sample research proposal on social issues

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40 Social Issues Research Paper Topics

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List of 40 Social Issues Topics for College Students

• Religious gatherings and rituals
• Country-wide strikes and protest
• LGBTQ+ prides
• Worldwide flashmobs
• Social stratification
• Gender discrimination and anti-harassment movements
• The issues of orphanage kids
• Pornography and AI sex dolls
• Sex work or paid rape?
• Virtual reality
• Information overload: the society is overstressed with the amount of data
• Demographic crisis
• Beauty standards
• Social isolation of people with HIV/AIDS
• The fight against animal testing
• Internet safety
• Humanitarian missions
• Fighting racism
• The rights of ethnic minorities and native people
• Internet safety and cybercrimes
• The necessity of the death penalty
• Fighting poverty in the world
• Access to the drinking water in third world countries
• Free education for everyone: shall it be implemented?
• National identity versus globalization
• Women rights and trans people rights
• Obesity as an obstacle in social life. Fatshaming
• Civil rights: shall they be expanded?
• Abuse and neglect in asylums, orphanages, and care homes
• Church and state: shall they remain separate?
• The problem of bigotry in modern society
• Immigration and resocialization of the immigrants
• Sustainable consumption on a worldwide scale
• School violence
• Legalizing drugs: basic rights to choose or a danger to society?
• Social isolation. The hikikomori phenomenon
• Bullying at schools and colleges
• Kids transitioning: shall it be allowed?
• Advertisements: are they becoming too powerful?
• The global impact of the third world countries

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Social Issues Research Proposals Samples For Students

307 samples of this type

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Answer to Question

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B. Hypotheses

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Childhood obesity is actually a condition that is currently a severe public health concern. It is a situation where the excess body fats negatively affect the wellbeing or health of our children. This situation has some effects on health of a child and for that reason it is crucial for parents to take the necessary precautionary measures or else we will not have future generations. These effects include psychological or emotional effects and diseases like high blood pressure, cancer, diabetes, sleep problems, heart disease, and other disorders. For that reason, this paper centers on the research proposal for this problem.

Purpose statement

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(RACISM AND INTOLERANCE)

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How to write a Research Proposal: Explained with Examples

At some time in your student phase, you will have to do a Thesis or Dissertation, and for that, you will have to submit a research proposal. A Research Proposal in its most basic definition is a formally structured document that explains what, why, and how of your research. This document explains What you plan to research (your topic or theme of research), Why you are doing this research (justifying your research topic), and How you will do (your approach to complete the research). The purpose of a proposal is to convince other people apart from yourself that the work you’re doing is suitable and feasible for your academic position.

The process of writing a research proposal is lengthy and time-consuming. Your proposal will need constant edits as you keep taking your work forward and continue receiving feedback. Although, there is a structure or a template that needs to be followed. This article will guide you through this strenuous task. So, let’s get to work!

Research Proposal: Example

[ Let us take a running example throughout the article so that we cover all the points. Let us assume that we are working on a dissertation that needs to study the relationship between Gender and Money. ]

The Title is one of the first things the reader comes across. Your title should be crisp yet communicate all that you are trying to convey to the reader. In academia, a title gets even more weightage because in a sea of resources, sometimes your research project can get ignored because the title didn’t speak for itself. Therefore, make sure that you brainstorm multiple title options and see which fits the best. Many times in academic writing we use two forms of titles: the Main Title and the Subtitle. If you think that you cannot justify your research using just a Title, you can add a subtitle which will then convey the rest of your explanation.

[ Explanation through an example: Our theme is “Gender and Money”.

Insider’s Info: If you are not confident about your title in your research proposal, then write “Tentative Title” in brackets and italic below your Title. In this way, your superiors (professor or supervisor) will know that you are still working on fixing the title.

Overview / Abstract

The overview, also known as abstract and/or introduction, is the first section that you write for your proposal. Your overview should be a single paragraph that explains to the reader what your whole research will be about. In a nutshell, you will use your abstract to present all the arguments that you will be taking in detail in your thesis or research. What you can do is introduce your theme a little along with your topic and the aim of your research. But beware and do not reveal all that you have in your pocket. Make sure to spend plenty of time writing your overview because it will be used to determine if your research is worth taking forward or reading.

Existing Literature

Difference between “literature review” and “existing literature”.

A literature review is a detailed essay that discusses all the material which is already out there regarding your topic. For a literature review, you will have to mention all the literature you have read and then explain how they benefit you in your field of research.

[ Explanation through an example: Now we know that our topic is: Our theme is “A study of “Gendered Money” in the Rural households of Delhi.”

To find the existing literature on this topic you should find academic articles relating to the themes of money, gender, economy, income, etc. ]

Research Gap

Insider’s Info : If you are unable to find a research gap for your dissertation, the best hack to fall back on is to say that all the research done up to this point have been based on western notions and social facts, but you will conduct research which holds in your localized reality.

Research Question / Hypothesis

Some of the research questions you can state can be,

Research Methodology / Research Design

This part of the research proposal is about how you will conduct and complete your research. To understand better what research methodology is, we should first clarify the difference between methodology and method. Research Method is the technique used by you to conduct your research. A method includes the sources of collecting your data such as case studies, interviews, surveys, etc. On the other hand, Methodology is how you plan to apply your method . Your methodology determines how you execute various methods during the course of your dissertation.

Therefore, a research methodology, which is also known as research design, is where you tell your reader how you plan to do your research. You tell the step-by-step plan and then justify it. Your research methodology will inform your supervisor how you plan to use your research tools and methods.

Your methodology should explain where you are conducting the research and how. So for this research, your field will be rural Delhi. Explain why you chose to study rural households and not urban ones. Then comes the how, some of the methods you might want to opt for can be Interviews, Questionnaires, and/or Focused Group Discussions. Do not forget to mention your sample size, i.e., the number of people you plan to talk to. ]

Insider’s Info: Make sure that you justify all the methods you plan to use. The more you provide your supervisor with a justification; the more serious and formal you come out to be in front of them. Also, when you write your why down, it is hard to forget the track and get derailed from the goal.

For this project, you can mention that you will be allocated 4 months, out of which 1 month will be utilized for fieldwork and the rest would be used for secondary research, compilation, and completion of the thesis. ]

Aim of the Research

You can present that through your research you will aim to find if the money which enters the household belongs equally to everyone, or does it get stratified and gendered in this realm. Through this research, you aim to present a fresh new perspective in the field of studies of gendered money. ]

Bibliography

Insider’s Info: You do not number or bullet your bibliography. They should be arranged alphabetically based on the surname of the author.

Learn: Citation with Examples

https://www.yorksj.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/research/

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The goal of a research proposal is twofold: to present and justify the need to study a research problem and to present the practical ways in which the proposed study should be conducted. The design elements and procedures for conducting research are governed by standards of the predominant discipline in which the problem resides, therefore, the guidelines for research proposals are more exacting and less formal than a general project proposal. Research proposals contain extensive literature reviews. They must provide persuasive evidence that a need exists for the proposed study. In addition to providing a rationale, a proposal describes detailed methodology for conducting the research consistent with requirements of the professional or academic field and a statement on anticipated outcomes and benefits derived from the study's completion.

Krathwohl, David R. How to Prepare a Dissertation Proposal: Suggestions for Students in Education and the Social and Behavioral Sciences . Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2005.

How to Approach Writing a Research Proposal

Your professor may assign the task of writing a research proposal for the following reasons:

• Develop your skills in thinking about and designing a comprehensive research study;
• Learn how to conduct a comprehensive review of the literature to determine that the research problem has not been adequately addressed or has been answered ineffectively and, in so doing, become better at locating pertinent scholarship related to your topic;
• Improve your general research and writing skills;
• Practice identifying the logical steps that must be taken to accomplish one's research goals;
• Critically review, examine, and consider the use of different methods for gathering and analyzing data related to the research problem; and,
• Nurture a sense of inquisitiveness within yourself and to help see yourself as an active participant in the process of conducting scholarly research.

A proposal should contain all the key elements involved in designing a completed research study, with sufficient information that allows readers to assess the validity and usefulness of your proposed study. The only elements missing from a research proposal are the findings of the study and your analysis of those findings. Finally, an effective proposal is judged on the quality of your writing and, therefore, it is important that your proposal is coherent, clear, and compelling.

Regardless of the research problem you are investigating and the methodology you choose, all research proposals must address the following questions:

• What do you plan to accomplish? Be clear and succinct in defining the research problem and what it is you are proposing to investigate.
• Why do you want to do the research? In addition to detailing your research design, you also must conduct a thorough review of the literature and provide convincing evidence that it is a topic worthy of in-depth study. A successful research proposal must answer the "So What?" question.
• How are you going to conduct the research? Be sure that what you propose is doable. If you're having difficulty formulating a research problem to propose investigating, go here for strategies in developing a problem to study.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Failure to be concise . A research proposal must be focused and not be "all over the map" or diverge into unrelated tangents without a clear sense of purpose.
• Failure to cite landmark works in your literature review . Proposals should be grounded in foundational research that lays a foundation for understanding the development and scope of the the topic and its relevance.
• Failure to delimit the contextual scope of your research [e.g., time, place, people, etc.]. As with any research paper, your proposed study must inform the reader how and in what ways the study will frame the problem.
• Failure to develop a coherent and persuasive argument for the proposed research . This is critical. In many workplace settings, the research proposal is a formal document intended to argue for why a study should be funded.
• Sloppy or imprecise writing, or poor grammar . Although a research proposal does not represent a completed research study, there is still an expectation that it is well-written and follows the style and rules of good academic writing.
• Too much detail on minor issues, but not enough detail on major issues . Your proposal should focus on only a few key research questions in order to support the argument that the research needs to be conducted. Minor issues, even if valid, can be mentioned but they should not dominate the overall narrative.

Procter, Margaret. The Academic Proposal.  The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Sanford, Keith. Information for Students: Writing a Research Proposal. Baylor University; Wong, Paul T. P. How to Write a Research Proposal. International Network on Personal Meaning. Trinity Western University; Writing Academic Proposals: Conferences, Articles, and Books. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing a Research Proposal. University Library. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Structure and Writing Style

Beginning the Proposal Process

As with writing most college-level academic papers, research proposals are generally organized the same way throughout most social science disciplines. The text of proposals generally vary in length between ten and thirty-five pages, followed by the list of references. However, before you begin, read the assignment carefully and, if anything seems unclear, ask your professor whether there are any specific requirements for organizing and writing the proposal.

A good place to begin is to ask yourself a series of questions:

• What do I want to study?
• Why is the topic important?
• How is it significant within the subject areas covered in my class?
• What problems will it help solve?
• How does it build upon [and hopefully go beyond] research already conducted on the topic?
• What exactly should I plan to do, and can I get it done in the time available?

In general, a compelling research proposal should document your knowledge of the topic and demonstrate your enthusiasm for conducting the study. Approach it with the intention of leaving your readers feeling like, "Wow, that's an exciting idea and I can’t wait to see how it turns out!"

Most proposals should include the following sections:

I.  Introduction

In the real world of higher education, a research proposal is most often written by scholars seeking grant funding for a research project or it's the first step in getting approval to write a doctoral dissertation. Even if this is just a course assignment, treat your introduction as the initial pitch of an idea based on a thorough examination of the significance of a research problem. After reading the introduction, your readers should not only have an understanding of what you want to do, but they should also be able to gain a sense of your passion for the topic and to be excited about the study's possible outcomes. Note that most proposals do not include an abstract [summary] before the introduction.

Think about your introduction as a narrative written in two to four paragraphs that succinctly answers the following four questions :

• What is the central research problem?
• What is the topic of study related to that research problem?
• What methods should be used to analyze the research problem?
• Answer the "So What?" question by explaining why this is important research, what is its significance, and why should someone reading the proposal care about the outcomes of the proposed study?

II.  Background and Significance

This is where you explain the scope and context of your proposal and describe in detail why it's important. It can be melded into your introduction or you can create a separate section to help with the organization and narrative flow of your proposal. Approach writing this section with the thought that you can’t assume your readers will know as much about the research problem as you do. Note that this section is not an essay going over everything you have learned about the topic; instead, you must choose what is most relevant in explaining the aims of your research.

To that end, while there are no prescribed rules for establishing the significance of your proposed study, you should attempt to address some or all of the following:

• State the research problem and give a more detailed explanation about the purpose of the study than what you stated in the introduction. This is particularly important if the problem is complex or multifaceted .
• Present the rationale of your proposed study and clearly indicate why it is worth doing; be sure to answer the "So What? question [i.e., why should anyone care?].
• Describe the major issues or problems examined by your research. This can be in the form of questions to be addressed. Be sure to note how your proposed study builds on previous assumptions about the research problem.
• Explain the methods you plan to use for conducting your research. Clearly identify the key sources you intend to use and explain how they will contribute to your analysis of the topic.
• Describe the boundaries of your proposed research in order to provide a clear focus. Where appropriate, state not only what you plan to study, but what aspects of the research problem will be excluded from the study.
• If necessary, provide definitions of key concepts, theories, or terms.

III.  Literature Review

Connected to the background and significance of your study is a section of your proposal devoted to a more deliberate review and synthesis of prior studies related to the research problem under investigation . The purpose here is to place your project within the larger whole of what is currently being explored, while at the same time, demonstrating to your readers that your work is original and innovative. Think about what questions other researchers have asked, what methodological approaches they have used, and what is your understanding of their findings and, when stated, their recommendations. Also pay attention to any suggestions for further research.

Since a literature review is information dense, it is crucial that this section is intelligently structured to enable a reader to grasp the key arguments underpinning your proposed study in relation to the arguments put forth by other researchers. A good strategy is to break the literature into "conceptual categories" [themes] rather than systematically or chronologically describing groups of materials one at a time. Note that conceptual categories generally reveal themselves after you have read most of the pertinent literature on your topic so adding new categories is an on-going process of discovery as you review more studies. How do you know you've covered the key conceptual categories underlying the research literature? Generally, you can have confidence that all of the significant conceptual categories have been identified if you start to see repetition in the conclusions or recommendations that are being made.

NOTE: Do not shy away from challenging the conclusions made in prior research as a basis for supporting the need for your proposal. Assess what you believe is missing and state how previous research has failed to adequately examine the issue that your study addresses. Highlighting the problematic conclusions strengthens your proposal. For more information on writing literature reviews, GO HERE .

