RJ Blog

Late last month, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released an alarming report—that the country was headed toward a “fiscal cliff” in January 2013, which could shatter an already fragile economic recovery. The culprit? A one-two punch of the expiration of President Bush’s tax cuts and a series of massive spending cuts borne of the debt ceiling debate from last August. The irony of the situation is that the combination of spending cuts and tax hikes will make ample headway on the national debt, but this headway will likely come at the cost of a renewed recession. Though there is ample [...]

New York City is one of the world’s great cities. The “city that never sleeps” has fantastic food and nightlife, great sports teams (unless you’re from Boston), and a public transit system that’s among the best in the world. Supplementing New York’s subway and bus lines are its approximately 13,000 iconic yellow taxis. Neither the subway nor the taxis, though, are easily wheelchair accessible. Indeed, at the end of December 2011, a federal judge ruled that the New York City taxi system violates the Americans with Disabilities Act, as less than 2 percent of the fleet is wheelchair accessible. Fortunately, [...]

The weather in Washington these past few days was best described, in the words of one of my-coworkers here at the RAC, as “Where is my second pair of long johns!?” cold. This winter, many Americans will be left to face winter’s cold without adequately heated homes. A cut of approximately 25% to the Low-Income Household Energy Assistance Program’s (LIHEAP) budget is expected to imperil the ability of the program to adequately support the households that qualify for its benefits. In December, CNN surveyed the increasingly bleak landscape for American families this winter, noting: The National Energy Assistance Directors Association expects [...]

March is among my favorite months of the year: the one-two-three punch of basketball, my birthday, and cherry blossoms. This year, though, I’m excited about February—or as it’s known in the Jewish community, Jewish Disability Awareness Month. Now in its fourth year, the month presents us with an opportunity to break down barriers, educate our communities about the meanings of accessibility and inclusion, and reach out to Jews with disabilities. On the RAC’s website, we have created a space full of resources to help your congregation recognize Jewish Disability Awareness month and continue to become a truly welcoming community. These [...]

Throughout 2011,  the American economy has remained on shaky ground, and our nation’s most vulnerable populations have remained at increased risk. Economic turmoil in Europe—and a Congress that has done little to help the economy recover—have put an increased strain on our social safety net. In our homes, schools, and offices, the situation is equally grim. Some 46.2 million people lived below the poverty line in 2010—the highest number in the 52 years the Census Bureau has published such data—and the numbers are not expected to be any better once data is available to fully evaluate 2011. While much of [...]

Lost in the ongoing debate over an extension of the payroll tax cut has been the fate of unemployment insurance. Tuesday, the House majority rejected a Senate proposal that would have extended the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits for two months, through February, buying time for a longer-term deal to be struck. While the exact merits of a payroll tax cut as a form of economic stimulus vary from economist to economist, unemployment insurance represents a potent form of investment. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated recently that every dollar spent on unemployment insurance can add up to $1.90 [...]

The following is part of the “RAC Rundown” series of special legislative briefings that have been presented at Tzedek Central throughout the 2011 URJ Biennial. Working on behalf of those in need is at the very core of our Jewish tradition. We are commanded to leave the corners of our fields unharvested, so that “the poor person and the stranger” (Leviticus 19:9-10) might not go without. We are taught in Deuteronomy (15:7-11) that “If there is a needy person among you… do not harden your heart and shut your hand against your kin. Rather, you must open your hand and [...]

This week, 6,000 Jews have descended on the Washington, D.C., area for the 2011 URJ Biennial. For those of you reading this who are coming to Biennial (or are there already), I look forward to meeting you. If you’re unable to make it, the Biennial is being webcast live, so you’ll be able to enjoy it from the comforts of home. No matter how you’re participating in this Biennial, you can expect that many of our most prominent speakers—House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), Weekly Standard Editor William Kristol, and President Barack Obama—will likely talk about the same topic, one [...]

This week, the Senate is expected to take up S. J. Res. 23 and S. J. Res 24, both of which are balanced budget amendments. As this space has written before, a balanced budget amendment may sound reasonable on its face, but further examination reveals that this would be a disastrous path. The balanced budget amendment’s requirement that the federal government not spend more than it collects would rob the government of its ability to perform any number of important functions. Key programs like Medicaid, Medicare, and even veteran’s benefits could be slashed if a balanced budget amendment were passed [...]

On Thursday, the Senate failed to reach the 60-vote threshold to proceed to a vote on the nomination of former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray as the head of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. The Bureau was created last year as part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. Yesterday’s failed cloture vote means the Bureau will continue to be without a leader at time when its mission is most critical. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is tasked with representing the best interests of American consumers in the financial marketplace and warding against financial trickery, from sham [...]

Last week, Gary Haugen was about to become the third person executed by the state of Oregon since it reinstated the death penalty in 1984. Haugen was convicted of the killing of his former girlfriend’s mother, and received a life sentence. After being convictedof the 2003 murder of a fellow inmate, Haugen was sentenced to death–with the execution scheduled for December 6. But on November 22, Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) imposed a moratorium on the state’s use of the death penalty for the remainder of his term–which, in effect, issued a temporary reprieve in Haugen’s case. During Gov. Kitzhaber’s [...]

The economy just can’t seem to catch a break, can it? Just when things seemed to be on the rise, continued economic turmoil in Europeis causing quite a stir. Unfortunately, things may be about to get even worse on this side of the pond, as federal unemployment benefits are scheduled to expire at the beginning of 2012. Federal unemployment benefits are available to individuals who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own and who find themselves still unemployed and in need of financial assistance after receiving up to 26 weeks of state-provided unemployment benefits. An estimated 3.5 [...]

One in two. One in five. While at first glance this might seem to be the touchdown-to-interception ratio the Miami Dolphins are likely to set in their Thanksgiving afternoon game against the Dallas Cowboys, it represents something far more serious and disturbing then ineptitude on the football field. I recently finished the Food Stamp Challenge, a national effort to better understand the hardships that many Americans are faced with on a daily basis. The Challenge is simple: live for one week off of the average weekly food stamp allotment, $31.50. That comes to just $1.50 per meal. By way of [...]

Yesterday evening, the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction announced its failure to reach an agreement. Rather than taking a long look in the mirror and trying to figure out solutions to the gridlock that has only begat failure, Democrats and Republicans alike are sniping at each other and castigating each other for failing to reach a deal to reduce the federal budget deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next decade. For the moment, though, continued gridlock on the part of Congressional leaders has done little but hurt the economic recovery. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted yesterday at news [...]