Category: Blog

A LI“HEAP” of Trouble: Slashing Federal Utility Assistance Will Hurt New Jersey Seniors, Families, and Working-Class Households

Posted on by Peter Chen

With double-digit energy cost increases expected to hit electric bills this summer, utility affordability is front of mind for many New Jersey families and lawmakers. For hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans, a federal program called the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) has helped reduce energy costs by hundreds of dollars each year, especially for those who spend a high percentage of their income on utilities.

Now, LIHEAP faces multiple threats. On April 1, the Trump administration laid off all federal Department of Health and Human Services staff administering the program, leaving billions in funds unable to be sent to states. A leaked draft budget for the department proposes eliminating the entire program’s funding.

Here is what’s at stake for New Jersey. LIHEAP helps over 240,000 households pay their energy bills, including:

  • 56,000 households with a person with a disability
  • 114,000 households with a senior member
  • 36,000 households with a child under age 6

 

For perspective, this is approximately the same number of households as all of Ocean County (241,000 households).

LIHEAP distributes $212 million to help New Jersey families with their energy bills and to buy more energy-efficient heaters or air conditioners to save them money.

Federal LIHEAP funds go to the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, which works with local community groups to help eligible people apply for the program. But this process relies on payment processing and reimbursement from the federal government, which staff reductions would threaten.

At a time when utility bills are already rising and the weather in New Jersey is getting more extreme due to climate change, now is the time to protect and expand LIHEAP to get it in the hands of even more eligible families, not cut funding at the federal level and make energy less affordable.

Dismantling U.S. Dept. of Ed. is Costly and Inefficient for New Jersey

Posted on by Mark Weber

A strong education system is fundamental to opportunity, economic mobility, and the long-term success of our communities. The Trump Administration’s efforts to weaken or dismantle the U.S. Department of Education (USED) raise both legal and policy concerns. Only an act of Congress can dissolve the Department; until then, the President has an obligation to keep it staffed and fully functioning. Furthermore, even if Congress were to choose to eliminate USED, much of its work would have to be offloaded to other departments or agencies, undermining efforts to improve efficiency and reduce spending.

Title I grants, for example, must still be distributed according to federal law.[1] These Congressionally-mandated grants specifically support schools serving large numbers of students from low-income backgrounds; they cannot be halted by any administration, even if the Department is dissolved. Over many years, USED staff have developed expertise in data collection and grant administration, ensuring that complex Title I funding formulas are accurately implemented and that schools receive critically important resources.[2] Eliminating that institutional expertise  — only to have to rebuild it elsewhere — would be an inefficient use of both time and taxpayer money.

In 2022, about 7 percent of the revenues for New Jersey’s school districts came from federal sources.[3] Districts with higher concentrations of poverty, however, are more reliant on federal aid; in Camden, for example, nearly 15 percent of revenues came from federal sources. Slashing this funding would have devastating effects on the school districts serving our most economically disadvantaged children.

New Jersey’s colleges also rely heavily on USED and the federal funding it distributes. In 2024, New Jersey’s postsecondary students received nearly $1 billion in federal grants and an additional $1.6 billion in federal direct student loans.[4] Until recently, the Department has also played a significant role in protecting students’ civil rights on college campuses. Weakening or eliminating the Department would put the rights of students, faculty, and staff in jeopardy at New Jersey’s universities and colleges.

Dismantling USED would have far-reaching and long-term disastrous effects both nationwide and for communities across New Jersey. As the state grapples with a structural budget deficit, lawmakers must prioritize defending the critical programs, policies, and federal spending that support New Jersey students and schools.

End Notes

[1] https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R47702

[2] https://nces.ed.gov/pubs2019/2019016.pdf

[3] Author’s calculation from data published by the US Census: https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2022/econ/school-finances/secondary-education-finance.html

[4]
https://www.ed.gov/about/ed-overview/annual-performance-reports/budget/us-department-of-education-budget-history

Medicaid Cuts and Red Tape Jeopardize Health Care for Over 750,000 New Jerseyans

Posted on by Peter Chen

Every New Jerseyan deserves access to affordable health insurance and care. Medicaid coverage ensures that people can see a doctor for routine checkups and essential care, improving overall health and reducing medical debt for enrollees. However, recent federal proposals to slash Medicaid funding for states threaten gains in coverage for adults and children across New Jersey. Federal Medicaid dollars support New Jersey FamilyCare, which provides health insurance for low- and moderate-income households — making it a critical lifeline for families statewide.