To help frame your proposal's review of prior research, consider the "five C’s" of writing a literature review:

• Cite , so as to keep the primary focus on the literature pertinent to your research problem.
• Compare the various arguments, theories, methodologies, and findings expressed in the literature: what do the authors agree on? Who applies similar approaches to analyzing the research problem?
• Contrast the various arguments, themes, methodologies, approaches, and controversies expressed in the literature: describe what are the major areas of disagreement, controversy, or debate among scholars?
• Critique the literature: Which arguments are more persuasive, and why? Which approaches, findings, and methodologies seem most reliable, valid, or appropriate, and why? Pay attention to the verbs you use to describe what an author says/does [e.g., asserts, demonstrates, argues, etc.].
• Connect the literature to your own area of research and investigation: how does your own work draw upon, depart from, synthesize, or add a new perspective to what has been said in the literature?

IV.  Research Design and Methods

This section must be well-written and logically organized because you are not actually doing the research, yet, your reader must have confidence that you have a plan worth pursuing . The reader will never have a study outcome from which to evaluate whether your methodological choices were the correct ones. Thus, the objective here is to convince the reader that your overall research design and proposed methods of analysis will correctly address the problem and that the methods will provide the means to effectively interpret the potential results. Your design and methods should be unmistakably tied to the specific aims of your study.

Describe the overall research design by building upon and drawing examples from your review of the literature. Consider not only methods that other researchers have used, but methods of data gathering that have not been used but perhaps could be. Be specific about the methodological approaches you plan to undertake to obtain information, the techniques you would use to analyze the data, and the tests of external validity to which you commit yourself [i.e., the trustworthiness by which you can generalize from your study to other people, places, events, and/or periods of time].

When describing the methods you will use, be sure to cover the following:

• Specify the research process you will undertake and the way you will interpret the results obtained in relation to the research problem. Don't just describe what you intend to achieve from applying the methods you choose, but state how you will spend your time while applying these methods [e.g., coding text from interviews to find statements about the need to change school curriculum; running a regression to determine if there is a relationship between campaign advertising on social media sites and election outcomes in Europe ].
• Keep in mind that the methodology is not just a list of tasks; it is a deliberate argument as to why techniques for gathering information add up to the best way to investigate the research problem. This is an important point because the mere listing of tasks to be performed does not demonstrate that, collectively, they effectively address the research problem. Be sure you clearly explain this.
• Anticipate and acknowledge any potential barriers and pitfalls in carrying out your research design and explain how you plan to address them. No method applied to research in the social and behavioral sciences is perfect, so you need to describe where you believe challenges may exist in obtaining data or accessing information. It's always better to acknowledge this than to have it brought up by your professor!

V.  Preliminary Suppositions and Implications

Just because you don't have to actually conduct the study and analyze the results, doesn't mean you can skip talking about the analytical process and potential implications . The purpose of this section is to argue how and in what ways you believe your research will refine, revise, or extend existing knowledge in the subject area under investigation. Depending on the aims and objectives of your study, describe how the anticipated results will impact future scholarly research, theory, practice, forms of interventions, or policy making. Note that such discussions may have either substantive [a potential new policy], theoretical [a potential new understanding], or methodological [a potential new way of analyzing] significance.   When thinking about the potential implications of your study, ask the following questions:

• What might the results mean in regards to challenging the theoretical framework and underlying assumptions that support the study?
• What suggestions for subsequent research could arise from the potential outcomes of the study?
• What will the results mean to practitioners in the natural settings of their workplace, organization, or community?
• Will the results influence programs, methods, and/or forms of intervention?
• How might the results contribute to the solution of social, economic, or other types of problems?
• Will the results influence policy decisions?
• In what way do individuals or groups benefit should your study be pursued?
• What will be improved or changed as a result of the proposed research?
• How will the results of the study be implemented and what innovations or transformative insights could emerge from the process of implementation?

NOTE:   This section should not delve into idle speculation, opinion, or be formulated on the basis of unclear evidence . The purpose is to reflect upon gaps or understudied areas of the current literature and describe how your proposed research contributes to a new understanding of the research problem should the study be implemented as designed.

ANOTHER NOTE : This section is also where you describe any potential limitations to your proposed study. While it is impossible to highlight all potential limitations because the study has yet to be conducted, you still must tell the reader where and in what form impediments may arise and how you plan to address them.

VI.  Conclusion

The conclusion reiterates the importance or significance of your proposal and provides a brief summary of the entire study . This section should be only one or two paragraphs long, emphasizing why the research problem is worth investigating, why your research study is unique, and how it should advance existing knowledge.

Someone reading this section should come away with an understanding of:

• Why the study should be done;
• The specific purpose of the study and the research questions it attempts to answer;
• The decision for why the research design and methods used where chosen over other options;
• The potential implications emerging from your proposed study of the research problem; and
• A sense of how your study fits within the broader scholarship about the research problem.

VII.  Citations

As with any scholarly research paper, you must cite the sources you used . In a standard research proposal, this section can take two forms, so consult with your professor about which one is preferred.

• References -- a list of only the sources you actually used in creating your proposal.
• Bibliography -- a list of everything you used in creating your proposal, along with additional citations to any key sources relevant to understanding the research problem.

In either case, this section should testify to the fact that you did enough preparatory work to ensure the project will complement and not just duplicate the efforts of other researchers. It demonstrates to the reader that you have a thorough understanding of prior research on the topic.

Most proposal formats have you start a new page and use the heading "References" or "Bibliography" centered at the top of the page. Cited works should always use a standard format that follows the writing style advised by the discipline of your course [e.g., education=APA; history=Chicago] or that is preferred by your professor. This section normally does not count towards the total page length of your research proposal.

Develop a Research Proposal: Writing the Proposal. Office of Library Information Services. Baltimore County Public Schools; Heath, M. Teresa Pereira and Caroline Tynan. “Crafting a Research Proposal.” The Marketing Review 10 (Summer 2010): 147-168; Jones, Mark. “Writing a Research Proposal.” In MasterClass in Geography Education: Transforming Teaching and Learning . Graham Butt, editor. (New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2015), pp. 113-127; Juni, Muhamad Hanafiah. “Writing a Research Proposal.” International Journal of Public Health and Clinical Sciences 1 (September/October 2014): 229-240; Krathwohl, David R. How to Prepare a Dissertation Proposal: Suggestions for Students in Education and the Social and Behavioral Sciences . Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press, 2005; Procter, Margaret. The Academic Proposal. The Lab Report. University College Writing Centre. University of Toronto; Punch, Keith and Wayne McGowan. "Developing and Writing a Research Proposal." In From Postgraduate to Social Scientist: A Guide to Key Skills . Nigel Gilbert, ed. (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2006), 59-81; Wong, Paul T. P. How to Write a Research Proposal. International Network on Personal Meaning. Trinity Western University; Writing Academic Proposals: Conferences , Articles, and Books. The Writing Lab and The OWL. Purdue University; Writing a Research Proposal. University Library. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

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The Biggest 15 Social Issues We Are Facing Today

No matter where we live, what communities we belong to or what we care about, we are affected by social issues. It’s the price of living in a society, and while challenges like poverty, climate change and discrimination can feel overwhelming, we have the power to take action. The first step is understanding what issues we’re up against. In this article, we’ll explore 15 of the biggest social issues facing the world today.

#1. The global housing crisis

Shelter is a human right, but hundreds of millions of people lack adequate, affordable housing. According to the World Bank, the housing crisis is global, and it could impact as many as 1.6 billion people by 2025. That number will only grow with time. By 2030, the world needs to build 96,000 new affordable homes per day to meet the needs of 3 billion people. What’s driving the global housing crisis? According to Albert Saiz in a paper for the MIT Center for Real Estate, economic factors like rising costs and income inequality are prevalent. Addressing these issues now is critical to protecting people in the future.

#2. Gender inequality

Societies have been working to improve gender inequality for centuries, but we still have a long way to go. Globally, women still make less money than men, have poorer health outcomes, have fewer opportunities and endure more gender–based violence. According to 2023 data, the global gender gap won’t close until 2154 . Even the most gender-equal country, which is Iceland , still has social issues to address. Some of the issues are recognized – women are still being subjected to physical and sexual violence – while there are gaps in data related to things like unpaid care, domestic work, gender and the environment, and so on.

#3. Climate crisis

The climate crisis is one of today’s most urgent social issues. Earth.org outlines a list of major climate events in 2023 , including severe droughts, wildfires, higher ocean surface temperatures and storms. That same year, the IPCC released a summary of its previous five reports, showing how human activity is causing severe damage to the planet, and, if trends continue, parts of the earth will become unlivable in just a few decades. The world can fight the climate crisis, but we have to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and turn to renewable energy sources.

#4. Overconsumption

Greenhouse gas emissions are a primary driver of climate change, but overconsumption is hurting the planet, too. Unfathomable amounts of food, clothing, plastic and other things are thrown into landfills and the ocean every day. However, it’s not a problem for everyone. According to research, just 20% of the world’s population is responsible for consuming 80% of the globe’s natural resources. The richest 500 million people release half of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. To break it down even further, if every person in the world consumed resources at the rate as people in Canada and the United States did, we would need at least five earths .

#5. Global hunger

Global food insecurity is a serious problem. According to data, about 735 million people endured chronic hunger in 2022, and with issues like climate change, the lingering effects of the pandemic and conflict, it will be very challenging to end hunger by 2030. Children typically suffer the most. When kids don’t get enough to eat, they become more vulnerable to diseases like measles, malaria and diarrhea. According to the World Food Programme, “hotspots” for hunger include Burkina Faso, Mali, South Sudan and Palestine.

#6. Threats to LGBTQ+ rights

At the same time as LGBTQ+ rights have expanded, certain countries have pushed back. In the summer of 2023, the first Ugandan was charged with “aggravated homosexuality,” a crime punishable by death. In its 2023 review, the Electronic Frontier Foundation also found an increase in anti-LGBTQ sentiment , including more laws that restrict privacy and freedom of expression, and censorship of LGBTQ+ websites. Even in places like the United States, which is seen by many as a haven for the LGBTQ+ community, legislative threats are on the rise .

#7. Reproductive justice

Reproductive justice, which includes things like abortion access and maternal health, is a social issue affecting every corner of the world. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, most countries are expanding abortion rights, while just four – the United States, Poland, Nicaragua, and El Salvador – rolled back abortion rights . Globally, about 40% of women live in places with “restrictive” abortion laws. Related social issues include menstrual health, prenatal and maternal health, access to contraception and so on.

#8. Educational disparities

When people get a good education, they’re more likely to have higher incomes, better health, healthier children and other benefits. On a larger scale, education also helps countries achieve overall wealth and health. There’s been significant progress on closing the gender gap in education. According to a blog on the World Bank, boys and girls complete primary school at almost an equal rate . However, around 130 million girls are still being denied an education. Wealth also plays a role in educational disparities. In the United States, one study found that wealth affects a student’s chances of finishing college. On a global scale, wealth also impacts where a family lives and what school options are available, as well as tutoring opportunities, whether a student needs a job and much more.

#9. Health and healthcare

Health and the ability (or inability) to access good healthcare are major social issues. Unfortunately, healthcare systems around the world are struggling. COVID-19 continues to be a problem, but hospitals are also facing staff shortages and competition . Not everyone is affected equally. According to the World Health Organization, refugees and migrants experience worse health outcomes due to language barriers, cultural differences, discrimination and legal restrictions on what services they can access.

#10. Income inequality

Global income inequality fluctuates, but according to a 2023 Oxfam study , the world’s richest 1% took almost ⅔ of all the new wealth created since 2020. That gave them almost twice the amount of money held by the bottom 99%. Income inequality can cause serious problems , such as lower economic growth, worse social cohesion and political polarization. There are also ethical consequences to income inequality, which human rights and social justice advocates often discuss. Can society ever be truly good or free when only a handful of people hold all the wealth?

#11. Global unemployment (and underemployment)

High unemployment rates – and low-paying jobs – drive income inequality and poverty. In a 2023 report, the International Labour Organization found that the world is still experiencing slow employment growth . There was a slight recovery in 2021, but as the economy slows again, people are forced to take jobs that pay less, provide fewer hours and/or offer poor working conditions. South Africa, which is the most industrialized economy in Africa, also has one of the highest unemployment rates. According to Reuters, reasons include structural issues related to the shadows of colonialism and apartheid. To fight issues like poverty and gender inequality, countries need to address unemployment and low-paying jobs.

#12. Increased migration

People move all the time, but issues like war and climate change force people to leave their homes. Sometimes, they move within the borders of one country, but other times, they’re forced to take long, dangerous journeys to countries they’ve never visited. According to the Migration Policy Institute, “humanitarian migration” increased in 2023, while policies could impact elections in 2024. The social issues related to migration, such as the rights of migrants, affordable housing, health services and more, will all be relevant for the foreseeable future.

#13. Artificial intelligence

The presence of artificial intelligence has exploded in recent years, but the technology has several issues. Ethics is just one of them. According to a guide on UMA Libraries, AI has problems with gender and racial bias, plagiarism, generating fake news and supporting scams. It also takes a lot of energy to train and run AI programs, so as the use of AI increases, so will its carbon footprint . As the technology continues to develop, new regulations, legislation and guidelines will need to be created, as well.

#14. Debt bondage

Rates of labor trafficking have been increasing over the years. According to research, about ⅕ of those in forced labor trafficking are in debt bondage . Debt bondage is a very common type of trafficking where a person is forced to work off a loan. However, because the debt is often so high and they are paid so little, it’s impossible to escape the situation. Perpetrators also often have no intention of freeing the people they’re exploiting; debt bondage can even pass on to children. While bonded labor is technically illegal in some places, like India, it persists , especially in rural areas. Because trafficking is an illicit practice, it’s very difficult to get accurate numbers, but it’s most likely worse than what’s reported.

#15. Threats to journalism

By providing vital information to the public, journalists are essential to freedom of speech, freedom of expression, democracy and the protection of other human rights. In recent years, journalism has been under threat. According to the 2023 World Press Freedom Index , the environment for journalism was “bad” in seven out of 10 countries, while it was “satisfactory” in just three out of 10 countries. The reasons include a surge in fake news and propaganda. Journalists also face threats to their lives. UNESCO found that in 2023, there was a near doubling of deaths of journalists working in conflict zones. As conflicts in Ukraine, Palestine and other countries continue, the safety of journalism will remain a social issue.

