Julie Vogtman, Senior Counsel

Julie Vogtman is Senior Counsel for the Family Economic Security Program at the National Women’s Law Center. She works on a range of issues involving economic support for low-income women and their families, including minimum wage policies, unemployment benefits, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). She also contributes to the Center’s work on federal budget and tax policies, including implementation of the tax credit components of the Affordable Care Act.  Prior to joining the Center, Ms. Vogtman was an associate with Covington & Burling LLP in Washington, DC. She is a graduate of Furman University and Georgetown University Law Center.

Expert in: Family Support Programs, Federal Budget, Federal Tax Policy, Minimum Wage, Unemployment, Poverty & Income Support
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My Take

New York Raises Its Minimum Wage (For a Price) and the Fight Continues in Other States

Posted by Julie Vogtman, Senior Counsel | Posted on: April 01, 2013 at 04:48 pm

There’s a lot to report on the minimum wage today, but I’ll start with the biggest news: the New York legislature has approved the state’s 2013-2014 budget, which includes a minimum wage increase. Specifically, the minimum wage will rise from $7.25 to $8.00 per hour on December 31, 2013, to $8.75 one year later, and $9.00 on December 31, 2015.

This is good news for minimum wage workers in New York, nearly two-thirds of whom are women. But the phased-in minimum wage increase in the budget is weaker than the increase that the state Assembly passed just a few weeks ago, which would have raised New York’s minimum wage to $9.00 per hour in one step in January 2014, then indexed the wage annually to keep up with inflation. The budget also drops a provision in the Assembly-passed bill that would have raised the minimum cash wage for tipped food service workers from $5.00 to $6.21 per hour, but it does provide a path to an increase for these workers by authorizing the labor commissioner to have a wage board examine the adequacy of New York’s tipped minimum wage, then issue an order to raise the wage.

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Tags: Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Minimum Wage, New Mexico, New York | Add new comment

Watch the Video: Tax Issues Are Women’s Issues, Too

Posted by Julie Vogtman, Senior Counsel | Posted on: March 29, 2013 at 01:33 pm

Did you see the first video from NWLC and the National Priorities Project explaining why budget and tax issues are women’s issues? No? Then stop what you’re doing and watch it here.

Now that you’ve seen it, you’re eager for more, right? Well, my friend, you’re in luck. In Part 2, you’ll learn how Congress can protect programs that serve women and families by requiring the wealthy and large corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. Watch the second video now:

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Tags: Budget, Federal Budget, Taxes, Federal Tax Policy, Tax & Budget | Add new comment

Watch the Video: Budget Issues Are Women’s Issues

Posted by Julie Vogtman, Senior Counsel | Posted on: March 29, 2013 at 01:20 pm

After a couple of weeks of intense debate over budget plans proposed in the House and Senate, you may feel that this week’s Congressional recess is a welcome break from talk of taxes and spending, deficits and debt. But Congress is back in session April 8 – and the budget battles will return, too.

 

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Tags: Budget, Federal Budget, Taxes, Federal Tax Policy, Tax & Budget | 1 comment

Government Shutdown Averted, but Harmful Cuts Will Continue

Posted by Julie Vogtman, Senior Counsel | Posted on: March 21, 2013 at 04:05 pm

I’m not sure whether it counts as good news to report that Congress carried out one of its most basic responsibilities today by ensuring that the government will continue to function for the rest of FY 2013 — but it’s certainly better than reporting a government shutdown beginning next week. 

Today, the House of Representatives approved the continuing resolution (CR) passed yesterday by the Senate, averting a potential shutdown by funding government operations through the end of the fiscal year (September 30, 2013). (The CR passed last September will expire on March 27.) The bill largely maintains current funding levels, further reduced by the full $85 billion in cuts from the “sequester,” which means many programs and services that women and their families depend on remain subject to cuts — and hundreds of thousands of jobs are still likely to be lost, slowing our economic recovery.  

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Tags: Budget, Federal Budget, Tax & Budget | Add new comment

The FY 2014 Murray Senate Budget: A Better Path Forward for Women and Families

Posted by Julie Vogtman, Senior Counsel | Posted on: March 14, 2013 at 12:49 pm

You may have heard that House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) released his FY 2014 budget plan this week – and that it is bad news for women and families. Like Chairman Ryan’s previous budget plans, the latest version would make deep cuts to programs that women and their families depend on while giving lavish tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and corporations.

The good news is that Chairman Ryan’s budget is not the only plan circulating on Capitol Hill this week. Yesterday afternoon, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Patty Murray (D-WA) released her own budget blueprint for FY 2014. In stark contrast to the Ryan budget, the Murray budget proposes new investments in early childhood programs, largely protects core safety net programs (although it includes some cuts to funding for health care programs that could be worrisome), and advances tax fairness. For example, Chairman Murray’s budget:

  • Supports key investments in our future. The Murray budget calls for new investments to expand access to pre-K, child care, Head Start, Early Head Start and home visiting services for parents with young children, helping more children prepare to succeed in school while giving more parents the support they need to work. The budget also invests in measures to speed up the economic recovery, including a $100 billion fund to support job training and infrastructure projects that would create new jobs and strengthen the economy.  
  • Protects critical supports for vulnerable families and individuals.  Chairman Murray’s budget protects Social Security and most core safety net programs, which are particularly important to women because they face a greater risk of poverty than men at all stages of their lives. The budget also permanently extends improvements to the Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit that lift millions of women and children out of poverty each year. And it secures funding to fully implement the Affordable Care Act, ensuring that women will have greater access to affordable health insurance and preventive care services.
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Tags: Budget, Federal Budget, FY 14 Budgets, Tax & Budget | Add new comment