Under the recently passed House budget resolution, one harmful proposal would impose work requirements for Medicaid. If Congress passes these onerous work requirements, about 765,000 New Jersey adults could lose health insurance — 44 percent of all adult Medicaid enrollees. Other estimates, including from the New Jersey Department of Human Services, which administers Medicaid in New Jersey, conclude similarly, showing that hundreds of thousands of people risk losing health insurance with work requirements under these rules.

Overall, these counterproductive requirements would add burdensome and unnecessary red tape to insurance applications while threatening basic health insurance for nearly half of all enrollees. Most adult Medicaid enrollees already work, while those who are not are most often caring for family members, dealing with illness or disabilities, or pursuing education. Evidence from states with work requirements for health insurance demonstrate that these policies fail to increase employment, while access to affordable health insurance actually improves a person’s ability to get and keep a job.

Cuts that remove people from Medicaid shift costs onto working- and middle-class families who rely on it. These families already face rising housing, food, and health care expenses. If a New Jersey family in the lowest 20 percent of earners lost coverage, they would lose, on average, $11,909 annually.

New Jersey must protect NJ FamilyCare by rejecting Medicaid cuts that would undermine affordability, strain the state’s budget, and put hundreds of thousands of New Jerseyans at risk of losing lifesaving health insurance.

From Health Care to Highways: How Federal Funding Shapes New Jersey

Posted on by Alex Ambrose

Federal funds play a crucial role in supporting state government services that protect and provide for New Jerseyans. Because of this funding, New Jersey can ensure clean water flows from the tap, children receive healthy meals at schools, state departments can repair roads and rail lines, and residents can access routine medical checkups. In fact, nearly one-third of New Jersey’s budget expenditures depend on federal funds, meaning that federal budget cuts would inevitably lead to reductions in state agency funding and essential services that families rely on.

New Jersey’s State Departments Depend on Federal Funding

New Jersey’s state departments administer essential programs, acting as the clearinghouse for billions in federal funding.

The three state departments most reliant on federal dollars (by percentage of their budget) are:

  • Department of Agriculture,
  • Department of Labor and Workforce Development, and
  • Department of Environmental Protection.

 

Specifically, these departments administer critical programs, including:

 

Feeding families and children, helping people get jobs, and keeping the air clean are essential services that federal cuts could put at risk. If Congress slashes federal funding, these departments may be forced to lay off workers and scale back operations, directly harming New Jersey residents.

Top Federal Programs in New Jersey

New Jersey’s state budget also relies on several multi-billion dollar federal grants earmarked for specific programs that fund key services supporting state residents.

  • Department of Human Services: Administers Medicaid/CHIP and TANF, helping families with low to no income access health care and cash assistance.
  • Department of Transportation: Receives nearly $2 billion in federal funding to build and maintain state and local roads, improving accessibility and safety for people with disabilities, pedestrians, and cyclists.

 

These programs receive some of the largest federal grants, playing a crucial role in improving the quality of life for New Jerseyans.

With the state budget already facing a structural deficit, New Jersey must push back against federal funding cuts that could weaken its ability to deliver essential services to residents.

Federal Funding Cuts Threaten New Jersey’s Residents

Posted on by Nicole Rodriguez

Federal funding is the backbone of many essential public services in New Jersey, supporting health care, food assistance, child care, and education. However, recent federal proposals from D.C. include deep cuts to these programs — primarily to finance tax breaks for corporations and the ultra-wealthy.

These cuts would have devastating consequences for the state’s most vulnerable residents — including immigrant communities, people with disabilities, low-income families with young children, and older adults on fixed incomes. 

New Jersey’s schools, hospitals, and bridges depend on federal funding

New Jersey receives nearly $30.8 billion in federal funds, many of which support critical programs for families and the state’s economy, according to recent data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Many of these funds are passed through the state budget to individuals and programs, so even small disruptions in federal funding may lead to child care providers and soup kitchens closing their doors permanently or families being cut off from food or heating assistance.

Millions of New Jersey households count on federally funded programs

Whether programs and services are administered by federal, state, or local governments, federal grants flow to millions of households and families across New Jersey. This aid translates into health insurance and health care, preschool and child care, school meals and special education funding, and affordable housing — foundational supports to help every family succeed.

At a time when families are struggling to afford necessities like housing, food, and healthcare, any cut to these and other federal programs will directly harm hundreds of thousands of people. With the state budget facing its own structural deficit of more than $2.1 billion, federal cuts now would further hamper the state government’s ability to assist New Jerseyans. To safeguard the stability of New Jersey and support affordability for families who need it most, policymakers must prioritize protecting and expanding federal investments in public services and maintain an ample surplus to ensure the state can protect its families from harm.