45 Research Problem Examples & Inspiration

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

Learn about our Editorial Process

A research problem is an issue of concern that is the catalyst for your research. It demonstrates why the research problem needs to take place in the first place.

Generally, you will write your research problem as a clear, concise, and focused statement that identifies an issue or gap in current knowledge that requires investigation.

The problem will likely also guide the direction and purpose of a study. Depending on the problem, you will identify a suitable methodology that will help address the problem and bring solutions to light.

Research Problem Examples

In the following examples, I’ll present some problems worth addressing, and some suggested theoretical frameworks and research methodologies that might fit with the study. Note, however, that these aren’t the only ways to approach the problems. Keep an open mind and consult with your dissertation supervisor!

Psychology Problems

1. Social Media and Self-Esteem: “How does prolonged exposure to social media platforms influence the self-esteem of adolescents?”

• Theoretical Framework : Social Comparison Theory
• Methodology : Longitudinal study tracking adolescents’ social media usage and self-esteem measures over time, combined with qualitative interviews.

2. Sleep and Cognitive Performance: “How does sleep quality and duration impact cognitive performance in adults?”

• Theoretical Framework : Cognitive Psychology
• Methodology : Experimental design with controlled sleep conditions, followed by cognitive tests. Participant sleep patterns can also be monitored using actigraphy.

3. Childhood Trauma and Adult Relationships: “How does unresolved childhood trauma influence attachment styles and relationship dynamics in adulthood?

• Theoretical Framework : Attachment Theory
• Methodology : Mixed methods, combining quantitative measures of attachment styles with qualitative in-depth interviews exploring past trauma and current relationship dynamics.

4. Mindfulness and Stress Reduction: “How effective is mindfulness meditation in reducing perceived stress and physiological markers of stress in working professionals?”

• Theoretical Framework : Humanist Psychology
• Methodology : Randomized controlled trial comparing a group practicing mindfulness meditation to a control group, measuring both self-reported stress and physiological markers (e.g., cortisol levels).

5. Implicit Bias and Decision Making: “To what extent do implicit biases influence decision-making processes in hiring practices?

• Theoretical Framework : Cognitive Dissonance Theory
• Methodology : Experimental design using Implicit Association Tests (IAT) to measure implicit biases, followed by simulated hiring tasks to observe decision-making behaviors.

6. Emotional Regulation and Academic Performance: “How does the ability to regulate emotions impact academic performance in college students?”

• Theoretical Framework : Cognitive Theory of Emotion
• Methodology : Quantitative surveys measuring emotional regulation strategies, combined with academic performance metrics (e.g., GPA).

7. Nature Exposure and Mental Well-being: “Does regular exposure to natural environments improve mental well-being and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression?”

• Theoretical Framework : Biophilia Hypothesis
• Methodology : Longitudinal study comparing mental health measures of individuals with regular nature exposure to those without, possibly using ecological momentary assessment for real-time data collection.

8. Video Games and Cognitive Skills: “How do action video games influence cognitive skills such as attention, spatial reasoning, and problem-solving?”

• Theoretical Framework : Cognitive Load Theory
• Methodology : Experimental design with pre- and post-tests, comparing cognitive skills of participants before and after a period of action video game play.

9. Parenting Styles and Child Resilience: “How do different parenting styles influence the development of resilience in children facing adversities?”

• Theoretical Framework : Baumrind’s Parenting Styles Inventory
• Methodology : Mixed methods, combining quantitative measures of resilience and parenting styles with qualitative interviews exploring children’s experiences and perceptions.

10. Memory and Aging: “How does the aging process impact episodic memory , and what strategies can mitigate age-related memory decline?

• Theoretical Framework : Information Processing Theory
• Methodology : Cross-sectional study comparing episodic memory performance across different age groups, combined with interventions like memory training or mnemonic strategies to assess potential improvements.

Education Problems

11. Equity and Access : “How do socioeconomic factors influence students’ access to quality education, and what interventions can bridge the gap?

• Theoretical Framework : Critical Pedagogy
• Methodology : Mixed methods, combining quantitative data on student outcomes with qualitative interviews and focus groups with students, parents, and educators.

12. Digital Divide : How does the lack of access to technology and the internet affect remote learning outcomes, and how can this divide be addressed?

• Theoretical Framework : Social Construction of Technology Theory
• Methodology : Survey research to gather data on access to technology, followed by case studies in selected areas.

13. Teacher Efficacy : “What factors contribute to teacher self-efficacy, and how does it impact student achievement?”

• Theoretical Framework : Bandura’s Self-Efficacy Theory
• Methodology : Quantitative surveys to measure teacher self-efficacy, combined with qualitative interviews to explore factors affecting it.

14. Curriculum Relevance : “How can curricula be made more relevant to diverse student populations, incorporating cultural and local contexts?”

• Theoretical Framework : Sociocultural Theory
• Methodology : Content analysis of curricula, combined with focus groups with students and teachers.

15. Special Education : “What are the most effective instructional strategies for students with specific learning disabilities?

• Theoretical Framework : Social Learning Theory
• Methodology : Experimental design comparing different instructional strategies, with pre- and post-tests to measure student achievement.

16. Dropout Rates : “What factors contribute to high school dropout rates, and what interventions can help retain students?”

• Methodology : Longitudinal study tracking students over time, combined with interviews with dropouts.

17. Bilingual Education : “How does bilingual education impact cognitive development and academic achievement?

• Methodology : Comparative study of students in bilingual vs. monolingual programs, using standardized tests and qualitative interviews.

18. Classroom Management: “What reward strategies are most effective in managing diverse classrooms and promoting a positive learning environment?

• Theoretical Framework : Behaviorism (e.g., Skinner’s Operant Conditioning)
• Methodology : Observational research in classrooms , combined with teacher interviews.

19. Standardized Testing : “How do standardized tests affect student motivation, learning, and curriculum design?”

• Theoretical Framework : Critical Theory
• Methodology : Quantitative analysis of test scores and student outcomes, combined with qualitative interviews with educators and students.

20. STEM Education : “What methods can be employed to increase interest and proficiency in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields among underrepresented student groups?”

• Theoretical Framework : Constructivist Learning Theory
• Methodology : Experimental design comparing different instructional methods, with pre- and post-tests.

21. Social-Emotional Learning : “How can social-emotional learning be effectively integrated into the curriculum, and what are its impacts on student well-being and academic outcomes?”

• Theoretical Framework : Goleman’s Emotional Intelligence Theory
• Methodology : Mixed methods, combining quantitative measures of student well-being with qualitative interviews.

22. Parental Involvement : “How does parental involvement influence student achievement, and what strategies can schools use to increase it?”

• Theoretical Framework : Reggio Emilia’s Model (Community Engagement Focus)
• Methodology : Survey research with parents and teachers, combined with case studies in selected schools.

23. Early Childhood Education : “What are the long-term impacts of quality early childhood education on academic and life outcomes?”

• Theoretical Framework : Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development
• Methodology : Longitudinal study comparing students with and without early childhood education, combined with observational research.

24. Teacher Training and Professional Development : “How can teacher training programs be improved to address the evolving needs of the 21st-century classroom?”

• Theoretical Framework : Adult Learning Theory (Andragogy)
• Methodology : Pre- and post-assessments of teacher competencies, combined with focus groups.

25. Educational Technology : “How can technology be effectively integrated into the classroom to enhance learning, and what are the potential drawbacks or challenges?”

• Theoretical Framework : Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK)
• Methodology : Experimental design comparing classrooms with and without specific technologies, combined with teacher and student interviews.

Sociology Problems

26. Urbanization and Social Ties: “How does rapid urbanization impact the strength and nature of social ties in communities?”

• Theoretical Framework : Structural Functionalism
• Methodology : Mixed methods, combining quantitative surveys on social ties with qualitative interviews in urbanizing areas.

27. Gender Roles in Modern Families: “How have traditional gender roles evolved in families with dual-income households?”

• Theoretical Framework : Gender Schema Theory
• Methodology : Qualitative interviews with dual-income families, combined with historical data analysis.

28. Social Media and Collective Behavior: “How does social media influence collective behaviors and the formation of social movements?”

• Theoretical Framework : Emergent Norm Theory
• Methodology : Content analysis of social media platforms, combined with quantitative surveys on participation in social movements.

29. Education and Social Mobility: “To what extent does access to quality education influence social mobility in socioeconomically diverse settings?”

• Methodology : Longitudinal study tracking educational access and subsequent socioeconomic status, combined with qualitative interviews.

30. Religion and Social Cohesion: “How do religious beliefs and practices contribute to social cohesion in multicultural societies?”

• Methodology : Quantitative surveys on religious beliefs and perceptions of social cohesion, combined with ethnographic studies.

31. Consumer Culture and Identity Formation: “How does consumer culture influence individual identity formation and personal values?”

• Theoretical Framework : Social Identity Theory
• Methodology : Mixed methods, combining content analysis of advertising with qualitative interviews on identity and values.

32. Migration and Cultural Assimilation: “How do migrants negotiate cultural assimilation and preservation of their original cultural identities in their host countries?”

• Theoretical Framework : Post-Structuralism
• Methodology : Qualitative interviews with migrants, combined with observational studies in multicultural communities.

33. Social Networks and Mental Health: “How do social networks, both online and offline, impact mental health and well-being?”

• Theoretical Framework : Social Network Theory
• Methodology : Quantitative surveys assessing social network characteristics and mental health metrics, combined with qualitative interviews.

34. Crime, Deviance, and Social Control: “How do societal norms and values shape definitions of crime and deviance, and how are these definitions enforced?”

• Theoretical Framework : Labeling Theory
• Methodology : Content analysis of legal documents and media, combined with ethnographic studies in diverse communities.

35. Technology and Social Interaction: “How has the proliferation of digital technology influenced face-to-face social interactions and community building?”

• Theoretical Framework : Technological Determinism
• Methodology : Mixed methods, combining quantitative surveys on technology use with qualitative observations of social interactions in various settings.

Nursing Problems

36. Patient Communication and Recovery: “How does effective nurse-patient communication influence patient recovery rates and overall satisfaction with care?”

• Methodology : Quantitative surveys assessing patient satisfaction and recovery metrics, combined with observational studies on nurse-patient interactions.

37. Stress Management in Nursing: “What are the primary sources of occupational stress for nurses, and how can they be effectively managed to prevent burnout?”

• Methodology : Mixed methods, combining quantitative measures of stress and burnout with qualitative interviews exploring personal experiences and coping mechanisms.

38. Hand Hygiene Compliance: “How effective are different interventions in improving hand hygiene compliance among nursing staff, and what are the barriers to consistent hand hygiene?”

• Methodology : Experimental design comparing hand hygiene rates before and after specific interventions, combined with focus groups to understand barriers.

39. Nurse-Patient Ratios and Patient Outcomes: “How do nurse-patient ratios impact patient outcomes, including recovery rates, complications, and hospital readmissions?”

• Methodology : Quantitative study analyzing patient outcomes in relation to staffing levels, possibly using retrospective chart reviews.

40. Continuing Education and Clinical Competence: “How does regular continuing education influence clinical competence and confidence among nurses?”

• Methodology : Longitudinal study tracking nurses’ clinical skills and confidence over time as they engage in continuing education, combined with patient outcome measures to assess potential impacts on care quality.

Communication Studies Problems

41. Media Representation and Public Perception: “How does media representation of minority groups influence public perceptions and biases?”

• Theoretical Framework : Cultivation Theory
• Methodology : Content analysis of media representations combined with quantitative surveys assessing public perceptions and attitudes.

42. Digital Communication and Relationship Building: “How has the rise of digital communication platforms impacted the way individuals build and maintain personal relationships?”

• Theoretical Framework : Social Penetration Theory
• Methodology : Mixed methods, combining quantitative surveys on digital communication habits with qualitative interviews exploring personal relationship dynamics.

43. Crisis Communication Effectiveness: “What strategies are most effective in managing public relations during organizational crises, and how do they influence public trust?”

• Theoretical Framework : Situational Crisis Communication Theory (SCCT)
• Methodology : Case study analysis of past organizational crises, assessing communication strategies used and subsequent public trust metrics.

44. Nonverbal Cues in Virtual Communication: “How do nonverbal cues, such as facial expressions and gestures, influence message interpretation in virtual communication platforms?”

• Theoretical Framework : Social Semiotics
• Methodology : Experimental design using video conferencing tools, analyzing participants’ interpretations of messages with varying nonverbal cues.

45. Influence of Social Media on Political Engagement: “How does exposure to political content on social media platforms influence individuals’ political engagement and activism?”

• Theoretical Framework : Uses and Gratifications Theory
• Methodology : Quantitative surveys assessing social media habits and political engagement levels, combined with content analysis of political posts on popular platforms.

Before you Go: Tips and Tricks for Writing a Research Problem

This is an incredibly stressful time for research students. The research problem is going to lock you into a specific line of inquiry for the rest of your studies.

So, here’s what I tend to suggest to my students:

• Start with something you find intellectually stimulating – Too many students choose projects because they think it hasn’t been studies or they’ve found a research gap. Don’t over-estimate the importance of finding a research gap. There are gaps in every line of inquiry. For now, just find a topic you think you can really sink your teeth into and will enjoy learning about.
• Take 5 ideas to your supervisor – Approach your research supervisor, professor, lecturer, TA, our course leader with 5 research problem ideas and run each by them. The supervisor will have valuable insights that you didn’t consider that will help you narrow-down and refine your problem even more.
• Trust your supervisor – The supervisor-student relationship is often very strained and stressful. While of course this is your project, your supervisor knows the internal politics and conventions of academic research. The depth of knowledge about how to navigate academia and get you out the other end with your degree is invaluable. Don’t underestimate their advice.

I’ve got a full article on all my tips and tricks for doing research projects right here – I recommend reading it:

• 9 Tips on How to Choose a Dissertation Topic

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 10 Reasons you’re Perpetually Single
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 20 Montessori Toddler Bedrooms (Design Inspiration)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 21 Montessori Homeschool Setups
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd-2/ 101 Hidden Talents Examples

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• 10 Research Question Examples to Guide Your Research Project

10 Research Question Examples to Guide your Research Project

Published on October 30, 2022 by Shona McCombes . Revised on October 19, 2023.

The research question is one of the most important parts of your research paper , thesis or dissertation . It’s important to spend some time assessing and refining your question before you get started.

