NEWSROOM
From child protection to school finance, CPPP policy staff know the issues affecting low- and moderate-income Texans.
If you are a member of the media, e-mail CPPP Communications Director Brian Stephens at stephens@cppp.org or call 512-320-0222 x 112. After hours, please call Brian's cell phone at 512-565-0506.
Please see our Staff Page for additional e-mail addresses.
Press Releases, Statements, & Op-Eds: 2010
News Release — Early Christmas: New Law Increases Investment in Child Nutrition Programs (Press Release)
Release Date: 12/21/2010
(AUSTIN, Texas)—Low-income children in Texas received an early Christmas present last week. On December 13, President Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act into law, which increases investment in the Child Nutrition Programs: School Breakfast and Lunch, Women Infants and Children (WIC), which provides food benefits and nutrition counseling to new mothers and children with a nutritional risk, and the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP), which reimburses day care providers and afterschool programs for the meals and snacks they serve to low-income children and seniors in their care.
Metro-Area Census Data Show More Poor and Uninsured in Texas (Press Release)
Release Date: 09/28/2010
The 2009 American Community Survey (ACS) data released by the U.S. Census Bureau show more Texans are below the poverty line and lack health insurance compared to 2008. Most of Texas’ metro area rates exceed the U.S. average. Texas again had the nation’s highest statewide uninsured rate, and some localities far exceeded the statewide rate. Texas entered the recession later than the rest of the nation and experienced low rates of unemployment through most of 2008. These new data for 2009 reflect the full impact of the recession on Texas.
Plaintiffs Dismiss Federal Food Stamp Lawsuit Sustaining Progress Up to the Legislature (Statement)
Release Date: 09/1/2010
On July 31, 2009, Stacy Howard and Linda Thornberg on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated filed a class action in federal district court against the Executive Commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission for failure to comply with federal timeliness standards in processing applications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly called Food Stamps.
Statement on Extending the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Statement)
Release Date: 07/21/2010
Congress is finally on the verge of extending the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s extra weeks of jobless insurance benefits. Doing so is critical to helping hardworking Texans who cannot find jobs and to sustaining our economic recovery.
Congress should now take a second important step and extend the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s help to states to balance their budgets. Texas balanced its present budget with federal help that largely runs out by December 31. By providing additional help, Congress can help Texas prevent job-killing state spending cuts.
We urge Senator Hutchison and Senator Cornyn to act quickly to help Texas.
Starting July 1 Texans With Pre-existing Conditions Have New Access to Quality, More Affordable Health Coverage (Press Release)
Release Date: 07/1/2010
An important reform of the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act launched July 1 when Texans who have been without health coverage for at least six months and who have been denied coverage because of pre-existing health gained access to more affordable, quality coverage. They will receive it through a new Pre-existing Condition Insurance Plan created by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Statement on Texas Budget Instructions for 2012-13 (Statement)
Release Date: 05/28/2010
Yesterday the Governor and the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) began the budget-writing process for 2012-13 by instructing state agencies, courts, institutions of higher education, and health-related institutions to submit proposals that include more deep cuts.
CPPP urges that the state leadership instead take a balanced approach to balancing the state budget by spending all the state’s Rainy Day Fund and raising new revenue, rather than relying solely on reducing services to make ends meet.
Texas Children: The Real Winners of Health Care Reform (Op-Ed)
Release Date: 04/13/2010
Much of the health care reform reporting these past few weeks has focused on political winners and losers. But parents are more concerned with their own families than with political score-keeping. And let's be clear: The reform plan passed by Congress is a major victory for Texas’ children and families.
State Auditor's Report on Supplemental Nutrition Provides Blueprint for Fixing Eligibility System (Statement)
Release Date: 03/30/2010
The State Auditor’s office released a report today on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) at the Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC). The report provides a blueprint for restoring access to SNAP (formerly called Food Stamps) and fixing the state’s eligibility and enrollment system for SNAP, Medicaid, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance. HHSC’s Executive Commissioner Tom Suehs requested the audit to inform his efforts to end severe delays in SNAP application processing. The delays cause food hardship to tens of thousands of needy Texans struggling to feed their families in the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.
Texans are Among the Biggest Winners in Last Night's Vote for Historic Health Care Reform (Statement)
Release Date: 03/22/2010
With more than one in four Texans currently lacking health care insurance and runaway premiums adding daily to that 6.1 million count, relief cannot not come too soon for our overburdened health care system. In addition to providing new economic security to millions of Texas families, the national health reform bill will also bring billions of dollars back to Texas each year through health insurance tax credits for middle class and low-income Texans, and Medicaid coverage for our poorest citizens.
Our state leadership should move promptly and in good faith to facilitate the implementation of health insurance reforms. Texans can look to the establishment of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and our response to Hurricane Ike as recent examples of the excellent performance of which our state government is capable when it has the backing of leadership.
The State of Texas Children 2009-10 (Press Release)
Release Date: 02/15/2010
On February 12, the Center for Public Policy Priorities released The State of Texas Children: Texas KIDS COUNT Annual Data Book 2009-2010, a resource that offers an updated look at the well-being of children in Texas, as well as complete online data snapshots for every county in Texas. This year’s data book chronicles how decades of state fiscal belt-tightening have squeezed off investment in child well-being in Texas, noting that even though federal stimulus dollars filled the gaps in the 2010-2011 state budget, resulting in a slight increase in state spending on services to children, Texas still ranks among the 10 states with the highest rate of child poverty in the nation, as it has for every year since 2000. Furthermore, the most current data available does not yet reflect the effects of the economic recession which hit Texas children and families much later than the rest of the country.
Hard Times for Food Hardship in U.S., Texas (Press Release)
Release Date: 02/1/2010
Nearly one in five Texans struggle to afford food, according to a report released last week by the Food Research and Action Center. The Lone Star State is among 20 states with food hardship rates of 20 percent or higher in 2008-2009. Food hardship among families with children was even more pronounced, with 27.2 percent of Texas families reporting difficulty affording food. The study calls for job creation measures and increased investment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as Food Stamps) and other federal nutrition programs that help families afford food during tough economic times. To rise to this challenge, Texas needs to fix the problems in its SNAP eligibility system, where staffing shortages are preventing hundreds of thousands of needy Texans from accessing food assistance. Congress can help America’s struggling families by extending the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s (ARRA) additional unemployment benefits.
CPPP Urges Administration and Congress to Move Forward on National Health Care Reform (Statement)
Release Date: 01/22/2010
CPPP today issued a statement on national health care reform, urging Congress and the Administration to move forward with the reform effort.
New Analysis Anticipates Child Poverty Increase (Press Release)
Release Date: 01/7/2010
More than one of every five Texas children, or nearly 1.5 million kids, lived in poverty during 2008—and when data from 2009 are compiled, that number is likely to increase to one of every four kids, according to a new analysis released Wednesday by First Focus and Brookings researcher Julia Isaacs. The increase in poor children is placing an even heavier burden on an already strained network of private charities and state agencies already reeling from the triple punch of inadequate funding, staffing shortages, and a broken eligibility system that withholds critical assistance to needy families.
View All Newsroom Items by Year:
1995 | 1996 | 1997 | 1998 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024