United States | Child allowance

Why America’s most successful anti-poverty programme is going cold

The triumph of a giant experiment in child welfare is being squandered

|New York and Washington, DC

RENUKA MAHARJAN is a dedicated woman. Over the past two years she has made a regular trip on public transport across three boroughs of New York City, requiring two changes and one hour in either direction, to reach The HopeLine, a food bank in the Bronx. Waiting in the cold outside it one morning, she says the food and nappies (a rare offering) are worth it: “Only my husband is working. I have to take care of my two babies, so this helps a lot.”

This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “The social experiment”

Why Ukraine must win

From the April 2nd 2022 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

Discover more

Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba addresses the media after pleading not guilty to federal charges at the Thad Cochran United States Courthouse in Jackson.

An FBI sting operation catches Jackson’s mayor taking big bribes

What the sensational undoing of the black leader means for Mississippi’s failing capital

Downtown of Metropolis, Illinois, showing the Super Museum and a gift shop.

America’s rural-urban divide nurtures wannabe state-splitters

What’s behind a new wave of secessionism


A container ship sails as the sun sets in Bayonne, New Jersey, United States.

Does Donald Trump have unlimited authority to impose tariffs?

Yes, but other factors could hold him back


As Jack Smith exits, Donald Trump’s allies hint at retribution

The president-elect hopes to hand the Justice Department to loyalists

Donald Trump and Tulsi Gabbard are coming for the spooks

The president-elect’s intelligence picks suggest a radical agenda