The exact form of your question will depend on a few things, such as the length of your project, the type of research you’re conducting, the topic , and the research problem . However, all research questions should be focused, specific, and relevant to a timely social or scholarly issue.

Once you’ve read our guide on how to write a research question , you can use these examples to craft your own.

Note that the design of your research question can depend on what method you are pursuing. Here are a few options for qualitative, quantitative, and statistical research questions.

Other interesting articles

If you want to know more about the research process , methodology , research bias , or statistics , make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples.

Methodology

• Sampling methods
• Simple random sampling
• Stratified sampling
• Cluster sampling
• Likert scales
• Reproducibility

 Statistics

• Null hypothesis
• Statistical power
• Probability distribution
• Effect size
• Poisson distribution

Research bias

• Optimism bias
• Cognitive bias
• Implicit bias
• Hawthorne effect
• Anchoring bias
• Explicit bias

Cite this Scribbr article

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McCombes, S. (2023, October 19). 10 Research Question Examples to Guide your Research Project. Scribbr. Retrieved September 6, 2024, from https://www.scribbr.com/research-process/research-question-examples/

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School of Social Sciences

How to write a research proposal

You will need to submit a research proposal with your PhD application. This is crucial in the assessment of your application and it warrants plenty of time and energy.

Your proposal should outline your project and be around 1,500 words.

Your research proposal should include a working title for your project.

Overview of the research

In this section, you should provide a short overview of your research. You should also state how your research fits into the research priorities of your particular subject area.

Here you can refer to the research areas and priorities of a particular research grouping or supervisor.

You must also state precisely why you have chosen to apply to the discipline area and how your research links into our overall profile.

Positioning of the research

This should reference the most important texts related to the research, demonstrate your understanding of the research issues, and identify existing gaps (both theoretical and practical) that the research is intended to address.

Research design and methodology

This section should identify the information that is necessary to carry out the analysis and the possible research techniques that could deliver the information.

Ethical considerations

You should identify and address any potential ethical considerations in relation to your proposed research. Please discuss your research with your proposed supervisor to see how best to progress your ideas in line with University of Manchester ethics guidance, and ensure that your proposed supervisor is happy for you to proceed with your application.

Your research proposal will be used to assess the quality and originality of your ideas, whether you are able to think critically and whether you have a grasp of the relevant literature. It also gives us important information about the perspectives you intend to take on your research area, and how you fit into the department's research profile overall. This is helpful when assigning a supervisor.

If you are applying to study an Economics postgraduate research programme, our advice and requirements are slightly different:

• How to write an economics proposal

Supervisors

We encourage you to discuss your proposal informally with a potential supervisor before making a formal application to ensure it is of mutual interest.

Please note that we cannot guarantee that we will be able to allocate you to the supervisor you initially contact and that we may allocate you to another expert in the area.

• Find a supervisor

Flexibility

You will not be forced to follow the proposal exactly once you have started to study. It is normal for students to refine their original proposal, in light of detailed literature review, further consideration of research approaches and comments received from your supervisors (and other academic staff).

Pitfalls to avoid

We sometimes have to reject students who meet the academic requirements but have not produced a satisfactory research proposal, therefore:

• Make sure that your research idea, question or problem is very clearly stated and well-grounded in academic research.
• Make sure that your proposal is well focused and conforms exactly to the submission requirements described here.
• Poorly specified, jargon-filled or rambling proposals will not convince us that you have a clear idea of what you want to do.

The University uses electronic systems to detect plagiarism and other forms of academic malpractice and for assessment. All Humanities PhD programmes require the submission of a research proposal as part of the application process. The Doctoral Academy upholds the principle that where a candidate approaches the University with a project of study, this should be original. While it is understandable that research may arise out of previous studies, it is vital that your research proposal is not the subject of plagiarism.

Example proposals

• Philosophy - Example 1
• Philosophy - Example 2
• Politics - Example 1
• Politics - Example 2
• Social Anthropology - Example 1
• Social Anthropology - Example 2
• Social Statistics - Example 1
• Social Statistics - Example 2
• Sociology - Example 1
• Sociology - Example 2

Further help

The following books may help you to prepare your research proposal (as well as in doing your research degree).

• Bell, J. (1999):  Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for First-time Researchers in Education & Social Science , (Oxford University Press, Oxford).
• Baxter, L, Hughes, C. and Tight, M. (2001):  How to Research , (Open University Press, Milton Keynes).
• Cryer, P. (2000):  The Research Student's Guide to Success , (Open University, Milton Keynes).
• Delamont, S., Atkinson, P. and Parry, O. (1997):  Supervising the PhD , (Open University Press, Milton Keynes).
• Philips, E. and Pugh, D. (2005):  How to get a PhD: A Handbook for Students and their Supervisors , (Open University Press, Milton Keynes).

If you need help and advice about your application, contact the Postgraduate Admissions Team.

Admissions contacts

University guidelines

You may also find it useful to read the advice and guidance on the University website about writing a proposal for your research degree application.

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A research proposal on drug as social problem

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Nader Ghotbi

The dramatic increase of poppy cultivation and opium production in Afghanistan has led to a serious drug addiction problem in te world. The rising heroin use, because of needle sharing, may lead to a much higher incidence of HIV infection and AIDS in Afghanistan in the future. We organized two expeditions into Afghanistan itself, one through the capital, Kabul and

Aims To provide an overall picture of drug abuse in Vietnam, its prevalence, correlates and patterns. Methods Studies addressing the drug abuse problem in Vietnam are reviewed. Attention is paid to studies conducted from 1993 onwards. The reviewed studies were collected from both refereed and non-refereed sources. Results Drug abuse is rising sharply in Vietnam: almost threefold over the past 10 years. From a predominantly rural-mountainous phenomenon, illicit drug abuse spread rapidly to urban areas. Meanwhile, the average age of drug users has declined and more women have been engaging in drug consumption. At the same time, heroin has replaced opium as the most preferred drug in the country's illicit drug market, especially among young users in urban areas. At the national level, the second main route of drug administration, injecting, has exceeded smoking and taken precedence in the country's drug abuse culture, especially among heroin users. Conclusion Drug abuse in Vietnam has changed radically over the past decade, which has implications for the national and international community and requires further research to fill the knowledge gap and to inform intervention policy for better drug control policy.

Dr Bijayalaxmi Panda

indianjpsychiatry.org

veena prakash

Behavioral Health News

Jeffrey T. Steen, PhD

ANEELA SHEIKH

The objective of this paper is to highlight the drug menace among women and to analyze the factors responsible for drug usage by the women. The personal profiles of the women, frequency and sources of drug provision were analyzed towards the greater knowledge of the concerning issue. This may facilitate the policy-makers to devise more efficient means of averting drugs usage. Accidental and snow ball sampling techniques were employed for data collection. The sample comprised 250 women, aged ≥ 18 years, selected from the population were interviewed for psychotropic drug abuse (for insomnia, nervousness, tiredness, headache and anxiety) and socio-demographic attributes comprising income, employment, profession and habits. It was found that the most contributing factors towards drug addiction were psychological, followed by social and economic factors respectively. The increased tendency of women seeking solace in drugs calls for immediate policy interventions and strict monitoring for...

Festus U W A K H E M E N Asikhia

The issue of drugs and substance abuse by the youth is on the increase, and it has called for social concern. Despite the fact and growing appreciation of the need for drugs and substance abuse control, it would appear there is a lack of enough empirical research in Nigeria which explicitly links drugs and substance abuse to youth development. This study, therefore, examines the relationship between drugs, substance abuse and effects on youth development in Nigeria with specific reference to Lagos state. The study adopted the cross-sectional survey design and data is generated through a self-administered questionnaire. Data for the analysis was generated from a total of 344 participants selected from official, detainees and prisoners from eight directorates in the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA), and the Nigerian Prisons Service (NPS)in Lagos State. The analysis centred on investigating the impact of the drug, substance abuse on the four identified measures of youth development, namely: crime, academic performance, impaired memory, mental health problems and contracting infectious disease (HIV and STDs). The univariate analysis revealed that on average, almost all the respondents affirmed the significant manifestations of the variables within the data generated. For the bivariate hypotheses, Spearman's rank-order correlation was utilized in testing the extent of correlations between drug, substance abuse and effects on youth development. The results revealed that there is a relationship between drug, substance abuse, and crime at a 0.05 level of significance, it also revealed that there is a relationship between drug substance abuse and academic performance at a 0.05 level of significance, the third hypotheses of the study revealed that there is a relationship between drug, substance abuse, and impaired memory and mental health problem at a 0.05 level of significance, it also revealed that there is a relationship between drug, substance abuse and contracting infectious diseases at a0.05 level of significance. As such, all four (4) null hypotheses of no significant relationships were rejected. In conclusion, this study asserts that drug, substance abuse, is significantly associated and enhances manifestations of youth development and as such enhances outcomes such as crime, academic performance, impaired memory, mental health problems, and contracting infectious diseases. It, therefore, recommends that, for an improved standard of living, and improved facility for a reintegration of drug abusers, tight border control, strengthening of drug agencies and strong policies against drugs and substance abuse and finally awareness creation, sensitization on drug use and viable youth development programs

Sanaz Helmi

ED/ INDEXED IN: COPERNICUS, INDEX COPERNICUS IRAN, Directory Of Research Journal Indexing (DRJI), J-Gate, EBSCO, SCIRUS, Eyesourse,Electronic Journals Library (EZB), SSRN eLibrary, Global Impact Factor (GIF), Google Scholar, Research Bible, NewJour, Magiran, Sjournals, Iran Journal. The Role of Impulsivity, Risk-Taking, and Sensation-Seeking in People Prone to Substance Abuse 49 The Role of Impulsivity, Risk-Taking, and Sensation-Seeking in People Prone to Substance Abuse

Sadguru Publications, Udaipur

Prashant Mehta

A drug is any biological substance, synthetic or non-synthetic, that is taken primarily for non-dietary needs. It is usually synthesized outside an organism, but introduced into an organism to produce its action. Drug addiction is a growing problem in India. This paper highlights the statistics and trends of abuse of most common illicit drugs in children in India and laws both in India and Internationally for prohibition of drugs of abuse.

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• The Need for Humanitarian Research: Addressing Emerging Challenges in a Complex World

The landscape of humanitarian assistance is undergoing rapid transformation, driven by a complex interplay of evolving crises, diverse actors, and emerging global threats. Traditional approaches to humanitarian aid are proving inadequate in the face of increasingly multifaceted and protracted emergencies, ranging from armed conflicts to natural disasters exacerbated by climate change. In this context, the need for robust humanitarian research is more critical than ever. 

Research plays a vital role in providing a deeper understanding of the root causes of conflict, identifying future drivers of humanitarian aid, and developing evidence-based strategies that can be translated into meaningful operational changes. It is imperative for humanitarian researchers to examine the changing nature of humanitarian assistance, the complexity of humanitarian settings, and the necessity of data-driven approaches to navigate the profound challenges faced by the sector.

The Changing Nature of Humanitarian Assistance

Humanitarian assistance today is characterized by a shift from short-term emergency relief to more prolonged and multidimensional responses. Crises are increasingly marked by chronic, intersecting factors such as conflict, climate change, economic instability, and political stalemates. This evolving context requires a corresponding shift in how humanitarian interventions are conceptualized, designed, and implemented. Research is crucial in understanding these changes and guiding the development of adaptive strategies.

One significant change is the growing recognition of the importance of addressing the root causes of crises rather than merely responding to their symptoms. Humanitarian research is essential in uncovering these underlying factors, which often involve complex historical, socio-political, and economic dimensions. For example, understanding the drivers of conflict in a region such as the Sahel, where climate change, resource scarcity, and governance challenges intersect, can help aid organizations develop more effective interventions that address not only immediate needs but also long-term resilience.

Moreover, the humanitarian sector is witnessing an expansion in the range and diversity of actors involved in crisis response, from international organizations and governments to local NGOs, private sector entities, and affected communities themselves. This pluralistic landscape requires coordination and a shared understanding of needs and priorities, which can only be achieved through comprehensive research. By generating reliable data and insights, research facilitates evidence-based decision-making, helping to align efforts across different stakeholders and ensuring that aid is delivered where it is most needed.

The Complexity of Humanitarian Settings

Humanitarian settings today are marked by unprecedented complexity. Conflicts are more protracted and fragmented, with non-state actors playing increasingly prominent roles, complicating negotiations and access to affected populations. In many cases, humanitarian workers face constraints that severely limit their ability to operate safely and effectively, such as deliberate attacks, bureaucratic impediments, and restricted access imposed by governments or armed groups.

Additionally, many crises now occur in urban settings, where the dynamics of vulnerability and resilience differ significantly from those in rural areas. Urban humanitarianism involves unique challenges, including dense populations, diverse needs, complex social networks, and the potential for rapid disease transmission. Research is critical in navigating these complexities, as it provides the data necessary to understand the nuances of urban crises and to design interventions that are appropriate to the context.

The intersection of these challenges calls for a nuanced understanding that can only be achieved through dedicated research. For instance, understanding the motivations and capacities of non-state armed actors, the dynamics of local power structures, or the coping mechanisms of urban populations in crisis settings requires in-depth qualitative and quantitative research. Without such insights, humanitarian interventions risk being ineffective, inappropriate, or even harmful.

Understanding the Root Causes of Conflict

To address the massive humanitarian challenges effectively, there is an urgent need for research that goes beyond surface-level analysis and delves into the root causes of conflict. Conflicts are seldom caused by a single factor; rather, they result from a complex interplay of historical grievances, social inequalities, political marginalization, and economic deprivation. Understanding these root causes is critical for designing interventions that do not merely provide temporary relief but contribute to sustainable peace and development.

For example, in the context of protracted conflicts like those in Syria, Yemen, or the Democratic Republic of Congo, research can help identify the underlying drivers of violence and instability, such as resource competition, ethnic tensions, or exclusionary governance practices. By illuminating these factors, humanitarian research can inform strategies that address the systemic issues at the heart of these conflicts, promoting more durable solutions and reducing the likelihood of recurring violence.

Future Drivers of Humanitarian Aid

The future drivers of humanitarian aid are becoming increasingly evident, with the climate crisis, constrained access, and political stalemates emerging as key factors shaping the landscape. The climate crisis, in particular, represents a profound and growing challenge to the humanitarian sector. As extreme weather events become more frequent and severe, and as rising sea levels and changing weather patterns threaten livelihoods, displacement and humanitarian needs are expected to increase dramatically. Research is essential in understanding these trends, predicting their impacts, and developing strategies to mitigate and adapt to them.

