Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WS) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) sketched out a 200-day agenda for Republican members of the House and Senate. The schedule was laid out at a closed-door retreat for Republicans held in Philadelphia from Wednesday night through Friday. Although the sessions were not public, details were being widely reported. The
The Affordable Care Act was the hot topic at the Republicans retreat this past week. And while Senate and House Republicans were looking for more specificity and clarity from the Administration they didn't get it when the President Trump spoke to them last Thursday. Instead there were reports through the Washington Post and other publications
Medicaid came up during the Senate Finance Committee hearing for the appointment of Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) to be the next Secretary of Health and Human Services. In the questioning, he defended the proposals that have been offered to convert Medicaid into a block grant but he never committed to supporting one. When pressed by
On Tuesday, Congressman Tom Price, the HHS-Designate went before the Senate Finance Committee for his second confirmation hearing and during a question and answer period criticized SSBG. During the hearing Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO) was attempting to get a response on whether he would support a block grant of Medicaid (which she was not able
A report in the Capitol Hill newspaper the Hill, describing dramatic cuts within domestic spending programs this year spread throughout the human services community last Thursday. The article, Trump Team Prepares Dramatic Cuts describes meetings between the transition team and career staff to seek significant cuts during the current fiscal year, FY 2017. It is
On Tuesday, Congressman Tom Price, the HHS-Designate went before the Senate HELP Committee for the first of two scheduled confirmation hearings and dealt with a number of questions on how the ACA repeal would be handled. Sandwiched in between those questions were questions raised about his past stock investments. Price is scheduled for a second
On Tuesday, CBO released, How Repealing Portions of the Affordable Care Act Would Affect Health Insurance Coverage and Premiums. A report that suggested a dramatic impact on people if the law is repealed without a replacement. On Friday, as one of his first acts, President Trump signed a broad executive order directing all federal agencies
On Thursday, January 19, HHS released the 2015 Child Maltreatment Report. In Fiscal Year 2015, approximately 683,000 children were victims of abuse and neglect. Comparing the national estimate of victims from 2011 (658,000) to the rounded number of reported victims in 2015 (683,000) shows an increase of 3.8 percent. The change in victim counts from
The Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development (QIC-WD) is starting to ramp-up operations. The five-year project is intended to build research and best practices when it comes to the child welfare workforce. A consistent challenge for child welfare systems nationwide is a lack of adequately trained and staffed workforce. Lack of workforce and workforce development
Next Wednesday Congressman Tom Price will go before the Senate HELP Committee for what will be one of two committee hearings. The hearing before HELP will be important but it is the Senate Finance Committee that is responsible for confirming his nomination. Finance is working on the Treasury nomination later this week and is expected