Beyond the Cliff: The Challenge of Benefits Cliffs and How to Fix Them

This report explains how steep benefit reductions in programs such as SNAP, Medicaid, housing assistance, and childcare subsidies create financial penalties for workers who increase their earnings.

It offers six strategies to reform these systems—gradually reducing benefits, raising asset limits, aligning the Earned Income Tax Credit, coordinating across benefit programs, improving workforce pathways, and embedding evidence-based coaching—to promote upward mobility and financial stability. By restructuring benefit rules and enhancing interagency coordination, the report envisions a modernized safety net that rewards work, supports family independence, and strengthens the economy.