Similarly, constrained access due to political dynamics, conflict, or government restrictions is a significant barrier to effective humanitarian action. Research is needed to explore innovative ways to reach populations in hard-to-access areas, whether through new technologies, such as remote sensing and digital platforms, or through negotiating strategies that build trust and foster cooperation with local actors.

Political stalemates, where humanitarian access and assistance are impeded by geopolitical interests and power struggles, also require a research-based approach. Understanding the political economy of conflict and the incentives and disincentives that drive different actors is crucial for navigating these complex environments and finding pathways for constructive engagement.

The Need for Evidence-Based Approaches

In a world of constrained resources and growing needs, the humanitarian sector must prioritize evidence-based approaches to maximize the impact of limited resources. Research provides the evidence base needed to inform strategic decisions, design effective interventions, and monitor and evaluate their outcomes. It allows humanitarian organizations to learn from past experiences, adapt to changing contexts, and ensure that their actions are guided by the best available knowledge.

For instance, research on the effectiveness of different aid modalities—such as cash transfers versus in-kind assistance—can help organizations choose the most appropriate and cost-effective methods for delivering aid. Similarly, studies on community engagement strategies can enhance efforts to build trust and cooperation with local populations, thereby improving the relevance and acceptance of humanitarian interventions.

Furthermore, research is essential for translating findings into operational changes and improvements. It is not enough to generate knowledge; there must be mechanisms for ensuring that research findings are effectively disseminated, understood, and acted upon by humanitarian practitioners. This requires a strong culture of learning and adaptation within humanitarian organizations, as well as partnerships between researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to bridge the gap between knowledge and practice.

The need for humanitarian research has never been more critical. As the nature of crises becomes more complex and interconnected, and as new challenges such as climate change, constrained access, and political stalemates emerge, the humanitarian sector must rely on robust, evidence-based approaches to navigate these challenges. Research provides the foundation for understanding the root causes of conflict, anticipating future drivers of humanitarian need, and designing effective interventions that can adapt to rapidly changing contexts. To meet the massive humanitarian challenges of our time, we must invest in research that not only generates knowledge but also translates it into meaningful operational changes that improve the lives of those most in need.

Michael VanRooyen, MD, MPH 

Director, Harvard Humanitarian Initiative 

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• House Republican Agendas and Project 2025 Would Increase Poverty and Hardship, Drive Up the Uninsured Rate, and Disinvest From People, Communities, and the Economy

CBPP Staff [1]

Executive Summary

Over the last several months, groups of House Republicans and the Heritage Foundation have released policy agendas that, taken together, would create a harsher country with higher poverty and less opportunity, where millions of people would face higher costs for health care, child care, and housing, and millions more would lose health coverage — all while wealthy households and corporations benefit from an unfair tax code that provides them with outsized tax breaks. These skewed priorities would exacerbate inequities in income, wealth, health, and hardship across lines of race and ethnicity, widening already glaring differences that have their roots in racism and other forms of discrimination.

Looking at three proposals — the House Republican Study Committee’s (RSC) budget plan, the Republican House Budget Committee’s (HBC) budget resolution, and the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 agenda — brings the implications of influential conservative policymakers’ and a think tank’s broader fiscal policy agenda into sharper focus. That agenda features:

Policies that raise costs and take away health coverage, food assistance, and other help affording the basics from people when they need them. These policies will create significant economic and health insecurity for millions of people while increasing poverty, hardship, and the number of people lacking health coverage. They will shortchange children’s futures, make it harder for millions of seniors to afford prescription drugs, and take away help that households need to afford food, housing, and child care.

For example, the RSC budget calls for $4.5 trillion in cuts over ten years in Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace coverage, [2] cutting these health coverage funds by more than half. The HBC budget plan, meanwhile, calls for $2.2 trillion in cuts to health coverage — all from Medicaid, the associated committee report suggests. [3] This cut would amount to 30 percent on average over ten years, and 40 percent in 2034. Nearly 74 million people receive health coverage through Medicaid, so cuts of this magnitude would result in millions losing access to comprehensive coverage.

Similarly, the RSC budget calls for cutting average Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits by about 22 percent by rescinding the updated 2021 Thrifty Food Plan, which adjusted SNAP benefits to reflect the cost of a healthy diet based on today’s dietary guidelines and food consumption patterns. [4] This cut would affect 41 million people participating in SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. (HBC and Project 2025 also sharply criticize the Thrifty Food Plan increase but are not clear about rescinding it. [5] ) And Project 2025 calls for gutting summer food assistance programs that children in families with low incomes rely on when school is out, which could include the new Summer EBT program that is expected to provide grocery benefits to more than 21 million children this summer. [6]

The HBC budget plan cuts the “income security” category of programs by almost $1 trillion over ten years; the accompanying report targets SNAP, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (or TANF, which provides flexible funding that states use for a range of benefits and services to low-income families with children). If income security cuts are largely limited to these programs, benefits would be slashed by more than half by 2034. [7]

The RSC budget has very deep cuts in this part of the budget as well. It includes a cut that would convert Supplemental Security Income (SSI), a 50-year-old program that provided income assistance to 7.5 million low-income seniors and disabled people in 2022, to a block grant and end guaranteed cash aid through the program.

Many of the proposals in these agendas would shift large costs onto states, forcing them to either kick in far more money — a particular hardship for states with lower per capita incomes — or cut benefits and services to their residents.

• Massive disinvestment in public services, which will limit opportunity, hurt communities, undermine efforts to address climate change, erode basic government functions, and damage the economy. For example, both the HBC and RSC budget plans call for enormous cuts in the part of the budget that funds a wide range of federal services, activities, and assistance­­ — from education investments that build the skills of our future workforce, to transportation infrastructure that supports commerce and safety, to the nation’s weather forecasting system and scientific and medical research. In addition, all three plans would repeal or let expire climate provisions of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. And all three plans call for repealing the Inflation Reduction Act’s groundbreaking investments in clean energy. [8]
• A doubling down on skewed, expensive, and ineffective tax cuts. The RSC and HBC budget plans call for extending all of the 2017 law’s expiring individual income tax cuts, [9] which would cost nearly $4 trillion over ten years (2026-2035), [10] and making additional business tax breaks permanent, which would cost nearly a trillion more. [11] Project 2025 goes even further, calling for a host of new tax cuts for wealthy households and corporations, including for multinational corporations that use overseas tax havens. The HBC budget plan shows none of the costs of extending the expiring 2017 tax cuts in its budget figures, but creates a new procedure allowing unlimited tax cuts. [12]
• Harsh treatment of immigrants, hurting families, shortchanging children’s futures, undermining immigrants’ contributions to communities and the economy, and hurting the country as a whole. Project 2025, the RSC budget plan, and the HBC budget plan call for a host of harmful policies that would take help away from families that include immigrants when they fall on hard times. Among other proposals, these plans seek to frighten immigrants and their families from participating in the Census, paying their taxes, and receiving benefits for which they are eligible. [13]

Behind these eye-popping budget numbers are millions of real people who will see health coverage, food assistance, and other forms of support taken away. (See Figure 1.) This will make it even harder for them to afford the basics, leading to serious hardships such as homelessness or overcrowded living, food insecurity, hunger, and untreated health conditions.

It is also notable what is missing from these agendas. Despite rhetoric from some Republicans about the need to support families — and children in particular — these sweeping agendas do not call for new or increased investments to help families afford child care or rent, to expand the Child Tax Credit, or to bolster the EITC for workers without children. And they do nothing to ensure that all workers have access to paid family and medical leave so they can take time off to welcome a new child, attend to a health issue, or care for a family member who needs them.

These agendas, particularly Project 2025, cover multiple areas and this report does not analyze them in full. It provides key examples of fiscal, economic, and health policies within the agendas and, critically, how the plans have broad similarities. Key areas, such as the agendas’ impact on the functioning of the Justice Department, on abortion rights and reproductive freedom, on civil rights protections, and on the potential politicization of federal agencies and the civil service, are critically important but outside the scope of this analysis.

Raising Health Care Costs and Taking Coverage and Other Help Away From People Who Need It

The three policy agendas all share a common thread — taking away help that families use to afford the basics such as food, child care, housing, and health care. The cuts would hit families with low and moderate incomes especially hard while leaving many high-income people largely unscathed. But because investing in areas such as health care and child care has long-term payoffs for the country and economy as a whole, ultimately everyone would lose.

Medicaid Cuts Would Take Away Health Coverage From Millions of People

As noted, HBC would cut Medicaid by $2.2 trillion over ten years; [14] RSC would cut Medicaid, CHIP, and ACA marketplace assistance by $4.5 trillion, likely by cutting Medicaid even more deeply than the HBC proposals and by making cuts to marketplace policies described below. [15] The size of the cuts in Project 2025 is less clear but also extremely large. (See Figure 2.)

The ACA’s changes to Medicaid and individual market coverage drove a precipitous decline in the uninsured rate. That is particularly true for people of color, who have historically experienced higher uninsured rates due to systemic racism, discrimination in employment and education, and other factors that diminish income and access to employer-based health insurance. Between 2013 and 2022, uninsured rates for people under age 65 dropped from 23.8 percent to 14.1 percent among American Indian and Alaska Native people, from 29.7 percent to 17.8 percent among Latino people, and from 18.7 percent to 9.9 percent among Black people. [16] Rolling back or eliminating key ACA improvements — including the Medicaid expansion — and gutting other key Medicaid and marketplace protections would disproportionately harm people of color.

Medicaid proposals in the three agendas include:

• Capping or block-granting Medicaid and providing less funding than is needed to maintain the current program, thereby cutting the number of people who can receive coverage, the services provided, or both (HBC, RSC, and Project 2025); [17]
• Sharply cutting the share of Medicaid costs the federal government covers while giving states new authority to cut both the number of people and the health benefits Medicaid covers (HBC, RSC, and Project 2025); [18]
• Taking away financing options states now use to pay their share of Medicaid costs, making enrollment and services cuts even more likely (RSC and Project 2025); [19]
• Increasing the costs states must bear if they continue or adopt the Medicaid expansion, or explicitly allowing states to shift funds from adult health care coverage to other populations such as children or people with disabilities, with the goal of reducing coverage for adults and potentially pushing some states that have adopted the Medicaid expansion to end it (HBC; Project 2025; and RSC, which has more of these details spelled out); [20]
• Taking Medicaid coverage away from people who don’t meet rigid work requirements, which evidence from states [21] has shown doesn’t increase employment and takes coverage away from large numbers of enrollees — including many who are working or who should be exempt given their health conditions (HBC, RSC, and Project 2025); [22] and
• Allowing states to raise Medicaid premiums (Project 2025) [23] and make its benefit package far less comprehensive (RSC and Project 2025). [24]

Gutting ACA Would Raise Health Insurance Costs Sharply and Leave Millions Uninsured

Both Project 2025 and the RSC budget would raise health insurance premiums for millions of people and weaken or eliminate the ACA’s most popular consumer and financial protections. Insurers in the individual market could charge higher premiums to people with pre-existing conditions and remove limits that protect people from very high out-of-pocket health care spending. The HBC and RSC proposals would also cut financial assistance for ACA marketplace coverage, [25] where more than 20 million people get their health coverage and more than 9 in 10 receive premium tax credits that reduce the cost of their premiums. [26] The agendas would also strip away anti-discrimination protections that apply to all health programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance. While it is not presented as repealing the ACA, dismantling the ACA piecemeal like this would have a similar impact, with millions losing coverage.

Project 2025 and the RSC budget would:

• Cut federal premium tax credits, raising people’s costs. The RSC plan would reduce and ultimately eliminate the financial assistance that most people in ACA marketplace plans receive to help them afford their premiums, deductibles, and other costs under comprehensive health insurance plans, shifting some funding into a block grant. [27] Project 2025 criticizes federal marketplace financial assistance [28] and references a separate Heritage Foundation paper that calls for establishing capped federal allotments for states in place of the current ACA subsidies. [29] The ACA financial assistance — especially with the improvements enacted in 2021 — has helped drive a marked increase in insurance coverage rates, particularly among Black people, Hispanic people, and people with low incomes. [30]
• Allowing existing improvements to premium tax credits to expire after 2025 — as the HBC budget plan and RSC proposal would do [31] — would mean premium spikes for nearly all marketplace enrollees. For example, a typical 60-year-old couple making $80,000 (405 percent of the poverty level) would see their marketplace premiums more than triple to over $24,000 per year. (See Figure 3 for estimates by state.) [32] In addition, an estimated 4 million people would become uninsured, with the greatest coverage losses occurring among Black and Hispanic people in states that have not expanded Medicaid. [33] Eliminating the PTCs entirely, [34] meanwhile, would lead to even greater coverage losses, increase people’s premium costs even further, and throw stable insurance markets into disarray. For example, without a PTC, a 40-year-old person making $29,000 (roughly 200 percent of the poverty level) would see their annual marketplace premiums increase from $570 to $5,700. [35]

Eviscerate federal protections for people with pre-existing conditions. The RSC and Project 2025 plans would roll back federal insurance protections for people in marketplace plans in favor of separating healthy people and those with pre-existing conditions into different markets that operate under different rules.

