Stimulus Funding as Check on Poverty

The $787 billion Recovery Act is designed to boost the entire economy, but a new report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities shows that the stimulus is serving as a boon for low-income Americans. The report estimates that seven ARRA provisions - two improvements in unemployment insurance, three tax credits for working families, an increase in food stamps, and a one-time payment for retirees, veterans, and people with disabilities - are preventing more than 6 million Americans from falling below the poverty line and are reducing the severity of poverty for 33 million more. Those 6 million people include more than 2 million children and over 500,000 seniors. This analysis includes state-specific estimates for California, Texas, Florida, New York, and Illinois. A summary of the report and a link to a PDF of the full version can be found here.