Margot Hollick

As someone who lost his mom in the last year, this "Call Your Mom" ad AT&T is running during NHL games is a nice little dagger out of nowhere.

But, damn, they're right. Call your mom. Call your dad too if you still can. Some of us can't.

Big news! We @urbaninstitute.bsky.social are thrilled to partner with the Bainum Family Foundation's WeVision EarlyEd initiative to help make the ideal real in early childhood by building evidence with families and early childhood professionals.

bainumfdn.org/transforming...
#EduSkyECEC #EduSky

Democratic erosion causes economic decline. Here are the 7 kinds of business at highest risk. Further democratic erosion in the United States would have serious economic consequences for the country’s economy and business sectors.

Last year, I wrote about the damage autocrats do to their nations’ economies & identified 7 kinds of business that were at highest risk during democratic erosion. 2 months into the second Trump Administration, we’ve already seen serious consequences for businesses in all 7 categories:

Introducing The Hamilton Project's incoming director, Aviva Aron-Dine. Quote from Aviva Aron-Dine: It is a great privilege to join The Hamilton Project. I’m excited to partner with leading economists, the Advisory Council, and THP staff to bring new ideas and rigorous analysis to critical policy challenges.”

We are excited to welcome @avivaaron-dine.bsky.social as the next director of The Hamilton Project.

Aviva has engaged with a broad portfolio of policy issues, most recently as acting assistant secretary for tax policy at Treasury, equipping her lead The Hamilton Project during this critical time.

I’ve been director of The Hamilton Project for 5 years - longest tenure by a factor of 2! - and so it is with immense pride and gratitude that I am stepping down.

Thank you to my incredible team & everyone I’ve worked with in this role. I’m thrilled to pass the baton to @avivaaron-dine.bsky.social.

We're looking forward to hearing from IRP Affiliate Bradley Hardy on Monday 3/17 when he visits @uwmadison.bsky.social!

Writing about Direct File is mostly looking up synonyms for "success"

Dear US colleagues,
In response to the Trump administration, my university @univ-amu.fr is setting up a new program dedicated to welcoming American scientists wishing to pursue their work in France.
There are several M$ in the budget.
www.univ-amu.fr/en/public/ac...

YouTube video by City of Boston Mayor Michelle Wu's Opening Statement to the United States House Committee on Oversight

To every one of my neighbors back in Boston, know this: You belong here. This is your home. Boston es tu hogar. Boston se lakay ou. 這是你的家.

This is our city.

We are the safest major city in the nation because we are safe for everyone.

#Boston #Congress #CongressionalHearing #Immigration

Announcement from CRS that soon its reports will be available in HTML.

It has taken a lot of work to get to this point. Soon CRS reports will be available from the official source in HTML.

DOGE is trying to fire thousands of IRS workers in the middle of tax season. What does it mean for taxpayers?

A quick thread on enforcement and customer service.

A few further thoughts on DOGE accessing the IDRS database at the IRS: I led the Treasury Office of Tax Policy and have spoken to a number of former career and political appointees at Treasury and IRS. None can recall a political appointee ever having access to this database. 1/5

New bird flu variant found in Nevada dairy cows has experts sounding alarms: 'We have never been closer to a pandemic from this virus' Dairy herds in Nevada have been infected by a version of the H5N1 bird flu not previously seen in cows, putting virologists on high alert.

didn't identify any changes in the sequence data from the NV person that might impact antigenicity or susceptibility to antivirals. However, the virus will undergo further analysis & testing. Updated story:🎁Gift link: fortune.com/well/2025/02...
#BlueSky  #MedSky 🧪 #IDSky #scisky #medtwitter

Important piece by the @taxlawcenter.org
laying out key questions around the potential for DOGE affiliates illegally accessing confidential taxpayer information.

medium.com/@taxlawcente...

I spend a lot of time writing about many of the horrors of American history, but one consistent bright spot, something about which it is right to be proud, is that we've never had a king.

On changes to #NIH indirect rates, there is a law in place that prohibits NIH from making such changes without the approval of Congress. See Division D, Title II Section 224 of The Further Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024 (Public Law No: 118-47) grants.nih.gov/grants/guide...

The Algorithmic Cage The private companies in control of social-media networks possess an unprecedented ability to manipulate and control the populace.

The outcome of this political moment depends a lot on Americans being able to escape or see past the billionaire-controlled prison of right-wing propaganda our devices have become www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

New @urbaninstitute.bsky.social research shows that federal programs being discussed for cuts spend a disproportionate share of their funds on children.

Cuts could massively increase childhood poverty, reduce access to healthcare, & worsen educational outcomes www.urban.org/urban-wire/h...

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...

@cbppsu.bsky.social shows how the 17 million children who will not receive the full CTC because their parents don't earn enough are distributed by state, race, and ethnicity. www.cbpp.org/blog/policym...

Pilkauskas inducted to the National Academy of Social Insurance Natasha Pilkauskas, associate professor of public policy at the Ford School, is one of 64 experts who were inducted into the National Academy of Social Insurance (NASI) this year. Approved by the NASI...

Some positive news (for me) in a time of just non-stop bad news: fordschool.umich.edu/news/2025/pi...

The Real Threat of Elon Musk’s Treasury Takeover Exposed Musk’s team is rewriting code in the U.S. Treasury system.

Elon Musk’s team of coders are creating a “backdoor” into the U.S. Treasury system, according to legal and I.T. professionals.

The systematic attempt by the Trump admin to delete federal data right now is a disaster.

It is a small, but important, consolation that my colleagues @urbaninstitute.bsky.social have been working like mad to save as much data as we can from across agencies—we have to do what we can.

YouTube video by Ren Ren - Bitter Sweet Symphony (Live)

What is this magic? www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4Gz... h/t @mcuban.bsky.social

This paper is a great example of solid evidence of systemic discrimination:
"Black taxpayers are audited at 2.9 to 4.7 times the rate of non-Black taxpayers."
This reflects a series of choices built into the IRS audit algorithm: focus on the EITC, and overclaiming of credits.

I would like to be added to the NYU listserv please.

A set of waffle charts showing the increase in EITC recipients without children who benefited from the 2021 expansion by age group. The largest increase was among young workers.

Yeah but I can’t make cool charts in R like you @nikhitaairi.bsky.social taxpolicycenter.org/sites/defaul...

Solutions: Paid Sick Days Want to build a better economy? Stay home ;)

On my Substack, I have a series where I detail solutions that can improve the economy. Just in time for all those winter colds, the latest is why the US needs paid sick days.

www.kedits.com/p/solutions-...

House GOP proposes IRS funding cuts, defunding free tax filing system Republican appropriators in the House are proposing to scale back IRS funding and to do away with the free online tax filing system that the Treasury Department recently made permanent and promised…

What? Some members of Congress want to end #DirectFile after a successful pilot year? Consumers liked it! And it's set to roll out add'l capabilities to more people. thehill.com/business/470...

Great senior opportunity in the Income and Benefits Policy Center at the Urban Institute. Let’s work together! www.linkedin.com/mwlite/jobs/...

17 Million Children In Low-Income Families Will Not Receive The Full Child Tax Credit In 2025 In 2025, the Tax Policy Center estimates that 17 million children under the age of 17—or one in four—will receive less than the full value of the Child Tax Credit because their parents earn too little...

I'm back at @urbaninstitute.bsky.social and Tax Policy Center after being on detail to the US Treasury for a year. We're looking at 17 million children not getting the full CTC next year because their income/earnings are too low. We can do better. taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/17-mi...