Boost Family Tax Credits to Boost Affordability

Posted on by Peter Chen

All children in a state as wealthy as New Jersey deserve to grow up without fear of homelessness or hunger. Yet many families with children struggle with affordability due to the state’s high cost of living, especially for housing and transportation. More than 1 in 4 New Jersey children live in a low-income household — less than $62,000 for a family of four. To make the state the best place to raise a child, New Jersey’s state budget must prioritize programs that help working families meet the cost of raising children.

New Jersey already has two programs that help families meet those rising costs:

 

However, these tax credits do not reach all families with children who need assistance, due to the children’s age, the tax filer’s citizenship, or other eligibility requirements. Also, the credit amounts should increase to keep up with the rising child-related costs like food and child care.

As a recent NJPP report lays out, New Jersey should expand its Child Tax Credit to children beyond age 5 through 11 and increase the maximum benefit from $1,000 to $1,500 for children under age 6. In addition, expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit by another 25 percent and increasing eligibility for all workers who file taxes.

These changes would put hundreds of dollars back into families’ pockets, helping make New Jersey the best place to raise a family by providing an estimated $432 million to low- and moderate-income households. By amplifying the antipoverty effects of these critical lifelines, the state can help more households meet basic needs and raise the standard of living for working families.

Changes to New Jersey Tax Policy Would Assist New Jersey Families by Increasing Credit Amounts and Expanding Eligibility

These tax credits can help address the affordability crisis for families in the most straightforward way – by giving them cash to help pay critical costs. Working family tax credits have a long track record of reducing poverty and helping families meet basic needs. New Jersey’s budget for fiscal year 2026 should include expanded funding for working family tax credits to put money back in families’ pockets and make good on the state’s promise to its children.

Extending Trump Tax Cuts Would Benefit the Wealthiest New Jerseyans

Posted on by Peter Chen

Fair tax policy depends on prioritizing the well-being of all households, not just the wealthiest. New Jersey, and the nation as a whole, cannot afford to hand special tax breaks to the most affluent residents by slashing essential services such as health insurance for working families. New analysis of the Trump administration’s plan to make tax breaks from the 2017 tax law permanent shows that the proposal would do just that. It would make the wealthiest New Jerseyans even richer while cutting programs and support for families who need help affording basic necessities like food and health care.

This proposal means that the average tax break for the top 1 percent will be nearly 200 times the benefit of the lowest-earning 20 percent of the state’s households. And those differences add up: nearly half the benefits would go only to the top 5 percent of income earners.

Extending these tax breaks perpetuates regressive tax policy – sending enormous benefits to the richest 5 percent while doing little or nothing to help residents struggling to make ends meet.

For more on this analysis and its methodology and other state-by-state analyses, check out the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy’s issue brief here.

New Jersey can and should make its own tax code fairer by raising rates on the wealthiest individuals and corporations, not giving them even more tax breaks.

Corporate Transit Fee Should Only Go to NJ Transit

Posted on by Alex Ambrose

Every day, hundreds of thousands of New Jersey residents rely on NJ Transit to get to work, school, medical appointments, family visits, shop, and dine. But this essential service is under threat as the agency’s operating budget faces a nearly $1 billion budget deficit for FY 2026 — a shortfall that constitutes nearly one-third of its budget. In response, lawmakers stepped up, and Governor Murphy established the Corporate Transit Fee (CTF), marking the first dedicated funding source in NJ Transit in history. To preserve this progress, the FY 2026 budget must ensure that revenue generated through the CTF is used exclusively to fund NJ Transit — its original intent.

Years of chronic underfunding have eroded NJ Transit’s reliability and affordability, culminating in record delays and a 15 percent fare increase in 2024, exacerbating rider dissatisfaction. Worst still, transit riders are more likely to be low-income and not own cars, leaving them particularly vulnerable to service disruptions and fare increases.

As lawmakers deliberate on the FY 2026 state budget, they will inevitably seek additional revenue sources. It will be tempting to raid the CTF for purposes unrelated to transit — a pattern all too familiar in New Jersey. Similar diversions include lawmakers consistently using the Clean Energy Fund and the agency’s own capital fund to plug budget gaps in NJ Transit operations. Yet, the CTF was created precisely to address NJ Transit’s $1 billion funding deficit. Allowing the practice of diversions to continue would undermine NJ Transit’s ability to serve the millions of riders who depend on it.

