Morning Must-Read: Danilo Trisi: Safety Net Cut Poverty Nearly in Half Last Year
lift[ed] 39 million people — including more than 8 million children — out of poverty… Social Security, non-cash benefits such as rent subsidies and SNAP (formerly food stamps), and tax credits for working families like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)…. Accounting for government assistance programs and taxes cuts the poverty rate for 2013 from 28.1 percent to 15.5 percent…. Safety net programs cut the poverty rate for children from 27.5 percent to 16.4 percent…