Blog

FPI Comments on Federal Reserve Action

April 17, 2020 Recently, the Federal Reserve took a welcome step forward for states struggling in the wake of the pandemic by creating a new way to lend money directly to states and municipalities. Through the Municipal Liquidity Facility, New York and other states struggling with a sudden drop-off in much-needed revenue can now access the funds needed to cover essential services. While this is helpful in the short-term, states will need to borrow until their revenues recover. And that would require the facility to be expanded: loan [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T13:58:38-05:00April 17th, 2020|Blog, Reports, Briefs and Presentations|

Press Release: Spotlight on New York’s Essential Workers

April 8, 2020 Overlooked, Underpaid and Indispensible Read the report: https://fiscalpolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Essential-Workers-Brief-Final.pdf (Albany, NY) Today the Fiscal Policy Institute (FPI) released a new report spotlighting New York's essential workers who are on the frontlines during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the new analysis, there are 2.2 million “essential workers” in New York State. Twenty-two percent of these essential workers support their families on low incomes, with family incomes of less than 200 percent of the poverty level. Statement from David Dyssegaard Kallick, Deputy Director, Fiscal Policy Institute: “The pandemic has brought [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T14:00:03-05:00April 8th, 2020|Blog, Labor Market & Workforce, Press Releases|

NY’s Best Prescription? An Accurate Census Count

While the coronavirus is upending our daily lives, we must not let this public health crisis derail our state’s census participation. New York must have an accurate count because it will affect our lives for the next 10 years - including the resources our state has to combat the next health threat or climate crisis. All New Yorkers should complete a census form - either by mail, phone, or online. More information on completing the census is available from the Census Bureau. Learn more by [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T14:05:16-05:00March 30th, 2020|Blog, Reports, Briefs and Presentations|

Federal and State Relief Should Help All: Immigrants Should Not Be Left Behind

During this time of crisis, the coronavirus pandemic, federal and state governments need to ensure that all of us, regardless of immigration status and the job we hold in society, are safe, healthy, and have access to critical services. No one should be left to struggle on their own during a global pandemic. As a society, we want to encourage everyone who is sick to stay home from work and have access to medical care if they need it. Now is the time to protect [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T14:05:51-05:00March 29th, 2020|Blog, Must Read|

We Must Boost New York’s Fighting Chance

New York State is dealing with a pandemic that demands sudden and unusual changes in our everyday lives. The need for societal change including social distancing and restricting public gatherings to protect our health is clear. The question is what will be the economic cost of our necessary public health policy and how will we pay for it? Explore these pressing issues with us in our new brief: At the time of this writing, our state is trying to reach the short-term goal of sufficiently “flattening [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T14:06:28-05:00March 17th, 2020|Blog, Must Read|

Investing in Refugees: New York Must Continue to Lead

The New York State Enhanced Services to Refugees Program began in 2017 as a remarkable response to the federal government’s retreat from refugee resettlement. New York did what no other state would: provide flexible state funds to support the state’s strong network of resettlement agencies through a difficult time, and help them reframe their focus on integration. New York State allocated $2 million for NYSESRP in fiscal years 2018, 2019, and 2020. Because of continued federal cuts in support for refugee integration, New York for Refugees—the [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T14:08:10-05:00February 20th, 2020|Blog|

FPI’s 2020 State Budget Presentations

Our state budget is an opportunity to define our values and choose our future. Will our actions reinforce inequity and inequality or can we pull together to create a more just New York for all? FPI took a look at the proposed executive budget and shared our thoughts in two presentations, one in Albany and one in New York City. If you missed those informative events, you can still take a look at what was presented. Financial Plan Economic Development Education Health Care Housing Human Services Immigration [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T14:08:49-05:00January 23rd, 2020|Blog, Must Read, State Budget|

New York Should Fund Programs that Support Immigrant Integration

Our state budget is the opportunity to improve the lives of immigrant New Yorkers by investing in immigrant integration. While Governor Cuomo continues to stress that New York is a welcoming state for immigrants, unfortunately he failed to include any funding in his executive budget for critical programs to help protect immigrants from federal attacks, cut funding for some programs, and eliminated it for others. There is still time for these issues to be addressed as the governor, the assembly, and the senate negotiate a final [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T14:11:20-05:00January 5th, 2020|Blog, Must Read|

New York’s 4.5 Million Immigrants Will Look to Governor Cuomo’s Leadership to Protect Them Against Federal Attacks

We welcome Governor Cuomo’s focus on the diversity of New York in his State of the State address. The governor was clear that our state was and is comprised of a wide variety of peoples who are all working to create a better future for themselves and our state. We also commend the governor for acknowledging the difficulties immigrants face obtaining employment. His proposal to make occupational licensing possible for some immigrants is a small but welcome step. The measure would remove an exclusion from [...]