Historically, lawmakers have filled NJ Transit budget gaps through fare hikes and service cuts, which risks destabilizing the transit agency with a “transit death spiral” — a vicious cycle where reduced ridership leads to less revenue, prompting further cuts and fare increases. Public transit is essential for our state’s economic growth, traffic congestion relief, and meeting our climate goals. Undermining NJ Transit threatens progress on these critical priorities.

This risk can be averted; the CTF offers a solution. Its revenue is more than enough to cover the agency’s shortfall and could reverse the additional 3 percent annual fare hike scheduled for July 2025.

Importantly, the CTF only applies to corporations with net profits exceeding $10 million, representing less than 1 percent of all corporate taxpayers in New Jersey. Moreover, because the tax applies to profits made in New Jersey and not just companies located in the state, more than 4 out of 5 corporations that pay the fee are out-of-state and multinational companies.

The Corporate Transit Fee was created to fund NJ Transit operations and must be used exclusively for that purpose. Dedicated CTF revenue will ensure that NJ Transit can continue to serve as a lifeline for residents and support economic growth. By safeguarding this funding source, lawmakers can secure a more equitable and prosperous future for all New Jerseyans.

Expand Anti-Poverty Programs to Help Families in Crisis

Posted on by Brittany Holom-Trundy

All New Jersey families, regardless of income, race, size, or family structure, deserve to feel supported and have the opportunity to build a bright future here in the Garden State. Yet, hundreds of thousands of residents continue to face economic challenges and are looking for relief.

Federal threats to funding loom over all safety net programs including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), which provides cash assistance to families with the lowest incomes. In response, New Jersey leaders must protect and improve anti-poverty programs to demonstrate a commitment to helping families in need, rather than subject them to further cuts.

NJPP’s previous research showed that the lack of action to update and fund the Work First New Jersey programs (TANF, General Assistance, and Emergency Assistance) has resulted in a gradual decline and failure of these anti-poverty programs to adequately support families during modern economic times.

As noted in NJPP’s prior reports, the state’s stagnant TANF amount has even less purchasing power than it did in 1998, losing approximately 30 percent of its value since then. As a result, the assistance that a family receives each month now barely covers the average cost of the month’s groceries.

New Jersey's TANF Benefits Have Lost 30 Percent of Their Value Since 1998

In addition to declining benefit amounts that do not adequately support residents’ needs, the TANF system suffers from outdated rules that fail to represent current understandings of poverty, as well as underfunded and understaffed offices to support people in poverty. This perpetuates racial inequities, keeps residents — including thousands of children — in poverty, and worsens long-term health, social, and economic outcomes for families throughout the state.

With many residents struggling to meet the high cost of living in the state, now is the time for New Jersey to demonstrate leadership in fighting poverty by increasing monthly grant amounts, updating program rules, and improving customer service with better funding. Increasing TANF grant amounts in next year’s budget will demonstrate commitment to New Jersey’s residents with low incomes – to help them reach their full potential and build a brighter future for the Garden State.

End Predatory Prison Communication Fees

Posted on by Marleina Ubel

Human connection is a fundamental need. Whether it’s parents expressing love to their children or spouses checking in on each other, maintaining relationships sustains us all. This need for connection is no different for individuals incarcerated in New Jersey’s prisons. For them, a simple phone call can be a vital lifeline —  fostering hope, encouraging positive behavior, and supporting rehabilitation. Regular contact with loved ones has also been shown to reduce recidivism. Yet, despite the importance of connection with the outside world, communication is increasingly out of reach for individuals incarcerated in New Jersey due to the exorbitant fees collected by private, for-profit telecommunication companies that hold monopoly contracts with corrections agencies.

It does not have to be this way. New Jersey can join the growing number of state and local governments recognizing the importance of family connections by eliminating barriers to communication. Making phone calls free for incarcerated people and their loved ones would ensure all have access to this basic need.

Currently, New Jersey contracts with private companies to provide communication services in prisons. These companies generate millions of dollars in revenue by charging families exorbitant fees for phone calls, video calls, and messages. As a result, incarcerated individuals and their families pay a staggering $15 million annually to stay in touch.

Prison Communication Services: Fee Rates and Average Costs

The burden of these costs disproportionately falls on families, as prison wages are abysmally low — with most workers earning up to $3.00 per day. Nationally, one in three families with an incarcerated loved one falls into debt trying to cover the costs of communication. Among those bearing these costs, 83 percent are women, with women of color hit hardest due to racial disparities in the criminal legal system.

Accessible and affordable prison communications are vital for family connections, supporting human dignity, and ensuring successful reentry after incarceration. By eliminating predatory communication fees, New Jersey can keep families connected and put an end to unjust practices that cost families millions annually. It’s time for New Jersey to prioritize connection over profit.

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