Saturday Stats

In our previous issue, we paid tribute to Michael Charney and Rick McHugh. This week we published Zach Schiller’s remembrance of Michael, and shared reflections on Rick and his legacy from Zach and others who knew him.

9%: The meager percentage of workers who would actually benefit from “no tax on overtime.” The largest benefits will go to households with an annual income between $100,000 and $500,000 and the deduction is only for overtime premium pay. That means if a worker making $20 an hour gets time-and-a-half ($30/hour) for working overtime, they can only deduct the additional $10 an hour. Bailey Sandin dives in to the details in her latest brief, which also includes a handy fact sheet.

$10B: Amount of federal child care funding the Trump administration has frozen to California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, and New York in response to falsely alleged widespread fraud. While Ohio isn’t on this list, the administration also plans to rescind several prior child care funding rules that would have helped make high-quality care more accessible. Ali Smith describes why it is crucial to pay child care providers prospectively and based on enrollment instead of attendance, which is one of the rules that could be rescinded. You can find more details about the changes in the public comment submitted by Heather Smith, and also submit your own before February 4!

23,000: Total federal workers in Ohio’s 10th congressional district, home of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. These workers, along with hundreds of thousands more across the nation, saw their contracts torn up over night when President Trump issued an executive order that unilaterally stripped their collective bargaining rights. In a rare bipartisan move, members of congress passed the Protect America’s Workforce Act, which would restore those rights for affected workers. Now it’s up to the Senate to stand up for federal workers. Read more in Bailey Sandin’s recent op-ed.

20%: Estimated percentage of Ohioans who got health insurance through the Affordable Care Act with subsidies last year who are opting out of that coverage this year. This is no surprise, as premiums are now unaffordable for many due to the elimination of enhanced premium tax credits that have been in place since 2021. Kate Sopko wrote about this, and the many other ways the federal budget will impact Ohioans, back in November. We will continue to monitor these devastating impacts. We also delivered Ohioans letters to Senators Moreno and Husted last week, calling on them to vote to extend these enhanced premium tax credits.

10: Number of federal anti-poverty programs threatened by new legislation introduced by Sen. Jon Husted’s “Upward Mobility Act,” introduced earlier this month. The bill claims to address the “benefits cliff,” a real, if sometimes overstated, policy problem. In reality, the bill would allow states to remove crucial protections that ensure funding reaches families who need it. We critiqued the bill upon its release, in a statement from Executive Director Hannah Halbert.

22: Number of times the terms “uncertain” or “uncertainty” appear in our coverage of monthly jobs data from 2025. Not exactly an indication of a stable economy. A government shutdown and threats to politicize the Bureau of Labor Statistics raised questions about data quality, and capricious policy decisions about everything from tariffs to taxes made it tough for anyone to say anything for sure about the economic outlook for working Ohioans. But, as our most recent JobWatch makes clear, the trends aren’t looking good.

Action items:

Register to attend Justice Unlocked: Record Clearing, Warrant Relief and Support Services on January 30, 2026 at the Cuyahoga Community College Metropolitan Campus.