Has the Child Tax Credit impacted your personal life or the life of a loved one? Personal stories about the direct impact of policies can be an effective strategy in advocating for change with lawmakers, because they cut to the heart of the issue in a way that data often can’t, at least not on
Last month CMS announced new records for people signing up for health care coverage through the federal and state exchanges under the Affordable Care Act with more than 13.6 million people signing up for ACA health insurance coverage for 2022. From the start of Open Enrollment on November 1, 2021, through December 15, 2021, more
The Center on Policy and Social Policy at Columbia University has released an important new report that rounds up the wide range of available research about the expanded Child Tax Credit. Since the introduction of the expanded credit in July 2021, there has been a significant amount of research conducted to measure the impact on
On Thursday, December 23, 2021, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) formally rejected the state of Georgia’s Medicaid waiver to impose work requirements on people as a condition of Medicaid coverage. CMS had given the state a waiver approval near in end of the Trump Administration in October 2020. In part the 79 page
In April of 2021, The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) reported findings on the effectiveness of mobile responses - “an alternative to using law enforcement to respond to mental health and social crisis.” In December CLASP generated a letter (that CWLA joined onto) to CMS to support these efforts. On December 28, 2021 HHS issued guidance and announced
At first talks between the President of the United States and a single senator last week did not result in an agreement on a reconciliation bill and, as a result, the legislation was delayed until January at the earliest. That senator, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), first appeared to be taking aim at the Child Tax
Last Tuesday, December 7, 2021, congressional leaders came to an agreement on how to raise the federal debt ceiling that should be adopted and finalized this week. The process is a two-step bill strategy that first allowed Congress to adopt a bill to suspend Medicare cuts along with a temporary procedure allowing the Senate to
The Prevention Services Clearinghouse, created under the Family First Act, has issued a new call for additional recommendations. As noted in the announcement the call is an opportunity for the public to recommend mental health, substance abuse, in-home parent skill-based, and kinship navigator programs and services for systematic review. Additional public calls for recommendations will
The Senate agreed to a CR extension through February 18, 2022, late Thursday night (November 2) after a week of threats by some Republican senators who objected to the Biden Administration vaccination policies. The House of Representatives reached a deal to extend funding beyond January, as Democrats had originally sought, and they compromised on the
There have been no official announcements by the Administration, but with Congress once again unable to complete a budget before the end of the calendar year, (and maybe a reconciliation that would change programs) that likely sets back the planning, budget baseline and so many other factors that go into publishing an annual budget by