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 Congress returns this week for what promises to be a very challenging and unpredictable two-months. Before Congress leaves for the August summer break, they will attempt to deal with most of the 2018 appropriations, raise the debt ceiling, vote out a Senate version of an ACA repeal, continue dealing with the ongoing hearings/controversies on
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
While dealing with a debt ceiling, Congress must be on a fast track on the FY 2018 appropriations with the new fiscal year starting on October 1. To this point the dozen appropriations committees are in the first stages of hearings, something that would have taken place in February. To make matters worse, a budget
There are dozens of federal programs that need reauthorization and are not likely to get extended, at least not in this year. Some reauthorizations ran out years ago but they can still receive funding through the appropriations process. This includes the Higher Education Act, Head Start, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) which
There were a host of cuts in the President’s budget that come from cuts and the elimination of mandatory and entitlement spending. These would likely take a new reconciliation bill created out of a 2018 budget resolution. As noted both SSBG and TANF are targeted as major revenue raisers through the elimination of SSBG and
The Administration released their full 2018 budget on Tuesday, May 23, titled A New Foundation for American Greatness. The good news is that they do not propose converting Title IV-E into a block grant and most of the core discretionary funding for specific child welfare programs is at the same level as 2017. The bad
As noted both SSBG and TANF are targeted as major revenue raisers through the elimination of SSBG and a cut of $1.7 billion to TANF. There is a letter of support of SSBG that includes supporters at the national, state and local level. That letter is open for more sign-ons in support right here.
The President's new budget endorses both the reauthorization of the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP) but in both cases the budget falls short. The Administration proposes just a two-year extension of MIECHV and at the same level of $400 million as it receives now.
The new Davis bill addressing an important need comes on the heels of an Administration budget that cuts a key program that promotes evidence-based teen pregnancy reduction programs. The budget includes the elimination of the evidence-based Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program, currently funded at $101 million. Ginny Ehrlich, CEO of the National Campaign to Prevent