Sharon Parrott

Parrott re-joined the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities in November 2012 after serving as Secretary Sebelius’ Counselor for Human Services Policy at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from August 2009 until November 2012. She is the Vice President for Budget Policy and Economic Opportunity and focuses on the impact of budget and tax policy on the nation’s efforts to reduce poverty and hardship and promote economic opportunity.

At HHS, Parrott was a lead advisor on human services issues, including programs for low-income families and children, children who have been maltreated or are at risk of abuse, seniors and people with disabilities. Her work included a broad range of efforts, including early education, TANF, child support enforcement, child welfare, teen pregnancy prevention, community living services and supports for seniors and people with disabilities, and the intersection of health reform and human services issues.

Parrott previously worked at the Center from 1993 through August 2009. Parrott was the Director of the Welfare Reform and Income Support Division and routinely provided technical assistance to federal policymakers, state agency officials, and state-level policy organizations on a range of issues related to welfare reform and the interaction and integration of benefit program rules in Medicaid, Food Stamps, TANF, Child Care, and SCHIP.

Parrott also played a key role in the Center’s work on the federal budget, the impact of federal budget decisions on low-income populations, low-income tax policy, and policies that ensure that solutions to climate change do not adversely impact low-income households.

Parrott has been quoted in such publications as the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Atlantic Monthly, Wall Street Journal, and the Associated Press and has appeared on broadcasts including The Newshour with Jim Lehrer.

In 1999 and 2000, Parrott was detailed to the District of Columbia's Department of Human Services where she served as a Senior Policy Advisor on TANF, Food Stamp and Medicaid issues.

She received both her B.A. in Economics and Masters Degree in Social Work with a social policy emphasis from the University of Michigan.