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Shawn Fremstad

Shawn Fremstad is a Senior Fellow with the Center for American Progress and a Senior Research Associate with the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

Articles by this author

	Views Friday, January 19, 2018 No, Forced Labor Is Not Good for Your Health The Trump administration announced last week that it will allow states to deny Medicaid to people who are not meeting work or other daily activity requirements imposed by state officials. As my colleagues have shown, more than 6 million people are at risk of losing health insurance under the new... Read more
	Views Wednesday, September 14, 2016 The Federal Poverty Line is Too Damn Low The U.S. Census Bureau’s announcement today that the number of Americans living below the poverty line fell between 2014 and 2015 is good news. But before we get too excited, it is worth noting that the federal poverty line was a meager $12,000 for a single person living alone in 2015 (and only... Read more
	Views Saturday, September 20, 2014 Disability is a Cause and Consequence of Poverty Disability is both a cause and consequence of poverty. It is a cause because it can lead to job loss and reduced earnings, barriers to education and skills development, significant additional expenses, and many other challenges that can lead to economic hardship. It is also a consequence because... Read more
	Views Monday, June 16, 2014 If We Want to Build a Powerful Movement for Economic Justice, Our Work on Poverty Can’t Be a “Separate Thing” Fifty years after President Johnson declared war on poverty, it’s time to reimagine anti-poverty work for the next fifty years. In doing so, one thing seems central: the need to build a broad-based progressive movement for economic justice and security. This movement needs to encompass not just the... Read more
	Views Friday, August 24, 2012 NewtAid at 16: The Failure of TANF and Conservative Social Policy Sixteen years ago on Wednesday, President Bill Clinton surrendered to House Speaker Newt Gingrich and signed NewtAid, legislation that replaced the Social Security Act's Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) with a right-wing block grant scheme called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). NewtAid/TANF was prematurely lauded as a success before it had even been fully implemented. Read more