The RSC proposal would allow insurers to charge higher premiums for individual market coverage (both inside and outside the ACA marketplace) to people with pre-existing conditions and exclude certain benefits from plans they buy. [36] The proposal says people with chronic and complex conditions would get coverage through separate state-run high-risk pools, [37] but these existed prior to the ACA and had high premiums, gaps in benefits, and limited enrollment because of their cost. [38]

Project 2025 proposes “regulatory relief” that amounts to eliminating many critical federal health reforms; it doesn’t specify which ones but calls for the federal government to create a second insurance market not subject to ACA standards, [39] which would attract healthier enrollees, with the likely result that premiums for those with pre-existing conditions would become unaffordable. This would disproportionately harm Black people: due to racial inequities in social and economic factors — such as being likelier to live in communities with less access to health care or to have lower incomes that make it harder to afford healthy food — they have a higher prevalence of several common chronic conditions. [40]

Both the RSC plan and Project 2025 would increase the availability of health plans that are currently exempt from ACA standards and protections, such as short-term health plans. [41] This is another strategy to lead people with fewer health care needs away from the ACA marketplace’s comprehensive health plans, resulting in a sicker risk pool and higher premiums for those enrolled in marketplace plans. [42]

• Roll back federal protections that explicitly prohibit insurers and health care providers from discriminating against LGBTQ+ people and people who have had abortions or miscarriages. Section 1557 of the ACA prohibits Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) programs, as well as insurance companies and health care providers that receive HHS funding, from discriminating against members of certain protected groups. Project 2025 seeks to end protections that currently apply to LGBTQ+ individuals, pregnant people, and people who have had an abortion or miscarriage. [43]

Taking Food, Other Assistance Away From Low-Income Households Would Increase Poverty, Hunger

Both the RSC and HBC plans call for large cuts to the part of the budget that funds income and food assistance programs such as SNAP. The HBC plan, for example, calls for $962 billion in cuts over ten years to “income security” programs, and its accompanying report indicates that SNAP, TANF, and the tax refunds provided through the EITC and Child Tax Credit would be targeted for cuts. [44] If income security cuts are largely limited to these programs, benefits would be slashed by more than half by 2034. [45]

All three agendas — HBC, RSC, and Project 2025 — call explicitly for significant cuts to SNAP. This is the nation’s largest and most important anti-hunger program, providing families with funds on an electronic benefit card that they use to purchase food at the grocery store. Taken together, these cuts would reduce or take away entirely food assistance for millions of people.

More than 44 million people in the United States live in households that experience food insecurity. Due to past and ongoing racism and discrimination, households that are American Indian or Alaska Native, Black, Hispanic, or multiracial experience much higher than average levels of food insecurity. [46] SNAP is highly effective at reducing food insecurity, and there is emerging evidence that SNAP may mitigate racial inequities in food insecurity and poverty. [47] But the proposed cuts to SNAP could weaken its effectiveness and exacerbate these inequities.

The proposed cuts include the following:

• The RSC budget calls for SNAP benefits to be cut by an average of 22 percent by undoing the recent, congressionally mandated re-evaluation of the Thrifty Food Plan — a long-overdue step that resulted in an upward revision to SNAP benefits to more accurately reflect both the cost of a modest but healthy diet and U.S. food consumption patterns. [48] This update to the Thrifty Food Plan lifts over 2 million SNAP participants above the poverty line, with the greatest poverty-reducing impact for Black and Hispanic individuals. [49] Undoing the revision would reverse this progress and cut benefits to some 41 million SNAP enrollees, including nearly 17 million children, slashing the average SNAP benefit from about $6.20 per person per day to only $4.80 in 2025. (See Figure 4.) Both Project 2025 and the HBC budget resolution also sharply criticize the 2021 re-evaluation of the Thrifty Food Plan. [50]

Meeting one’s life-sustaining needs should not be contingent on meeting a work requirement. But both the RSC budget and Project 2025 call for expanding the number of SNAP enrollees whose benefits would be taken away if they aren’t able to meet rigid work requirements — a policy already in place for most adults aged 18 through 54 who don’t receive disability benefits and don’t live with children. [51]

Most SNAP participants who can work, do. [52] These requirements are premised on the false assumption that people who receive SNAP do not work and must be compelled to do so — an assumption rooted in a host of unfounded prejudices based on race, gender, disability status, and class. Rigorous studies have shown that the current work requirement policy is ineffective at increasing employment. Instead, it takes food assistance away from people with very low incomes and increases food insecurity and hardship. [53]

Policies that take food assistance away from people who don’t meet a rigid work requirement ignore the realities of the low-paid labor market, such as irregular hours and a lack of paid sick days that lead to frequent job loss; the impact of work-limiting health conditions and caregiving responsibilities on a participant’s ability to find and keep consistent work; and substantial ongoing labor market discrimination.

The report accompanying the HBC budget resolution also calls for expanding ineffective work requirements. [54]

• Both the RSC budget and Project 2025 propose eliminating a long-standing SNAP option — a popular one, used in more than 40 states led by governors of both parties — that modestly raises SNAP’s income eligibility limits for certain households, including many households with earnings . [55] This policy, known as broad-based categorical eligibility, extends SNAP eligibility to many working families with low incomes for whom affording food is difficult because they face high costs for necessities like housing or child care. This option also allows states to adopt a less restrictive asset test to qualify for SNAP, allowing low-income households to build modest savings without losing food assistance. Eliminating this option would terminate SNAP for millions of people with low incomes and would take food assistance away primarily from working families, older adults, and people with disabilities. Punishing asset building would particularly harm people of color who participate in SNAP, who face structural disadvantages to building wealth and getting ahead.

The attacks on food and other assistance to low-income families aren’t limited to SNAP. For example:

• Project 2025 would also end most summer food assistance programs, designed to mitigate food insecurity when school is out and children don’t get school meals . [56] Many children who receive free or reduced-price school meals struggle to access nutritious food when school lets out for the summer. Studies have shown that households with school-aged children experience higher rates of food hardship during the summer. [57] Project 2025 could take away food assistance from roughly 21 million children in low-income families who are expected to receive grocery benefits this year through the new Summer EBT program, which was established by Congress in 2022 on a bipartisan basis to address this seasonal spike in child hunger. Project 2025 would also gut the Summer Food Service Program, which provides meals to more than 2 million children on average each day when school is out.
• Project 2025 and the RSC budget would make it harder and more stigmatizing for children in low-income communities to get free school meals. Currently, schools in every state serving large numbers of children in low-income families can provide free school meals to all children in the school, reducing administrative costs and eliminating the stigma associated with targeted participation. Almost 20 million children nationwide attend a school that uses this option. [58] Both Project 2025 and RSC would end this policy. [59]
• Project 2025 calls for ending Head Start , which provides early learning and other services to about 800,000 preschoolers, toddlers, and infants. [60] More than a third (37 percent) of the children enrolled in Head Start are Latine, nearly 30 percent (28 percent) are Black, about one-quarter are white, 3 percent are American Indian and Alaskan Native, and 3 percent are Asian, Native Hawaiian, or Pacific Islander. [61]
• The RSC budget calls for effectively ending guaranteed income assistance through SSI , which provided cash assistance to 7.5 million very low-income seniors and people with disabilities in 2022 (the last year data are available). [62] The plan calls for converting the funding (at what level is unclear) to a block grant to states, jeopardizing basic assistance for people whom the federal government for 50 years has recognized need income assistance they can count on. [63] (See Figure 5.)

Project 2025 calls for taking away housing assistance from people who can’t meet a work requirement or who reach an arbitrary time limit on how long they can receive assistance, even if they still need help to afford rent and avoid eviction. It would also end effective strategies for addressing homelessness that pair rental assistance with personalized supportive services, in favor of policies that research has found are less effective. [64] Like in other areas, these policies would disproportionately harm people of color, and especially Black people, who are far more likely than white people to experience homelessness and eviction. Discrimination was and is prevalent in housing as in other sectors, with one of the most consequential examples being federal “redlining” policies that made it far more difficult for Black people to become homeowners.

Project 2025 and the RSC budget would eliminate or weaken fair housing tools and enforcement, allowing for greater discrimination in housing that would exacerbate existing inequities. [65]

Enormous Costs Shifted to States, Widening Gaps Between Wealthier and Poorer States

All three agendas would cut funding that goes to states and localities, both in “mandatory” programs such as Medicaid and SNAP and in “discretionary” programs funded through the annual appropriations process, from transportation to public health to child care (see next section). As discussed above, the HBC, Project 2025, and RSC plans include proposals explicitly designed to shift costs from the federal government to states, including block-granting Medicaid or cutting the share of the program funded by the federal government. [66] The RSC budget also proposes block-granting SNAP and combining child nutrition programs, including the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Child and Adult Care Food Program, Summer Food Service Program, and Special Milk Program, into a single block grant, likely with reduced funding. [67]

Under the RSC proposal, which would replace the long-standing Medicaid matching rate formula with a 50 percent rate for all states, the sharpest increases in Medicaid costs would generally occur in states whose residents have lower incomes and experience higher poverty rates — the states that can least afford the cost shift. [68] These states would experience the biggest cuts under the RSC proposal because, under current law, the federal government pays a larger share of Medicaid costs in states that have lower per capita incomes, recognizing the challenges these states face in financing health care costs. These are the same states that will struggle to make up for cuts in other areas, such as education or child care (discussed below), making it particularly hard for them to backfill for federal Medicaid funds, likely widening gaps between wealthier and poorer states in areas such as quality of education or health care access and coverage.

Finally, as noted, the RSC calls for converting the SSI program from one that now provides seniors and people with disabilities with federally funded cash assistance they can count on every month, to instead be a block grant to states, presumably with reduced funding. If funding proved inadequate, low-income seniors or people with disabilities would either receive less help or states would have to pick up the tab.

Massive Disinvestment in People, Communities, and the Building Blocks of Our Economy

The federal budget funds a host of investments in people, communities, and the economy as well as core functions of government through programs and initiatives funded through the appropriations process. This part of the budget (whose amounts are set annually) funds efforts such as: medical and basic scientific research; the weather forecasting system; education from preschool through college; housing; child care; tax system customer service and enforcement of our tax laws; disease monitoring and response to public health crises; the processing of applications and benefits in Social Security; anti-fraud staff in Medicare; investments in roads, bridges, public transit, and ports; and environmental clean-up and enforcement.

This part of the budget is called “discretionary” to connote that the spending is not fixed in law and that Congress has the discretion to set funding levels each year. But these kinds of investments are not optional for the safety, well-being, and thriving of our country and its economy, now and into the future.

Moreover, many of these investments — some targeted and others more broad based — promote opportunity for people and communities that have been under-resourced for decades due to federal, state, and local policy, especially Black, Latino, and Indigenous communities, people with disabilities, and people with low incomes living in rural and urban communities alike. These include additional funding for schools that serve large numbers of children in low-income families, college financial aid that paves the way to higher education, and funds for child care and preschool and for affordable housing development and rental assistance. [69]

Despite these critical functions, both the RSC budget and the HBC budget resolution call for massive disinvestment in this part of the budget — non-defense discretionary spending. [70] Indeed, the HBC budget would cut this part of the budget by $3.1 trillion over the decade. The RSC budget would cut even more, $4.1 trillion over the decade, [71] by making the cuts occur immediately rather than phasing them in.

Under both plans, non-defense discretionary spending would fall from its current level of 3.3 percent of GDP to about 1.4 or 1.5 percent after a decade — levels not seen since the Coolidge Administration a century ago. The programs targeted for these cuts are almost entirely unspecified, but if veterans’ health care is shielded, then under either of these plans, by 2034 spending for the remaining programs would fall by half .

Even though the plans do not offer many specifics, the cuts are so large that there is simply no way that all critically important public services could be protected. The result would likely be damaging cuts in our education and child care investments that build the human capital of our future workforce and allow parents to work, our transportation infrastructure that is critical to moving goods and services and keeping people safe, and our weather forecasting system that is essential for basic safety and commerce. And it would mean cutting staffing for agencies that help people access Social Security, ensure that Medicare providers are providing good care and playing by the rules, and enforce environmental laws and mitigate hazardous conditions. All of these public services are critical to people, families, communities, and the basic functioning of society.

The cuts the three agendas do specify include, for example, Project 2025’s elimination of Head Start (discussed above), which is funded in this part of the budget. Other examples include the following:

• Project 2025 calls for the Department of Education to be eliminated over time , with some programs transferred elsewhere and the rest abolished. [72] It would phase out over ten years the largest federal K-12 program, “Title I Education for the Disadvantaged,” which provides critical funding for school districts in communities experiencing high levels of poverty. Given the disproportionate child poverty rates among Black, Latine, and Indigenous children, this cut would exacerbate educational inequities. The RSC budget would eliminate a number of grants to school systems, and while it wouldn’t do so for Title I outright, that program would be at risk under RSC’s proposal that allows states to opt to receive all of their federal education funds through a block grant. [73] Both Project 2025 and RSC would make it harder for students to afford college by cutting financial aid.
• The RSC budget would take away assistance that millions of low-income households use to pay for heating, and in some states cooling, their homes, by eliminating the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). [74]
• The RSC and HBC budgets would eliminate federal funds for the Legal Services Corporation, which provides financial support for roughly 130 nonprofit legal aid agencies nationwide. [75] Those agencies provide legal assistance to low-income families in handling non-criminal legal matters such as housing, child custody, domestic abuse, divorce, access to health care, employment law, and debt collection.
• The RSC budget calls for “significantly” reducing the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) budget, which the agency uses to reduce pollution, clean up hazardous waste, develop and enforce environmental standards, and help finance facilities for wastewater and drinking water treatment. [76] Among other things, the RSC budget calls for termination of surface water protection programs, which protect coastal waters and sources of drinking water such as rivers and lakes. The budget claims that states are better equipped to manage those waters, yet many of them flow or lie between states. Project 2025 and the HBC plan also call for cuts in EPA funding. [77]
• The RSC budget calls for elimination of all Energy Department funding for researching, developing, demonstrating, and deploying technologies for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting energy efficiency . [78] It would repeal clean energy provisions of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, including those supporting electric vehicles and low-emission school buses. [79] Project 2025 also calls for rescinding all remaining renewable energy funding appropriated in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. [80] The HBC plan criticized the infrastructure law and would not extend it, hampering efforts to combat climate change. [81] And, relatedly, all three plans call for repealing the Inflation Reduction Act’s investments in clean energy. [82]
• The RSC budget would eliminate both capital and operating funding for Amtrak , along with any further funding for high-speed rail. It would also end capital investment grants for mass transit and “RAISE” competitive grants for surface transportation infrastructure projects. [83]
• The RSC budget would both reduce the annual funding level for the IRS and repeal all that remains of funding provided in the Inflation Reduction Act to rebuild the IRS’ capacity to provide good customer service and enforce the tax laws and collect revenue that is due (discussed more below). [84]
• The RSC budget would eliminate funding for programs that are critical for states and localities to build and rehabilitate affordable housing and cut funding in half for fair housing education and enforcement . [85]

This is a recipe not for a thriving nation but for one retreating from its basic obligations to keep people safe and healthy and our economy strong. The impacts will at first fall most heavily on low- and middle-income people, who are least able to rely on private resources to replace basic government functions. Ultimately, though, these investments are critical for our economy and nation as a whole.

