Last week, the House Appropriations subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor H) fiscal year 2020 draft funding bill, the largest non-defense appropriations bill for Congress, advanced to the full committee for consideration. The total for non-defense discretionary (NDD) spending is $189.8 billion, an increase of $11.7 billion over the
Congress was out of town last week, but the Administration did send up their detailed recommendations on their proposed 2020 budget. The CWLA budget summary can be found here with the budget chart found here. Behind the broad details of spending cuts of approximately 10 percent for the non-Defense Department discretionary (annually appropriated) funding,
The latest details on the Administration’s budget includes a continuation of last year’s optional waiver that would convert Title IV-E foster care into a block grant on a state by state basis. The goal is that converting foster care funds into a fixed five-year block grant would allow states to spend money on primary prevention
Ways & Means Oversight Subcommittee Chairman John Lewis (D-GA) and Worker and Family Support Subcommittee Chairman Danny K. Davis (D-IL) sent a letter to two the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) officials regarding an HHS waiver that exempts organizations from federal foster care religious non-discrimination rules under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA).
The President’s budget, with greater detail later today or this week does reveal enough to demonstrate that the Administration is going a third round on some past budget cuts that went nowhere in a Congress run by his own party. The general descriptions provided included in the Budget for a Better America outline, proposes cuts
Despite the advocacy for more child care funding, the President’s child care proposal does not increase funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) beyond the 2019 budget of $5.2 billion. It does propose a small $216 million in child care mandatory funding under the TANF law. Instead the major initiative by the
The DREAM and Promise Act was introduced on Tuesday, March 12 by Congresswoman Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA), with Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez (D-NY), and Congresswoman Yvette Clarke (D-NY) as the lead sponsors out of a total of 202 cosponsors. It takes 218 votes to pass the House. The bill addresses two issues: the fate of young people
A group of 40 senators sent a letter to Health and Human Secretary Alex Azar on Wednesday, March 13, condemning the recent decision by HHS to grant a religious exemption from federal nondiscrimination laws and regulations for state-contracted child welfare agencies in South Carolina. Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden, D-OR, Senator Dianne Feinstein
On Thursday, March 7, four key congressional leaders on child welfare asked HHS Secretary Alex Azar to increase the HHS efforts on the implementation of the Family First Act. The letter signed by Senate Finance Committee Chair Charles Grassley (R-IA), Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR), Ways and Means Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support
Jay Williams While one committee was hearing from the Secretary of Homeland Security last week, the House Judiciary Committee convened a hearing on Protecting Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protected Status (TPS) Recipients. The witness panel included Jim Park - Rhodes Scholar, DACA Recipient, Yatta Kiazolu, UCLA Ph.D. Candidate, DED Recipient,