Ashley Burnside

Nearly a month into the government shutdown, millions of families are paying the price for deliberate policy choices by the Trump Administration and Congress.

This is a 🚨manufactured🚨 crisis that’s putting jobs, food, and care at risk.

Bessent Picks Social Security Chief Frank Bisignano as IRS CEO The Social Security head will do double duty at the tax agency while Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent retains his formal title as acting IRS commissioner.

Alarming news this morning that Social Security head Frank Bisignano has been named “CEO” of IRS, a move that raises 3 major concerns:

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

Children’s Advocates Outraged by Trump Administration’s Attempt to Deport Children in Need of Safety - Children Thrive Action Network FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MEDIA CONTACTS:  Melissa Stek, Communications Consultant, melissa@mountgem.com  Tom Salyers, Director of Communications, tsalyers@clasp.org   Washington, DC, September 2, 2025—Me...

CTAN is outraged by the Trump Admin's attempt to forcibly remove dozens of immigrant kids over the holiday weekend.Read our statement and our partners' statements below: childrenthriveaction.org/2025/09/chil...
@clasp.org

DOGE Put Critical Social Security Data at Risk, Whistle-Blower Says

DOGE staff at Social Security have put the sensitive data of hundreds of millions is at "high risk," which could have “catastrophic impact,” according to internal SSA docs.

This was not only foreseeable, but widely predicted.

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/26/u...

Today marks the 90th Anniversary of the creation of the #SocialSecurityAdministration #SSA.

But now, policymakers want to cut funding from SSA. Without these benefits, SSI beneficiaries would be left unable to afford essentials. www.clasp.org/publications...

10 Things to Know About the Child Tax Credit Under the New Trump Reconciliation Bill  | CLASP By Ashley Burnside On July 4, President Trump signed his reconciliation law that will make changes to the Child Tax Credit (CTC). The reconciliation law provides tax breaks for the wealthiest people b...

The #ChildTaxCredit amount and eligibility rules changed in the budget reconciliation bill. Unfortunately, the credit won't be available for families with the lowest incomes and some immigrant families. Learn 10 things to know about the #CTC in my new @clasp.org blog: www.clasp.org/blog/10-thin...

During Disability Pride Month and every month of the year, we must celebrate our progress toward access, equity, and justice for the disability community while also acknowledging areas where improvements are needed. The recent reconciliation law will be a major setback for the disability community.

Proposed Reconciliation Changes to SNAP Would Reduce Access for Disabled People | CLASP By Ashley Burnside Lawmakers are proposing dangerous cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to pay for tax breaks for the wealthiest people and corporations. These proposed chang...

The reconciliation law will restrict access to health care and food for the disability community, despite false claims from lawmakers to the contrary. Devastating cuts to Medicaid and SNAP will kick people off their healthcare and food benefits. www.clasp.org/blog/propose...

July Marks a Call to Action for the Disability Community   | CLASP By Ashley Burnside  July is an important month for the disability community, especially this year. Commonly referred to as Disability Pride Month, July commemorates the passage of the Americans with D...

July is #DisabilityPrideMonth. Amid the celebrations, this month marks the passage of a law that will cause great harm for people with disabilities: the budget reconciliation law. I wrote a @clasp.org blog summarizing the ways this new law will harm disabled people: www.clasp.org/blog/july-ma...

"Families welcoming a new baby in some parts of the country may soon be required to prove their child’s citizenship. This burden will affect not only mixed-status immigrant families but all families in the impacted jurisdiction, undermining the well-being of newborn babies and their parents."

Supreme Court Decision on Birthright Citizenship Case Will Create Chaos and Harm Our Nations’ Babies, Families, and Communities | CLASP This fight is far from over, and CLASP stands ready to work with partners to ensure that impacted families and service providers are informed about their rights.

"Today’s opinion has profoundly negative consequences for our nation. A large body of research has documented that U.S. citizenship is a key driver of economic growth, educational attainment, and health." Read more from @clasp.org: www.clasp.org/press-room/p...

TAKE ACTION — The National LGBTQ Anti-Poverty Action Network

Stricter work reporting requirements being proposed in Medicaid and SNAP would particularly harm LGBTQ+ people, since persistent employment discrimination and harassment causes a third of LGBTQ+ workers to leave their job at some point in their life. lgbtqpoverty.org/take-action

TAKE ACTION — The National LGBTQ Anti-Poverty Action Network

Importantly, Medicaid funding cuts will hurt our country’s ability to end the HIV epidemic, resulting in more HIV transmissions and AIDS-related deaths. Ultimately, the proposed reconciliation bill will have devastating effects for people living with HIV. lgbtqpoverty.org/take-action

TAKE ACTION — The National LGBTQ Anti-Poverty Action Network

Roughly 1.8 million #LGBTQ+ individuals use Medicaid as their primary health insurance, which is also the main source of insurance coverage for people with HIV. LGBTQ+ adults are almost twice as likely to receive Medicaid as non-LGBTQ adults. lgbtqpoverty.org/take-action

TAKE ACTION — The National LGBTQ Anti-Poverty Action Network

Cuts to basic needs programs, like Medicaid and SNAP, have a greater impact on #LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV. LGBTQ+ people—in particular, lesbian and bisexual women, people of color, and transgender people—disproportionately live in poverty. lgbtqpoverty.org/take-action

TAKE ACTION — The National LGBTQ Anti-Poverty Action Network

The reconciliation package that would make devastating cuts to Medicaid and SNAP food benefits would hurt the #LGBTQ+ community and people living with HIV. Read more from the new fact sheet from @nclrights.bsky.social, @clasp.org, @hrc.org, and AIDS United: lgbtqpoverty.org/take-action

The Senate’s Budget Reconciliation Bill is Bad for Children and Families | CLASP Families are already struggling with higher costs of living, and the Senate’s budget reconciliation bill will only increase the costs of health care, food, and everyday necessities. The bill's text af...

