On Thursday, July 18, 2019 the Children’s Bureau released guidance to states on how they can include in their state plans procedures to allow for “transitional payments” for prevention services and programs that have not yet been listed in the Family First Prevention Services Clearinghouse. Program Instruction ACYF-CB-PI-19-06: says that the instruction allows a
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued an opinion on July 15, 2019 telling Congress that recent changes the Administration made to the ACA waiver authority were significant enough to allow for congressional review because it is a new federal “rule.” As a result, it is subject to congressional oversight and requires certain reporting to
A new report by Avalere analyzed the impact of a Medicaid block or per capita cap’s effect on health care funding. The results are very negative especially for children. The study shows that between 2020 and 2029 federal funding lost under a Medicaid block grant would result in a $163 to $143 billion cut
Congress continued to focus and debate immigration policy through a series of actions last week. The House Committee on Oversight and Reform held two hearing on Wednesday, “Kids in Cages: Inhumane Treatment at the Border” and a hearing, “The Trump Administration’s Child Separation Policy: Substantiated Allegations of Mistreatment” on Friday. In addition there were several
With time running short, it is looking more and more likely that the hot topic of July through September will be the FY 2020 budget. That budget debate now involves funding levels for the upcoming FY 2020, FY 2021 budgets as well as raising the debt ceiling. It is now believed that the debt ceiling
On June 28, 2019 the Supreme Court announced that it will take up a legal challenge to the Obama Executive Order that created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) protections. The Court announcement came as the Justices wrapped up this year’s 2018-19 session. The Court term begins the first Monday in October and the
On Tuesday, July 9, 2019 the 5th Circuit’s U.S. Court of Appeals heard arguments to strike down the Affordable Care Act in its entirety. Twenty states, led by Republican governors and attorneys general, have been seeking the law’s elimination because Congress, with the tax cut package of last year, eliminated the mandatory tax on people
Congress gave final approval to a border funding bill totaling approximately $4.6 billion negotiated between Senate Republicans and Democrats. The final bill approved in the House by a vote of 305 to 102 included a mix of Democrats and Republicans. Many House Democrats were unhappy about the fact that, earlier in the week, a Democrats-only
The House of Representatives completed action on the Financial Services bill on Thursday. That makes 10 of 12 bills approved before the July 4th break. The remaining two include the Legislative Branch and Homeland Security. The Legislative Branch is likely to move after the break after stalling on a failed attempt to unfreeze congressional salaries
Last week the Child Welfare League of America endorsed and signed onto a national letter of support for two bills by Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) that would extend protections and rights to children and families that have been separated by U.S. immigration policies. The two bills are the Humane Enforcement and Legal Protections (HELP) for