As the week came to a close, Budget Committee leaders in the House of Representatives appear to be getting closer to a final deal. The budget resolution sets the spending levels for fiscal year 2018 and it can also set up another reconciliation instruction/bill that would ultimately have as its goal cuts to mandatory and
It would not be an exaggeration to say that advocates for preserving the Affordable Care Act are extremely concerned that a Senate bill will pass shortly before the July 4th break. If that happens and 50 votes are rounded up, passage by the House is very likely. The Senate language is being held very tight
This Wednesday is the target date for the House Budget Committee to move a budget resolution for FY 2018. At least that is the goal but it is still an open question as to whether or not they will meet that goal this week. Since House leadership would like to pass the resolution in one
The President's Commission on Combating Drug Addiction and Opioid Crisis, Chaired by Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) met for the first time on Friday, June 16. The Commission was established to develop interim recommendations to the President with final recommendations by October 1, 2017. Other members of the Commission include Governor Charlie Baker (R-MA), Governor Ray
Late on the evening of Thursday, June 15, the Secretary of Homeland Security announced what appeared to be an extension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). Reacting to some news reports, the Administration later said they had not made a final decision on DACA but wanted to clarify their policy in another immigration
Before leaving for the weekend, House Republicans introduced a reauthorization of the MIECHV (Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting), or home visiting program. The bill, the Increasing Opportunity through Evidence-Based Home Visiting Act (HR 2824), would extend the program for five years—as CWLA and other advocates have pursued—but provides level funding of $400 million a
Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is bound and determined to have a vote on the Senate ACA repeal bill by the end of this month. The logic is that the Senate needs to move the issue one way or another so that the rest of the legislative year and priorities such as a tax
Last week, the Trump Administration announced the appointment of Jerry Milner as the next head of the Children’s Bureau and Lynn A. Johnson as the new Assistant Secretary for Family Support. Milner becomes the Associate Commissioner at the Children’s Bureau. While holding that formal title, he will also hold the position of Acting Commissioner for
Congress has started to step up their hearing process for appropriations with several committees and subcommittees, holding preliminary reviews and testimony from Administration officials. Concurrently, there has been no more clarity on the debt ceiling front except for the fact that the Administration reaffirmed the need to raise it before the August break. The Democrats
The debt ceiling must be raised again and it could suck all the oxygen out of the political room. Technically the federal government is restricted from paying its bills once the ceiling on total federal debt is hit. Due to federal deficit spending, the ceiling must be raised periodically by Congress. The only time this