KatiM

About Kati Mapa

Kati Mapa is CWLA's Director of Public Policy.

Rolling Back SNAP Benefits Risks Suffering for Children

On March 28, 2023, a STAT News article highlighted the negative health impacts that ending SNAP allotments would have on children. In March 2020, Congress passed legislation enabling states to provide Emergency Allotments, assisting millions of families in feeding their children. However, the allotments ended on March 1, 2023, sharply cutting a lifeline for 16

Secretary Becerra Testifies Before Appropriations Subcommittee

On Tuesday, March 28, Secretary Xavier Becerra of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education about the fiscal year 2024 budget. Chairman Aderholt (R-AL) opened the hearing with the goal of identifying the programs most critical to our population, creating

Teens Have Easy Access to Guns in Colorado: Survey

In the wake of the tragedy at The Covenant School in Nashville last week, Stat News offered research from JAMA pediatrics that found almost one-third of teenagers living in Colorado have access to a loaded gun, half stated they could obtain one in under ten minutes, and a quarter reported they could obtain one in

Ways and Means Committee Hears from Secretary Becerra

On Wednesday, March 28th, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on President Biden’s FY24 Budget proposal with HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. Although Chairman Jason Smith [R-MO] and Ranking Member Richard Neal [D-MA] raised diverging criticisms, there was bipartisan agreement on preventing “surprise billing,” providing Alzheimer treatments, and holding corporations accountable for migrant

Services to Support Children Living in Kinship and Nonrelative Foster Care

On March 29th, 2023, the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) published a new brief highlighting information from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, Second Cohort (NSCAW II) on service needs and receipt for children in kinship care and non-relative foster care in 2008 and 2009. OPRE sought to answer the following

Agency Leaders Respond About Impact of Budget Cuts

In January, House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro sent letters to Federal agency heads asking for information about how the agencies would be impacted by the House Republicans’ proposal to cap spending at the FY 2022 funding levels. “The American people and Members of Congress deserve to know the real impact this policy would

Senate Appropriations Hearing with HHS Secretary Becerra

On March 22, 2023, the Senate Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Subcommittee held a hearing with the Honorable Xavier Becerra, Secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as the witness. Both Democrats and Republicans expressed their concerns over the President’s FY2024 budget requests for the Department of HHS.

Student Loan Debt Crisis: House Committee Hearing

On Thursday March 23, 2023, The House Committee on Education and the Workforce held a hearing titled, Breaking the System: Examining the Implications of Biden's Student Loan Policies for Students and Taxpayers. It was the first hearing led by the Subcommittee of Workforce and Higher Education in this Congress, signaling that the student loan debt

Medicaid and CHIP Renewals Restarting

Based on current trends regarding COVID-19, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is planning for the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE), as declared under Section 319 of the Public Health Service Act, to end on May 11, 2023. On March 17, 2023, Assistant Secretary for Children and Families January Contreras issued a Dear

New Program Instruction on Funding for Kinship Navigator Programs

The Children’s Bureau (CB) has released Program Instruction ACYF-CB-PI-23-07 (Fiscal Year 2023 Title IV-B, Subpart 2 Funding Available to Develop and Enhance or to Evaluate Kinship Navigator Programs) which provides guidance to state, territorial and tribal title IV-E agencies on the actions required to apply for title IV-B, subpart 2 funding to support the development,

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