The House has departed for the rest of the summer and will return the day after Labor Day. The Senate continues to work, including votes on appropriations at least through this week. To this point both houses have approved one “minibus” appropriations that combines three bills: Energy and Water-Legislative Branch-Military Construction. That would leave nine
The Administration last week indicated that they are continuing to consider new work requirement waivers for Medicaid. This comes despite a recent court ruling that struck down a waiver for Kentucky for their work requirements. Secretary Alex Azar indicated they are still considering similar state waiver requests. At the same time the Administration is continuing
As we begin the last full week in July the House of Representatives will be wrapping up this week and won’t return until after Labor Day. The Senate faces continued action at least for the next two weeks until they take some time off in August. It is unclear how much of August the Senate
On Thursday, July 12 the House Appropriations Committee passed their Labor-Health and Human Services and Education bill after two previous delays. Most of the votes cast were along party line with a great deal of the debate focused on immigration and family separation. In the end the bill was approved along party lines with several
Last week the Senate Appropriations Committee acted on their Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations and sent it on to the Senate floor for future consideration. On the other side of the Capitol Building, the House Appropriations Committee once again delayed action on the Labor-HHS-Education bill reported out by the Subcommittee. Their bill for FY 2019 has been delayed
In the Senate Appropriations Report to the Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations, the Committee directs HHS to provide monthly data and weekly updates on the status of children in HHS custody. The directive is attached to the $1.3 billion appropriated to the Unaccompanied Alien children line item. In the Committee comments they note the trauma and hardship being
Last week the House Appropriations Committee delayed action on the Labor-HHS-Education bill reported out by the Subcommittee. Their bill for FY 2019 was scheduled for a vote but leadership pushed out the hearing due to the confrontation over immigration and border issues that could add costs to the HHS part of the bill. HHS includes
On Thursday, the House approved their farm bill with SNAP/food stamp restrictions by a vote of 213-211, HR 2. The vote was directly tied to the immigration debate as conservatives had sunk the bill last month because of unmet demands on immigration. Estimates are that the House bill will cut SNAP by $19 billion. CWLA
On Thursday the Administration rolled out how they would reorganize the government. In addition to changing HHS, the plans would combine the Department of Education with the Department of Labor. It would be re-named the Department of Education and Workforce. The Department of Education was created under President Jimmy Carter when, at the same time,
While the House of Representatives spent time on more than two dozen opioids-related measures this week, the Senate Finance Committee approved their bills that will eventually be combined with other Senate bills that in turn will be a response to a House package. The Senate Finance bill, the Helping to End Addiction and Lessen (HEAL)