Anthony Troia2020-12-30T14:10:53-05:00January 5th, 2020|Blog|

Pay Your Way into the USA: DHS’s proposed fee increases create an immigration “wealth test”

Would you pass the federal administration’s wealth test? Here’s what you need to know and how you can help. The federal administration is trying to make it harder for people who are not affluent to enter the United States or obtain citizenship by instituting a “wealth test” to limit immigration. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) plans to eliminate fee waivers for citizenship, lawful permanent residency, employment authorization, and many other applications to make it harder for immigrants who may work low-wage jobs to obtain [...]

Anthony Troia2020-10-27T12:59:47-04:00December 16th, 2019|Blog, Migration|

Only Wealthy Immigrants Need Apply: The Chilling Effects of “Public Charge”

In August 2019, the Department of Homeland Security published a final rule on the “public charge” ground of inadmissibility for immigrants whose application for a green card is processed in the United States. The rule applies a similar test to people seeking to extend or change their temporary status (such as student or employment visas) in the United States. Although scheduled to go into effect on October 15, the rule has been blocked temporarily by several federal courts. If the new public charge rule goes [...]

Anthony Troia2021-01-06T10:39:18-05:00November 25th, 2019|Blog, Migration|

“Public Charge” Chill Continues Regardless of Injunction

FPI Finds Widespread Negative Effects of the Attempt to Rewrite Immigration Policy For Immediate Release: Tuesday, November 19, 2019 Media Contact: communications@fiscalpolicy.org, 518-786-3156 “Public Charge” Chill Continues Regardless of Injunction FPI Finds Widespread Negative Effects of the Attempt to Rewrite Immigration Policy Read the report: www.fiscalpolicy.org/publiccharge2019 (Albany, NY) The Trump administration continues to drastically remake US immigration policy through a radical reinterpretation of the “public charge” rule. In the Fiscal Policy Institute’s report released today - “Only Wealthy Immigrants Need Apply: The [...]

Anthony Troia2021-03-31T15:39:23-04:00November 25th, 2019|Blog|

Join Us for Tax Justice NY!

You are invited to FPI's new FREE event"Tax Justice NY: Moving from Austerity to Prosperity" in Albany on Monday, December 9th, from 11:30 am - 2:30 pm in Meeting Room 5, Empire State Plaza. Our state’s tax policy is a tool we can all use to eliminate existing racial, ethnic, and gender inequities and increase economic equality for all New Yorkers. We are excited to partner with state and national advocacy organizations to bring these informative and energizing panel discussions to Albany in preparation for the 2020 state legislative session. 11:30 am - 11:55 am "Surveying [...]

Anthony Troia2021-01-06T10:38:05-05:00November 22nd, 2019|Blog|

Our Federal Tax Policy Can Strengthen NYS Communities

We can use federal tax policy to help struggling New Yorkers and support local communities with the Working Families Tax Relief Act (WFTRA). More than 6.5 million New York State residents would directly benefit from WFTRA's tax credits and tax reductions to boost incomes - especially helpful as most workers have seen their wages stagnate. WFTRA would expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for families with children and strengthen it for workers not raising children. The legislation would also make the Child Tax Credit (CTC) [...]

Anthony Troia2021-01-06T10:34:15-05:00August 31st, 2019|Blog, Tax & Budget|

There Are About 11 Million Undocumented Immigrants in the U.S., Not Twice As Many

On July 11, 2019, the Trump Administration released an executive order that requires the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Social Security Administration and the Department of Health and Human Services to collect citizenship data using administrative records for the federal administration to determine the number of undocumented immigrants in the United States. This executive order was in response to the federal administration’s failed attempt to add a citizenship question to the 2020 census that was blocked by the Supreme Court. In [...]

Anthony Troia2021-01-06T10:33:51-05:00August 9th, 2019|Blog, Migration|