First Tuesdays

The numbers are, simply put, mind numbing. The federal deficit will total $6.7 trillion this decade under current law, the Congressional Budget Office projects. The figure will nearly double to $12.7 trillion if the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts are not allowed to sunset as scheduled in 2011 and Congress, once again, "patches" the alternative minimum tax.

Much of the contentious immigration debate has revolved around the country’s estimated 12 million unauthorized immigrants. Largely invisible have been the 5.5 million children with unauthorized parents. Almost three-quarters of these children are U.S.-born citizens.

As the recession sends more and more people into the ranks of the impoverished and vulnerable, the public is left to ponder the inadequate support available when hard times hit and why help comes from a patchwork of programs instead of from an integrated system. Panelists will discuss the oftentimes incongruous values, attitudes, and philosophies that drive the intricate U.S. safety net and the difficulties in providing effective services to people with complex needs.

While economic opportunity and upward mobility form the core of the American dream, we know too well that many Americans don’t move up the income ladder, and recent trends in wages warn of serious obstacles ahead. Urban Institute research, supported by Pew’s Economic Mobility Project, also shows that most government spending doesn’t advance a mobility agenda.

Community organizations, local governments, foundations, businesses, and social service providers rely on residential stability in their efforts to alleviate the plight of impoverished families in hard-pressed neighborhoods. While trading up to a better neighborhood may improve an individual family’s circumstances, frequent churning of residents may have negative effects for communities. A forthcoming examination of evidence from the Making Connections initiative, a decade-long effort sponsored by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to improve neighborhoods in 10 cities, will be the starting point for a debate about the intersection of poverty, neighborhood quality, and economic advancement.

The Congressional Budget Office's most recent long-term budget outlook declared that "current policies are unsustainable." Translation, according to tax scholar Len Burman: if we don’t change course, we're doomed. America will celebrate its tricentennial with IOUs 6.5 times its total economic output if current policies continue, CBO says, and that is under implausibly optimistic assumptions about the economy.

Health reform - the "let’s do lunch" of public policy - is on everyone's lips in Washington. But like many long-postponed, obligatory meals, who is going to pick up the check? Capping the tax exclusion of employer-sponsored insurance (ESI) - an idea loved and loathed by politicians from both parties - is on the table to pay for subsidies for the uninsured and to moderate companies’ incentives to offer high-end coverage.

Local governments sit at the confluence of formal and informal governance systems in Pakistan. Law and order, service delivery, and citizen interaction with the state take place in villages, towns, and cities, where families, tribes, political parties, religious organizations, and government officials share dominion. In 2001, then-President Pervez Musharraf called for the creation of local governments better attuned to citizen preferences and adept at providing improved services. Today, this autonomy initiative is up for grabs as Pakistan’s provinces reconsider the role of local government and the nation readies for fall elections.

Nearly 154,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. Another half million are at risk of homelessness because rent consumes more than half their income. In his run for the White House, President Obama pledged to deliver on a zero-tolerance policy for veteran homelessness. But for low-income veterans who fall in between homelessness and homeownership, there is little to help them afford rental housing. That lack of affordable housing, research shows, is the primary driver of homelessness for veterans and civilians alike.

One of the worst-kept secrets in law enforcement - that there is little science behind many standard investigative practices - is getting the sunshine treatment. A new National Research Council study concludes that crime-investigation practices across the country are inconsistent: who collects the evidence, how it is processed, and how it is interpreted vary from coast to coast. Moreover, no current scientific method ensures the accuracy of many common investigative tools.