Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security

Joan Entmacher

Joan Entmacher is Vice President for Family Economic Security at the National Women's Law Center, where she leads a team working to improve policies important to the economic security of low-income women and their families, including tax and budget, child care, child support, unemployment insurance, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, and Social Security. Ms. Entmacher is a leading expert on issues affecting low-income women. She has been invited to testify before Congress on several occasions, written numerous analyses and reports on income support policies and their impact on poor women, and spoken frequently at conferences, briefings, and to the media. Prior to joining the National Women's Law Center, Ms. Entmacher served as Director of Legal and Public Policy at the National Partnership for Women & Families, Assistant Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College, Chief of the Civil Rights Division of the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office, and attorney in the U.S. Department of Labor Solicitor's Office. Ms. Entmacher is a graduate of Yale Law School and Wellesley College.

Expert in: Tax Credits Outreach, Federal Budget, Family Support Programs, Federal Tax Policy, Family Tax Credits, Data on Poverty & Income, Unemployment, Social Security & Retirement, Tax & Budget
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My Take

Is Glass Half-Full or Half-Empty When It Comes to Paid Leave for New Mothers?

Posted by Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security | Posted on: November 10, 2011 at 02:54 pm

The Census Bureau released a new report today that found that 51 percent of working women who gave birth to their first child between 2006 and 2008 received paid leave, compared to 42 percent between 1996 and 2000.

So—is this news to cheer or jeer?

Let’s start with the half-full perspective: the percentage of women who received paid leave did increase, and one reason may be the campaign for paid family leave that has had some victories at the state and local level, most notably in California in 2002.

But the glass is, almost literally, half-empty: 49 percent of new mothers didn’t have access to paid leave.

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Tags: Family Support Programs, Maternity Care | Add new comment

The Clock is Ticking: Protect Key Programs in the Super-Committee

Posted by Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security | Posted on: November 09, 2011 at 01:11 pm

Do you live in Arizona, Massachusetts, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, or Washington? If so, call 1-866-251-4044 today to tell your senator on the super-committee to oppose cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in the super-committee.

If you’re a resident of one of the states above, we need your help. Senators Kyl, Kerry, Baucus, Portman, Toomey, and Murray are all members of the very powerful congressional super-committee charged with deciding how to cut the federal deficit by $1.5 trillion over ten years. Time is short — the committee faces a deadline of November 23 — and the stakes are high.

Various proposals before the super-committee would reduce Social Security benefits and cut Medicare and Medicaid by as much as $685 billion. Each of these vital programs provides income security and health care to millions of Americans — mostly women.

Your senator needs to hear from you now! Over the next couple of weeks, the handful of members on the super-committee will decide the fate of these and other vital programs.

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Tags: Arizona, Federal Budget, Massachusetts, Medicaid, Medicare, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Safety Net, Social Security, Super-Committee, Take Action, Washington, Social Security, Data on Poverty & Income, Social Security & Retirement | Add new comment

Another Day, Another Jobs Bill Blocked

Posted by Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security | Posted on: November 04, 2011 at 08:40 am

Yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) tried to get the Senate to consider another component of the American Jobs Act. The Rebuild America Jobs Act would create hundreds of thousands of jobs by investing $50 billion to repair and upgrade our highways, bridges, rail systems and airports, with $50 million dedicated to enhancing access to those job opportunities for women, people of color, and disadvantaged individuals. It would also provide $10 billion for a National Infrastructure Bank to finance additional improvements in water, energy and transportation infrastructure. It would be fully paid for by a surtax of 0.1 percent on income above $1 million.

But – as you’ve probably guessed – it was filibustered, just like the comprehensive American Jobs Act and another of its components, the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act.  

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Tags: Employment, Senate, Teachers & First Responders Back to Work, Unemployment, Unemployment, Employment | Add new comment

Voters Won’t Be Fooled by Stealth Plans to Cut Social Security

Posted by Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security | Posted on: October 26, 2011 at 12:38 pm

The deadline for the super-committee to produce its deficit-reduction plan is fast approaching, and cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are reportedly on the table.

Since large majorities of voters across party lines oppose cutting Social Security and Medicare benefits to reduce the deficit —including self-described “fiscally conservative” voters, as well as Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – we’re particularly concerned that policy makers might try to disguise painful benefit cuts as merely technical changes. So we’ve explained how changing the way the annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) is calculated for Social Security is not a more accurate way to measure inflation, but a “stealth” benefit cut that would especially hurt women.

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Tags: Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, Super-Committee, Social Security, Medicaid & Other Public Funding, Social Security & Retirement | 1 comment

Do You Know How Your Senator Voted on Putting Teachers Back to Work - and How Many Jobs Are at Stake in Your State?

Posted by Joan Entmacher, Vice President for Family Economic Security | Posted on: October 21, 2011 at 03:25 pm

Last night, a Republican-led filibuster blocked debate on the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act. The Act would have provided funding to keep about 400,000 teachers on the job nationwide — a jobs measure that's especially important to women since the local education workforce is about three-quarters female. The bill, which also would have kept thousands of police and firefighters on the job, was fully paid for by a tax of one-half of one percent on income above $1 million.

But every Republican Senator, joined by two Democrats — Ben Nelson (D-NE), Mark Pryor (D-AR) — and one Independent (Joseph Lieberman, I-CT) voted no. They wouldn't even allow debate to begin. So we'll have to guess whether it's because they don't care what's happening to teachers and students around the country — or care too much about making sure millionaires don’t have to pay a penny more in taxes.

But we thought you'd care about keeping teachers in the classroom — keeping women earning, and children learning. (You might even want to see millionaires start to pay their fair share of taxes.) So we've made up a chart below that shows how your Senator voted on the Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act, and how many teaching jobs are at stake for your state, based on White House estimates.

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Tags: Federal Budget, Unemployment, Education & Title IX, Poverty & Income Support, Tax & Budget | 3 comments