The Senate reconciliation bill would hurt children and families by making devastating cuts to Medicaid and SNAP, removing CTC access for 2.6 million citizen children, making the EITC harder to claim for 17 million families and more. Read more from @clasp.org: www.clasp.org/blog/senate-...

Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” includes a tax loophole for billionaires—practically paying them to “donate” to private school tuition for families earning up to $500,000 a year. It increases the deficit & weakens public schools.

Tell your lawmakers: Say NO to school vouchers.
aft.org/NoToVouchers

House Reconciliation Bill Slashes Child and Family Supports to Fund Mass Deportation and Further Enrich the Wealthy | CLASP This bill guts health care, restricts access to food, sacrifices our higher education system, and punishes immigrant families, all to provide more tax breaks for wealthy people and corporations.

The U.S. House of Representatives' reconciliation bill guts health care, restricts access to food, sacrifices our higher education system, and punishes immigrant families, all to provide more tax breaks for wealthy people and corporations. See our statement: www.clasp.org/press-room/p...

🚨 @housedemocrats.bsky.social offered multiple amendments to the GOP's "Big Beautiful Bill," which would've blocked tax cuts to multi-millionaires and billionaires at the expense of workers and the middle class.

Republicans rejected each amendment. WATCH:

Rally to Stop the Billionaire Tax Scam · Families Over Billionaires This week, Congressional Republicans are plowing full-steam ahead to pass their cruel, billionaire-first tax bill. Join us this Wednesday, May 21st, for a rally at the Capitol to speak out as the Hous...

Billionaires don’t need tax breaks, but working families need food and health care. Join Families Over Billionaires on May 21 to demand legislation that puts the well-being of the country ahead of the bank accounts of the wealthy.
www.mobilize.us/familiesover...

Current law already bars people without a documented immigration status from food assistance through #SNAP. And many people with lawful immigration statuses are also barred including adults who are lawful permanent residents in their first five years in the U.S.

Congress shouldn’t pass this bill. Increasing the size of the #CTC without changing the structural issues that prevent families with low incomes from getting the full credit won't adequately reduce child poverty. And lawmakers shouldn’t impose eligibility restrictions for families with ITINs. (8/8)

Child Tax Credit State Fact Sheets - Children Thrive Action Network Every child must have access to critical supports. Congress must take action to create a permanent solution to fight poverty for all children in the United States, including by permanently expanding t...

Lawmakers should make families with ITINs eligible for the #CTC. This would promote positive outcomes for children and families by helping parents afford investments for their kids and would make our tax code more fair. (7/8) childrenthriveaction.org/2023/07/chil...

Tax Payments by Undocumented Immigrants Undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local taxes in 2022. Providing access to work authorization for undocumented immigrants would increase their tax contributions both be...

It’s a myth that undocumented immigrants don’t pay taxes. In 2022, undocumented immigrants paid an estimated $96.7 billion in federal and state taxes. In 40 states, undocumented immigrants pay higher state and local tax rates than the top 1% of households in the state. (6/8) itep.org/undocumented...

Millions of Citizen Children Would be Harmed by Proposal Billed as Targeting Immigrant Tax Filers Congressional Republicans have floated a proposal to strip the Child Tax Credit from millions of children who are U.S. citizens and legal residents in situations where their parents do not have Social...

The Ways and Means bill restricts access to the #ChildTaxCredit for parents who file taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN). This policy would reduce access to the #CTC for an estimated 4.5 million children. This is inequitable and harmful. (5/8) itep.org/child-tax-cr...

Policymakers Should Expand the Child Tax Credit for the 17 Million Children Currently Left Out of the Full Credit | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities Congressional Republicans may soon release a budget resolution that will set the terms of the tax debate, and which is expected to extend the 2017 tax law, including its changes to the Child Tax...

An estimated 17 million children don’t get the full #ChildTaxCredit because their families don’t earn enough. Due to structural inequities, Black, Latino and Indigenous children are disproportionately left out. The Ways and Means proposal doesn’t fix this. (4/8) www.cbpp.org/blog/policym...

The 2025 Tax Package: A Chance to Make the Tax Code Fair by Expanding Credits and Increasing Revenue | CLASP By Ashley Burnside and Jesse Fairbanks, In 2025, several provisions in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017 are scheduled to expire. This provides an opportunity for lawmakers to reform our tax co...

Making the #ChildTaxCredit fully refundable and available to families with little to no earnings would make it more equitable and better targeted at the families who need it most. Under current law, families with low incomes aren’t eligible for the full #CTC. (3/8) www.clasp.org/publications...

The Child Tax Credit: What's at Stake? | CLASP When enacted in 2021, the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC) significantly reduced child poverty to historic lows and helped close the racial wealth gap. However, with its expiration, millions of childre...

The #ChildTaxCredit reaches families when they file their taxes and provides parents with money to invest in their children. When the #CTC was temporarily expanded in 2021, it reduced child poverty by half and helped parents afford bills, groceries, and housing. (2/8) www.clasp.org/publications...

The proposed changes to the #ChildTaxCredit from the Ways and Means Committee are not targeted at the families making the lowest incomes and restrict access to the #CTC for 4.5 million children. Congress should improve the CTC to help it better fight child poverty. (1/8)