Congress Killed Pandemic Safety Nets and We’re Still Paying the Price
Every September, the Census Bureau unveils crucial data on Americans’ poverty, health and income for the previous year.
The latest results underscore a pressing issue: In many key ways, our policymakers are still failing American families, even though they should be well aware by now of effective solutions.
Let’s parse the numbers. The Supplemental Poverty Measure — the most comprehensive measure of poverty — increased slightly, from 12.4 percent to 12.9 percent between 2022 and 2023. Child poverty rose from 12.4 percent to 13.7 percent.
Now, there are some wrinkles in these numbers. If the threshold had been set using a different measure for inflation, the Supplemental Poverty Measure would actually clock in at 12 percent — a modest decrease, statistically similar to the prior year.
Either way, we’re looking at some combination of stagnation and steady erosion of living standards since the collapse of the pandemic-era social safety net. To see why, let’s look at the last few years, starting with the pandemic.