Doubling Down on Skewed, Expensive, and Failed Tax Policies

At the same time that these policy agendas call for massive disinvestment in public services and taking health coverage, food assistance, and other forms of assistance away from people who face challenges affording the basics, all three plans double down on expensive tax cuts mostly benefiting wealthy people and corporations. Project 2025 even calls for tax increases on low- and middle-income people.

Due to racial barriers to economic opportunity, households of color are overrepresented among households with incomes in the low end of the distribution, while non-Hispanic white households are heavily overrepresented among households with incomes at the top of the distribution. [86] Each of the three proposals would disproportionately benefit high-income households and exacerbate racial inequities.

For example, each agenda would double down on the 2017 tax cuts, whose core provisions are tilted heavily toward high-income households. [87] (See Figure 6.)

• The report accompanying the HBC budget resolution calls for extending all of the expiring 2017 tax cuts (at a cost of $4 trillion from 2026-2035) and making permanent costly business tax cuts . [88] But HBC does not include these costs in its budget resolution numbers, instead relying on language in the resolution allowing for consideration of these and other tax cuts regardless of cost. [89]
• The RSC budget calls for the continuation of all of the 2017 law’s individual income tax cuts and adds substantial tax cuts for corporations, wealthy shareholders, and large estates on top. [90] These include: repealing the estate tax, which less than 0.2 percent of estates now pay; lowering already low taxes on capital gains by indexing capital gains before calculating taxes; [91] repealing the Inflation Reduction Act provision that better ensures that large, highly profitable corporations pay at least some taxes; providing new tax breaks to already low-taxed corporations based on the amount they spend on certain investments; and expanding tax breaks for pass-through businesses, which saw large tax windfalls in the 2017 tax law from a special deduction that exempts from tax up to 20 percent of pass-through business income. [92]
• Changes to the tax brackets so that many low- and middle-income households would pay more while high-income households pay substantially less, by raising the lowest tax rate and lowering the highest tax rate. [94] Wealthy households would further benefit from cutting capital gains tax rates from 20 percent to 15 percent and eliminating a 3.8 percent surtax (known as the net investment income tax) on capital gains and other forms of unearned income. (See Figure 7.)
• Reducing the already too-low corporate tax rate even further, all the way to 18 percent. The 2017 tax law already gave corporations huge tax cuts by lowering the rate to 21 percent. This would provide a further tax cut of roughly $400 billion over ten years to large corporations on top of their 2017 windfall. [95]
• Giving new tax breaks to corporations that shift profits overseas.
• Cutting the estate tax, which only applies to the largest estates, and cutting the taxes shareholders pay when corporations distribute profits.
• Project 2025 also proposes long-term tax reforms that would dramatically shift the onus of taxation to middle- and low-income households. [96] Some of these proposals are vague, but they include shifting to a national sales tax (known as a consumption tax), which generally imposes far greater tax liability on middle- and low-income households who, compared to wealthy households, need to spend a larger share of their income on goods and services and who save a smaller share as they make ends meet. Project 2025 also proposes anti-democratic supermajority requirements on Congress to raise revenues, a tactic conservative states use to push taxes lower (there is no supermajority requirement to cut taxes), which would make it hard for the nation to respond to new needs or even raise revenues to lower deficits.

All three agendas call for repealing the Inflation Reduction Act’s funding for the IRS. [97] This funding is helping the IRS dramatically improve its customer service, operate the direct file mechanism so people can file their taxes directly with the IRS for free, and modernize and dramatically improve its tax enforcement efforts, which are already paying off in cracking down on wealthy tax cheats. [98]

Notably missing from these policy agendas is a positive tax agenda that would reflect some of the populist rhetoric some Republicans are employing about the need to support families and workers. These agendas would roll back rather than continue the expanded premium tax credits that have dramatically reduced the cost of health coverage for millions of people and expanded coverage, [99] and they don’t include Child Tax Credit and EITC expansions that would help middle- and lower-income families raising children and workers in lower-paid jobs.

Moreover, even as Project 2025 would raise taxes on middle- and low-income households, these families would all see sharp reductions in basic public services they benefit from, from quality schools and universities, to medical breakthroughs, to Medicaid, which serves nearly 74 million people.

Policies That Harm Immigrants and Their Families and Hurt Our Country as a Whole

Immigrants and their families are important parts of our communities. They bring vitality to our neighborhoods, they do important and often difficult work, they are business owners, and they contribute to the fabric of our nation in countless ways. Immigration has boosted our nation’s labor force at a time when the native-born population is aging, providing critical energy to our economy and helping to improve the financing of Social Security and Medicare over the coming decades. A recent Congressional Budget Office report highlights these economic contributions, showing that over a ten-year period (2024-2034), increased immigration would result in a GDP increase of $8.9 trillion and a decrease in the federal deficit by $900 billion. [100] CBO projects that in 2034, GDP will be an estimated 3.2 percent higher than it would be without these immigrants. [101]

Despite these contributions, the HBC budget plan, the RSC budget, and Project 2025 all treat immigrants — including those with a lawful immigration status — and their families harshly, putting concrete, harmful policies behind the ugly anti-immigrant rhetoric too prevalent in our public discourse.

For example, all three plans would reinstate the Trump Administration’s harsh public charge immigration policy, which essentially sought to create a wealth test for lawful immigration, preventing people from immigrating to the U.S. if they are not already economically successful. [102] The rule included an income test that could have blocked up to 99.2 percent of the population of South Asia, 98.5 percent of the population of Sub-Saharan Africa, and 79.0 percent of the population of Latin America and the Caribbean from immigrating to the U.S. [103] The rule ignores the record of achievement and upward mobility that immigrants and their descendants have shown for generations in the U.S.

The public charge changes also created fear among immigrants and their families that receiving benefits that Congress has made them eligible for would hurt their ability to remain in the country or have family members come. When proposed during the Trump Administration, the policy was shown to have a chilling effect on families’ willingness to access food assistance and health coverage that they qualified for. That includes forgoing help that their children — often citizens — needed. [104]

Even harsher, the RSC budget calls for a radical departure to how we treat immigrants who have lawful status, proposing to deny all public benefits (the precise scope is not clear) to anyone who is not a citizen, including immigrants who have lawful immigration status. [105] We already bar most lawful permanent residents from accessing public benefits such as Medicaid and SNAP during their first five years with that status in the U.S. People who have no documented status are blocked entirely for almost all benefits (with narrow exceptions such as Medicaid payment to health providers when people need emergency services in life-threatening circumstances). [106] But this proposal would further restrict benefits for immigrants, leaving many without any supports if they fall on hard times.

More on this topic

Republican health coverage proposals would increase number of uninsured, raise people’s costs, more revenue is required to meet the nation’s commitments, needs, and challenges, house republican budget reflects disturbing vision for the country, the 2017 trump tax law was skewed to the rich, expensive, and failed to deliver on its promises, policy basics federal budget.

• Deficits, Debt, and Interest
• Fiscal Stimulus
• Introduction to the Federal Budget Process
• Non-Defense Discretionary Programs
• The “Pay-As-You-Go” Budget Rule
• Where Do Our Federal Tax Dollars Go?

[1] This report’s authors: Sharon Parrott, Allison Orris, Claire Heyison, Sarah Lueck, Katie Bergh, Dorothy Rosenbaum, Joseph Llobrera, Catlin Nchako, Sonya Acosta, Will Fischer, David Reich, Richard Kogan, Samantha Jacoby, Chuck Marr, and Shelby Gonzales.

[2] See pp. 96 and 176 of Republican Study Committee, “Fiscal Sanity to Save America: Republican Study Committee FY 2025 Budget Proposal” (hereinafter RSC budget proposal), March 20, 2024, https://hern.house.gov/uploadedfiles/final_budget_including_letter_word_doc-final_as_of_march_25.pdf . For a detailed analysis of the agendas’ health proposals, see Allison Orris and Claire Heyison, “Republican Health Coverage Proposals Would Increase Number of Uninsured, Raise People’s Costs,” CBPP, September 3, 2024, https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/republican-health-coverage-proposals-would-increase-number-of-uninsured-raise .

[3] See pp. 11 and 44-45 of House of Representatives Committee on the Budget, “Concurrent Resolution on the Budget — Fiscal Year 2025, Report to Accompany H. Con. Res. 117” (hereinafter HBC report), report 118-568, June 27, 2024, https://www.congress.gov/congressional-report/118th-congress/house-report/568/1?outputFormat=pdf&s=1&r=4&q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22HCR+117%22%7D . CBPP calculations relative to Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) February 2024 baseline, available at CBO, “The Budget and Economic Outlook: 2024-2034,” February 7, 2024, https://www.cbo.gov/publication/59710 .

[4] See p. 42 of the RSC budget proposal.

[5] Heritage Foundation, “Mandate for Leadership” (hereinafter Project 2025), 2023, https://static.project2025.org/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf , pp. 300-301; 118 th Congress, Second Session, “H. Con. Res. 117 [Report No. 118–568]” (hereinafter HBC budget proposal), Section 412, June 27, 2024, https://www.congress.gov/118/bills/hconres117/BILLS-118hconres117rh.pdf .

[6] As with SNAP, the grocery benefits are distributed through a debit-style, electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card. For the proposal see pp. 303 of Project 2025.

[7] See pp. 11 and 52-53 of the HBC report. CBPP calculations are relative to CBO’s February 2024 baseline, and take into account that some of the total savings in the income security category reflect cuts to civil service retirement, which is another program the HBC report targets.

[8] The climate provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act are primarily in the form of tax credits.

[9] See p. 29 of the RSC budget proposal and pp. 71-72 of the HBC report.

[10] CBPP estimates based on CBO estimates. See Congressional Budget Office, “Budgetary Outcomes Under Alternative Assumptions About Spending and Revenues,” May 8, 2024, https://www.cbo.gov/publication/60114 . We use the ten-year period 2026-2035 because extending the Trump tax cuts would reduce tax liability starting in 2026. And in 2025, when Congress will debate how to handle the scheduled expirations, it will be looking at the 2026-2035 ten-year budget window.

[11] Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, “TCJA Extension Could Add $4 to $5 Trillion to Deficits,” June 13, 2024, https://www.crfb.org/blogs/tcja-extension-could-add-4-5-trillion-deficits#appendix .

[12] See Section 302 of the HBC budget proposal.

[13] See pp. 145 and 680 of Project 2025, pp. 84-85 of the RSC budget proposal, and pp. 52-53 of the HBC report.

[14] See pp. 11 and 44-45 of the HBC report. CBPP calculations relative to CBO’s February 2024 baseline. While the cuts could also affect CHIP and ACA marketplace coverage, the accompanying report discusses cuts only to Medicaid.

[15] See pp. 96 and 176 of the RSC budget proposal.

[16] CBPP analysis of 2013 and 2022 American Community Survey data. The American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) category includes people who may be AIAN alone or in combination with other races and ethnicities. The Latino category includes people of any race. The Black and white categories include only people who identify as a single race and not Latino. (The use of “Latino” does not necessarily reflect how everyone who is part of this community would describe themselves. Elsewhere in this report we also use “Hispanic,” and “Latine” for gender inclusivity.)

[17] See p. 45 of the HBC report, pp. 95-96 of the RSC budget proposal, and p. 466 of Project 2025. For analysis of prior attempts to cap and block-grant Medicaid, see Aviva Aron-Dine, “Medicaid ‘Block Grant’ Guidance Will Likely Encourage States to Undermine Coverage,” CBPP, January 29, 2020, https://www.cbpp.org/blog/medicaid-block-grant-guidance-will-likely-encourage-states-to-undermine-coverage ; and Gideon Lukens and Allison Orris, “Changing Medicaid’s Funding Structure to a Per Capita Cap Would Shift Costs to States, Force Deep Cuts, and Leave Millions Uninsured,” CBPP, March 27, 2023, https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/changing-medicaids-funding-structure-to-a-per-capita-cap-would-shift-costs-to .

[18] See p. 45 of the HBC report, p. 96 of the RSC budget proposal, and pp. 467-469 of Project 2025.

[19] See p. 96 of the RSC budget proposal and p. 467 of Project 2025.

[20] See p. 45 of the HBC report, pp. 466-467 of Project 2025, and pp. 95-96 of the RSC budget proposal.

[21] Laura Harker, “Pain But No Gain: Arkansas’ Failed Medicaid Work-Reporting Requirements Should Not Be a Model,” CBPP, August 8, 2023, https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/pain-but-no-gain-arkansas-failed-medicaid-work-reporting-requirements-should-not-be ; Laura Harker, “6 Months Into Georgia Pathways Program, Over 400,000 People Still Lack Health Coverage; Expanding Medicaid Would Improve Access for Low-Income Georgians,” CBPP, January 25, 2024, https://www.cbpp.org/blog/6-months-into-georgia-pathways-program-over-400000-people-still-lack-health-coverage-expanding .

[22] See p. 45 of the HBC report, pp. 38 and 96 of the RSC budget proposal, and pp. 468-469 of Project 2025.

[23] See p. 468 of Project 2025.

[24] See pp. 95-96 of the RSC budget proposal and pp. 468-469 of Project 2025.

[25] See p. 4 of the HBC report and pp. 87-88 of the RSC budget proposal.

[26] Jared Ortaleza et al. , “Inflation Reduction Act Health Insurance Subsidies: What is Their Impact and What Would Happen if They Expire?” KFF, July 26, 2024, https://www.kff.org/affordable-care-act/issue-brief/inflation-reduction-act-health-insurance-subsidies-what-is-their-impact-and-what-would-happen-if-they-expire/ .

[27] See pp. 87-88 of the RSC budget proposal.

[28] See pp. 469-470 of Project 2025.

[29] The Heritage Foundation paper, and the Health Policy Consensus Group proposal it cites, propose converting the PTC into state block grants. These grants would be based on current subsidy levels. While the proposal does not specify how block grants would be adjusted over time, prior repeal plans set adjustments to increase funding cuts year over year. States would not be obligated to accept block grant funding and could instead choose to provide no or limited premium assistance for individual market coverage. See Edmund F. Haislmaier and Abigail Slagle, “Premiums, Choices, Deductibles, Care Access, and Government Dependence Under the Affordable Care Act: 2021 State-by-State Review,” Heritage Foundation, November 2, 2021, https://www.heritage.org/sites/default/files/2021-11/BG3668.pdf .

