On Thursday, July 27, 2023, Congress wrapped up their work for the summer and left town for the August recess. Members will spend the next 6 weeks in their districts and will return to Washington, D.C. after Labor Day to resume business on the Hill. The Senate moved quickly to pass each of the twelve
On July 26, the House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education conducted a hearing titled "Generational Learning Loss: The Impact of Prolonged School Closures During the Pandemic." Chairman Aaron Bean (R-FL) opened the session expressing deep concern about the academic setback suffered by students due to the extended school closures
CWLA has submitted Comments for the Record on the recent House Ways and Means Subcommittee hearing on the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program, “Where is all the Welfare Money Going? Reclaiming TANF Non-Assistance Dollars to Lift Americans Out of Poverty.” The TANF program provides funding in several ways to the child welfare system
On July 25th, the Biden Administration and U.S. Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Treasury released proposed rulemaking for the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) with the goal of holding private insurance companies accountable for mental health and addiction services coverage and increasing parity between physical health coverage and mental
On July 20, 2023, the Children’s Bureau Learning & Coordination Center hosted a webinar titled “Redressing the Wrongs of History,” which highlighted the ways the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) promotes the well-being of Native children and families in the aftermath of generations of government policies designed to separate them. Host Kimee Wind-Hummingbird of the
The Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison conducted a webinar to enhance poverty measurement in the United States. The panel of experts proposed elevating the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM) to become the Principal Poverty Measure (PPM), which would include health insurance and child care as essential needs in addition to traditional
On July 25th, 2023, the Food Research & Action Center released a nutrition report, “Hunger Doesn’t Take a Vacation: Summer Nutrition Status Report 2023." The report emphasized the importance of summer nutrition programs to reduce food insecurity, especially during the summer and highlighted that participation in these programs declined from July 2021 to July 2022
With just one week left until the August recess, Congress has continued to make progress on a number of their top priorities for this year. Both the House and Senate have moved funding bills through various subcommittees and the full Appropriations committees; the House Rules committee has announced consideration of two of the Appropriations bills
On July 18, 2023, the House Appropriations Committee marked up the House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (THUD) Bill. During the markup, the Committee Republicans turned down proposed amendments by the Democrats, which sought to impose housing requirements, allocate funding to climate initiatives, prohibit regulations on commercial motor vehicle speed limiters, support
On July 20th, 2023, the Senate Appropriations Committee held a full committee markup of Fiscal Year 2023 on Energy and Water Development, State and Foreign Operations, and Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations Acts to discuss and make any amendments to the bills. The Chair and Senator Murray gave an opening statement commending bipartisan efforts