impose costs on vulnerable populations due to regressive funding sources and fewer benefits to low-income parents caused by this group’s low program take-up rate.

  • However, paid family leave programs offer significant advantages for low-income parents, increasing parents’ access to paid time off and benefiting low-income children financially and developmentally.

  • Balancing these findings requires designing a public paid family leave program that supports low-wage working parents, limits private-sector benefit crowd out, and reduces the regressivity of funding.

Rules of the game are now up for grabs

Abby McCloskey, Dallas Morning News, September 25, 2020

“The possibility of a blue trifecta; new, New Deal; a sitting president not accepting election results; packed Supreme Court, either conservative or with its size changed; and so much more.

Thoughts on our political chaos and what it means for the norms of engagement that undergird the whole thing. In today's paper:”

The Biden Agenda: What He Might Do For Working Families

Abby McCloskey, The Dispatch, September 10, 2020

“The 2020 presidential election comes at a time when America’s working families are under extreme duress. Democrat nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden brings compassion and policy reforms to provide relief and opportunity to families, but his proposals are not without downsides.”

The pandemic can be more than purgatory. It can be a time of deep spiritual formation.

Abby McCloskey, Dallas Morning News, August 9, 2020

“Ordinary Time is a season to hang the green banner instead of wave the white flag. The pandemic is all around us, but in our best moments, we can stop ourselves from thinking of it as a lost six months or lost year — a sort of purgatory and waiting it out. Rather we can see this as a period of time set aside for (painful) growth, re-anchoring to what really matters, establishing habits to persist after the trial is done. This is of course more easily said than done, requiring deep spiritual dependence, community and humility. There’s a reason why Ordinary Time cycles around each year in the church calendar. It is not learned all at once.”

What’s Missing From Senate GOP Plan

Abby McCloskey & Ben Gitis, The Dispatch, July 23, 2020

“Senate Republicans released their long-awaited plan for the next round of COVID relief, kicking off congressional negotiations centered on vital issues such as extending emergency unemployment benefits (though to a lesser degree), issuing another round of recovery rebates, and increasing testing. But what’s largely missing are targeted plans to help caregivers—who face unprecedented responsibilities largely due to child care center and school closures—return to work.” 

Bipartisan Policy Center - Morning Consult Poll: Unemployment Insurance and Caregiving Responsibilities During COVID-19

Abby McCloskey, Ben Gitis, Bipartisan Policy Center, July 2020

Workers are facing unprecedented caregiving responsibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic, largely related to school and child care closures. Many workers lack options aside from unemployment insurance (UI) for balancing caregiving responsibilities with their jobs. A quarter of UI recipients—roughly 8 million workers—primarily spend their time caregiving, and caregiving is the primary barrier to reemployment among parents on UI who are not looking for a job. As the nation grapples with reopening, Congress can better support workers’ engagement in the labor force and their caregiving responsibilities.

Survey Parameters:

Morning Consult surveyed 1,500 persons receiving unemployment benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic. The survey was fielded on June 19, 2020 – July 6, 2020.

Get Ready For The Economic Rollercoaster

Abby McCloskey, The Dispatch, June 18, 2020

“Our nation’s top forecasters predict that we are nearing an inflection point in the economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Our polarized politics, coupled with a presidential election year and an evolving virus, are likely to understate the complexity, uncertainty, and continued adaptation that the recovery will involve. 

 Republicans are likely to emphasize the good—citing historic rates of improvement—and Democrats are likely to emphasize the bad—citing historic levels of damage—as if our giant and interwoven economy and her impending recovery can be understood in a binary way that fails to account for the full picture. “

Meeting Physical Force with Soul Force

Abby McCloskey, June 7, 2020, Dallas Morning News

“Where leadership is desperately needed to ignite our common bonds, many of our politicians squandered political capital to scratch the cheap itch of partisan trench warfare. In doing so, their ability to speak into the pain that our nation is going through has been irreparably sacrificed. Moments of maturity are easily overwhelmed by the thousands of tweets that suggest otherwise, giving people permission to tune out. Washington has never been bigger, louder. But it has never felt smaller, less relevant.”

PODCAST: Politics and Public Health

Abby McCloskey, Highland Park Methodist Church, May 27, 2020

Economist and Political Commentator, Abby McCloskey, explores why where you get your news affects your response to the virus, the science (and shame) of masking, and what it means to love God and your neighbor as the economy re-opens. Interview with Hannah Buchanan, Director of Adult Ministries.

Listen here: http://www.hpumc.org/letmein/?sapurl=LytlNjA1L2xiL21pLytndms2Z2t4P2JyYW5kaW5nPXRydWUmZW1iZWQ9dHJ1ZQ==

The Pandemic Has Exposed a Need for Better Paid Leave Policies

Abby McCloskey, The Dispatch, May 26, 2020

“When people feel pressure to go to work while ill or when a family member is sick, it is problematic during typical times. During a pandemic, it can be fatal...That said, policymakers should take caution in basing a permanent federal paid leave policy on this emergency experience. The environment we are in is unique, and there is a clear and meaningful distinction between emergency measures and policies necessary during usual times. Before making any permanent changes, policymakers should step back and reassess what we know about paid leave policies and what we have yet to learn.”

Republicans Should Be Playing Offense on Economic Relief

Abby McCloskey, The Dispatch, May 19, 2020

“Give Americans a path forward that instills confidence, security, and hope. Put meat on it. Let people know you are in it with them for the long haul. Republican politicians tend to do poorly on surveys about whether they “care about people like me.” Now’s the time to push against the caricature with compassion and urgency and targeted support.”

It's Time to Shore Up the Labor Market

Abby McCloskey, The Dispatch, May 11, 2020

“Some may argue we do not have the resources to do any of this, a federal debt crisis already looming. But a shattered labor force will make future economic growth even more evasive and our debt obligations infinitely harder to pay off. To be sure, America would benefit from a sign of commitment for tackling entitlement reform when the current crisis ends, as the lack of attention represents a threat to the workforce and economic growth (as if we needed something else to worry about). But leaving the driver of the debt in place while pulling back on our short-term emergency response would be foolhardy. No one benefits from mass long-term unemployment and a shrinking labor force, which will exacerbate the tragedy in which we find ourselves.

The reopening phase we are in will mean very little if there are no jobs available and no workers to be found.”