[30] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Health Insurance Marketplaces: 10 Years of Affordable Private Plan Options,” March 22, 2024, https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/00d1eccb776ac4abde9979aa793e2c7a/aspe-10-years-of-marketplace.pdf ; Ortaleza et al.

[31] See p. 4 of the HBC report and pp. 87-88 of the RSC budget proposal.

[32] Estimate is based on age-adjusted 2024 average benchmark premiums and 2023 poverty guidelines, which are used to determine premium tax credits for 2024 marketplace coverage. Gideon Lukens, “Health Insurance Costs Will Rise Steeply if Premium Tax Credit Improvements Expire,” CBPP, June 4, 2024, https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/health-insurance-costs-will-rise-steeply-if-premium-tax-credit-improvements-expire .

[33] Jessica Banthin, Michael Simpson, and Mohammed Akel, “The Impact of Enhanced Premium Tax Credits on Coverage by Race and Ethnicity,” Urban Institute, August 12, 2024, https://www.urban.org/research/publication/impact-enhanced-premium-tax-credits-coverage-race-and-ethnicity .

[34] The RSC proposal “adopts regulatory reforms developed by the RSC’s Health Care Task Force . . . and set forth in its report: A Framework for Personalized, Affordable Care. Republican Study Committee.” This report proposes eliminating the PTC and rolling back the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, and repurposing those funds for state “guaranteed coverage pools.” See p. 89 of the RSC budget proposal.

[35] KFF, “Health Insurance Marketplace Calculator,” updated October 27, 2023, https://www.kff.org/interactive/subsidy-calculator/ .

[36] See pp. 89-90 of the RSC budget proposal.

[37] See p. 90 of the RSC budget proposal.

[38] Edwin Park, “Trump, House GOP High-Risk Pool Proposals a Failed Approach,” CBPP, November 17, 2016, https://www.cbpp.org/blog/trump-house-gop-high-risk-pool-proposals-a-failed-approach .

[39] See pp. 469-470 of Project 2025.

[40] Nambi Ndugga, Latoya Hill, and Samantha Artiga, “Key Data on Health and Health Care by Race and Ethnicity,” KFF, June 11, 2023, https://www.kff.org/key-data-on-health-and-health-care-by-race-and-ethnicity .

[41] See pp. 91-92 of the RSC budget proposal and pp. 468 and 470 of Project 2025.

[42] Sarah Lueck, “Commentary: Growing Evidence Shows Need for Stronger Rules for Short-Term Health Plans,” CBPP, October 23, 2020, https://www.cbpp.org/research/health/commentary-growing-evidence-shows-need-for-stronger-rules-for-short-term-health .

[43] See pp. 475 and 495-496 of Project 2025.

[44] See p. 12 of the HBC report.

[45] See pp. 11 and 52-53 of the HBC report. CBPP calculations are relative to CBO’s February 2024 baseline, and take into account that some of the total savings in the income security category reflect cuts to civil service retirement, which is another program the HBC report targets.

[46] Lauren Hall, “Food Insecurity Increased in 2022, With Severe Impact on Households With Children and Ongoing Racial Disparities,” CBPP, October 26, 2023, https://www.cbpp.org/blog/food-insecurity-increased-in-2022-with-severe-impact-on-households-with-children-and-ongoing .

[47] Laura Samuel et al. , “Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Access and Racial Disparities in Food Insecurity,” JAMA Network Open, Vol. 6, No. 6, June 2023, https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.20196 ; Benjamin Glasner et al. , “The Effectiveness of the Food Stamp Program at Reducing Differences in the Intergenerational Persistence of Poverty,” Washington Center for Equitable Growth, May 2023, https://equitablegrowth.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/053023-WP-The-Effectiveness-of-the-Food-Stamp-Program-at-Reducing-Racial-Differences-in-the-Intergenerational-Persistence-of-Poverty.pdf ; Alfonso Flores-Lagunes et al. , “Moving Policies toward Racial and Ethnic Equality: The Case of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program,” American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Vol. 106, No. 2, May 2023, https://doi.org/10.1111/ajae.12402 .

[48] See p. 42 of the RSC budget proposal.

[49] Joseph Llobrera, “Recent Increase in SNAP Purchasing Power Invests in Children’s Health and Well-Being,” CBPP, August 29, 2022, https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/recent-increase-in-snap-purchasing-power-invests-in-childrens-health-and ; Laura Wheaton and Danielle Kwon, “Effect of the Reevaluated Thrifty Food Plan and Emergency Allotments on Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Benefits and Poverty,” Urban Institute, August 1, 2022, https://www.urban.org/research/publication/effect-reevaluated-thrifty-food-plan-and-emergency-allotments-supplemental .

[50] See pp. 300-301 of Project 2025 and Section 412 of the HBC budget proposal.

[51] Under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, 53- and 54-year-olds will become newly subject to this work requirement beginning October 1, 2024. See pp. 41-42 of the RSC budget proposal and pp. 299-300 of Project 2025.

[52] Joseph Llobrera, “Most Working-Age SNAP Participants Work But Job Instability Overstates Joblessness in Some Analyses,” CBPP, May 19, 2023, https://www.cbpp.org/blog/most-working-age-snap-participants-work-but-job-instability-overstates-joblessness-in-some .

[53] Tori Coan and Shawn Fremstad, “The Dismal Economics of SNAP’s Work-Hours Test and Time Limit,” Center for Economic and Policy Research, April 18, 2023, https://cepr.net/report/the-dismal-economics-of-snaps-work-hours-test-and-time-limit/ .

[54] See p. 52 of the HBC report.

[55] See pp. 42-43 of the RSC budget proposal and p. 300 of Project 2025.

[56] Project 2025 proposes providing summer meals to children in low-income families only if they are taking summer-school classes, which would substantially cut the Summer Food Service Program (which provides meals) and could mean eliminating the Summer EBT program (which provides grocery benefits to enable low-income households with children to purchase food). See p. 303 of Project 2025.

[57] Mark Nord and Kathleen Romig, “Hunger in the Summer: Seasonal food insecurity and the National School Lunch and Summer Food Service programs,” Journal of Children and Poverty, Vol. 12, No. 2, 2006, pp. 141-158, https://doi.org/10.1080/10796120600879582 ; Jin Huang, Ellen Barnidge, and Youngmi Kim, “Children Receiving Free or Reduced-Price School Lunch Have Higher Food Insufficiency Rates in Summer,” Journal of Nutrition, Vol. 145, No. 9, September 2015, pp. 2161-68, https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.115.214486 .

[58] Allyson Pérez and Crystal FitzSimons, “Community Eligibility: The Key to Hunger-Free Schools, School Year 2022-2023,” Food Research and Action Center, May 2023, https://frac.org/wp-content/uploads/cep-report-2023.pdf .

[59] See p. 303 of Project 2025 and p. 46 of the RSC budget proposal.

[60] U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “Head Start Program Facts: Fiscal Year 2022,” https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/data-ongoing-monitoring/article/head-start-program-facts-fiscal-year-2022 .

[62] Social Security Administration, “SSI Recipients by State and County, 2022,” https://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/ssi_sc/2022/table01.html .

[63] RSC budget, p. 45.

[64] Project 2025, p. 509.

[65] Project 2025, p. 509, and RSC, p. 171.

[66] Another proposal, from the conservative Paragon Institute, would not only reduce the enhanced matching rate for the Medicaid expansion but also shift costs to some states by dropping the current Medicaid matching rate floor from 50 percent to 40 percent. The institute justifies its proposal by arguing that its policies would reorient spending in support of traditional populations, such as children and people with disabilities, but the proposal fails to acknowledge deep cuts states could make across their programs given the extreme cost shift to states they propose. Brian Blase and Drew Gonshorowski, “Medicaid Financing Reform: Stopping Discrimination Against the Most Vulnerable and Reducing Bias Favoring Wealthy States,” Paragon Health Institute, July 2024, https://paragoninstitute.org/medicaid/medicaid-financing-reform-stopping-discrimination-against-the-most-vulnerable-and-reducing-bias-favoring-wealthy-states/ .

[67] See pp. 41-42 and 46 of the RSC budget proposal.

[68] The RSC proposal would shrink the federal government’s commitment to sharing in Medicaid costs in the 40 states and the District of Columbia that would otherwise have a standard Medicaid matching rate over 50 percent in fiscal year 2025. U.S. territories presumably would face a cut as well, since their matching rates now exceed 50 percent. KFF, “Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) for Medicaid and Multiplier,” FY 2025, https://www.kff.org/medicaid/state-indicator/federal-matching-rate-and-multiplier/?currentTimeframe=0&sortModel=%7B%22colId%22:%22Location%22,%22sort%22:%22asc%22%7D .

[69] Also see Jabari Cook et al., “House Appropriations Bills Take Steps to Use the Federal Budget as a Tool for Antiracism,” CBPP, February 23, 2022, https://www.cbpp.org/research/house-appropriations-bills-take-steps-to-use-the-federal-budget-as-a-tool-for-antiracism .

[70] While Project 2025 includes a number of proposals for non-defense discretionary programs, it did not provide overall estimates for this budget category (unlike the HBC and RSC plans, which included full budget estimates).

[71] Cuts are measured from CBO’s February 2024 baseline but with the discretionary levels adjusted to reflect final appropriations for 2024 and the level of agreed-on adjustments to the 2025 non-defense discretionary cap that accompanied the enactment of that cap, which adds $652 billion in outlays over the decade. See the appendix of Richard Kogan et al., “More Revenue Is Required to Meet the Nation’s Commitments, Needs, and Challenges,” CBPP, June 17, 2024, https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-budget/more-revenue-is-required-to-meet-the-nations-commitments-needs-and .

[72] Project 2025, Chapter 11, “Department of Education,” pp. 319-362.

[73] RSC budget, pp. 164-5.

[74] RSC budget, p. 163.

[75] RSC budget, p. 146; HBC report, p. 60.

[76] RSC budget, p. 155.

[77] Project 2025, Chapter 13, “Environmental Protection Agency,” pp. 417-448, and HBC report, p. 30.

[78] RSC budget, pp. 149-151.

[79] RSC budget, pp. 169-170.

[80] Project 2025, p. 365.

[81] HBC report, p. 35.

[82] RSC budget, p. 17; HBC report, p. 67; and Project 2025, p. 365. Note that the climate provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act are not funded by appropriations, but rather are in the form of tax incentives and mandatory spending.

[83] RSC budget, pp. 170-71.

[84] RSC budget, p. 151.

[85] RSC budget, pp. 171-172.

[86] For example, Latino and Black households represented 24 percent of all households in 2019, but they represented 32 percent of the least wealthy 60 percent of households and less than 1 percent of the wealthiest 1 percent. University of California at Berkeley, “Study: Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) Combined Extract Data 1989-2019,” https://sda.berkeley.edu/sdaweb/analysis/?dataset=scfcomb2019 .

[87] White households in the highest-earning 1 percent receive 23.7 percent of the law’s total tax cuts, far more than the 13.8 percentage share that the bottom 60 percent of households of all races receive. Chye-Ching Huang and Roderick Taylor, “How the Federal Tax Code Can Better Advance Racial Equity,” CBPP, July 25, 2019, https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/how-the-federal-tax-code-can-better-advance-racial-equity .

[88] See pp. 71-72 of the HBC report.

[89] See Section 302 of HBC budget proposal.

[90] See pp. 29-33 of the RSC budget proposal.

[91] See Chye-Ching Huang and Kathleen Bryant, “Indexing Capital Gains for Inflation Would Worsen Fiscal Challenges, Give Another Tax Cut to the Top,” CBPP, September 6, 2018, https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/indexing-capital-gains-for-inflation-would-worsen-fiscal-challenges-give .

[92] Chuck Marr, Samantha Jacoby, and George Fenton, “The Pass-Through Deduction Is Skewed to the Rich, Costly, and Failed to Deliver on Its Promises,” CBPP, June 6, 2024, https://www.cbpp.org/research/federal-tax/the-pass-through-deduction-is-skewed-to-the-rich-costly-and-failed-to-deliver .

[93] See p. 696 of Project 2025.

[94] Brendan Duke, “Project 2025’s Tax Plan Would Raise Taxes on the Middle Class and Cut Taxes for the Wealthy,” Center for American Progress, August 27, 2024, https://www.americanprogress.org/article/project-2025s-tax-plan-would-raise-taxes-on-the-middle-class-and-cut-taxes-for-the-wealthy/ .

[95] CBPP calculations based on CBO, “Increase the Corporate Income Tax Rate by 1 Percentage Point,” December 7, 2022, https://www.cbo.gov/budget-options/58701 .

[96] See p. 698 of Project 2025.

[97] See p. 699 of Project 2025, p. 27 of the RSC budget proposal, and pp. 61 and 62 of the HBC report.

[98] Kayla Williams, “Tax Day Highlights IRS Progress and Need to Protect and Replenish Funding,” CBPP, April 10, 2024, https://www.cbpp.org/blog/tax-day-highlights-irs-progress-and-need-to-protect-and-replenish-funding .

[99] See pp. 87-88 of the RSC budget proposal, pp. 469-470 of Project 2025, and p. 4 of the HBC report.

[100] Congressional Budget Office, “An Update to the Budget and Economic Outlook: 2024 to 2034,” June 18, 2024, https://www.cbo.gov/publication/60039 .

[101] Congressional Budget Office, “Effects of the Immigration Surge on the Federal Budget and the Economy,” July 2024, https://www.cbo.gov/system/files/2024-07/60165-Immigration.pdf .

[102] See p. 145 of Project 2025, pp. 84-85 of the RSC budget proposal, and p. 52 of the HBC report.

[103] Danilo Trisi, “Trump Administration’s Overbroad Public Charge Definition Could Deny Those Without Substantial Means a Chance to Come to or Stay in the U.S.,” CBPP, May 30, 2019, https://www.cbpp.org/research/poverty-and-inequality/trump-administrations-overbroad-public-charge-definition-could-deny .

[104] Hamutal Bernstein et al. , “Amid Confusion over the Public Charge Rule, Immigrant Families Continued Avoiding Public Benefits in 2019,” Urban Institute, May 2020, https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/102221/amid-confusion-over-the-public-charge-rule-immigrant-families-continued-avoiding-public-benefits-in-2019_3.pdf .

[105] See p. 49 of the RSC budget proposal.

[106] Project 2025 also includes a range of harsh immigration policy measures, such as ending lawful immigration statuses for certain victims of trafficking and domestic violence, but those policies are beyond the scope of this analysis.

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