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Data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that federal stimulus payments kept more than 11 million people from falling into poverty despite massive job losses amid the COVID-19 pandemic last year. The Supplemental Poverty Measure, which takes into account government assistance programs not included in the official poverty measure, fell from 11.8 percent in 2019 to 9.1 percent in 2020, despite an 11.5 percent drop in the number of full-time, year-round workers. (González Kelly, 9/14)

U.S. poverty fell overall in 2020, a surprising decline largely due to the swift and substantial federal relief that Congress enacted at the start of the pandemic to try to prevent widespread financial hardship as the nation experienced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The U.S. Census Bureau reported poverty fell to 9.1 percent in 2020 after accounting for all the government aid — the lowest rate on record and a significant decline from 11.8 percent in 2019. (Long and Goldstein, 9/14)

The Treasury Department said Tuesday it plans to award the remaining $13 billion in federal rental aid to states and localities that have been the most effective at delivering the assistance, in a new bid to speed up the housing rescue. Houston, Philadelphia and New Orleans are among the cities expected to receive additional aid. State and local programs that have “substantially expended” their first round of funding and obligated at least 75 percent of their second round will be eligible for more money, Treasury said. (O'Donnell, 9/14)