The House is expected to re-approve a reconciliation bill that guts the ACA and cuts Planned Parenthood funding this week. The Senate redesigned an earlier House version in an effort to attract enough Republican Senators. The bill passed the Senate on Thursday by a vote of 52 to 47. Two Republican Senators (Kirk R-IL, and
When Congress returns this week there is the possibility the Senate Finance Committee could take up a child welfare bill that is still very much in flux. The draft bill, the Families First Act, would allow Title IV-E funding on a limited category of substance abuse, mental health and in-home parent support programs for up
Appropriations decisions are likely to come to a head in the next ten days. The deadline before the government runs out of funding is December 11. While staffers and committee members continued to work on allocating funding between the 12 spending categories and various priorities within those 12 committee jurisdictions it is still unclear how
Last week Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) issued a call for emergency funding to address the heroin and opioid abuse epidemic. Senator Shaheen’s proposal would provide supplemental appropriations totaling $600 million to programs at the Department of Justice and the Department of Health and Human Services and draw the funding as emergency spending meaning that it
Appropriations staffers and committee members continued to work toward beating a December 11 deadline when the government will run out of money. Despite the ongoing work it is unclear whether or not issues around policy riders and, as of last week the issue of Syrian refugees, will prevent a deal before the government shuts down.
The Senate is struggling to move a reconciliation bill that would repeal parts of the ACA and cut-off federal funds to Planned Parenthood. Last month the House of Representatives passed a reconciliation measure based on an instruction included in the spring budget resolution. The legislation is political message bill that will certainly be vetoed by
Shortly after Republicans approved Ryan as the Speaker, the House approved the negotiated budget deal by a vote of 266 to 167 with 187 Democrats and 79 Republicans supporting it. It was immediately sent over to the Senate using a previous bill that allowed Senate leaders to fast track the debate on the deal. Early
The Appropriations Committees are now working on a legislative omnibus spending bill for this year with new subcommittee allocations, known as 302(b)s. Policy riders could come up during this process. While this set higher caps for FY 2017 which at least avoids a spring-summer-fall debate over spending caps, it is unclear how appropriations riders including
The National Women’s Law Center (NWLC) has released their annual 2015 State Child Care Assistance Report that reviews state child care services and policies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. This year’s report, Building Blocks: State Child Care Assistance Policies 2015, shows improvements in 32 states meaning that services were improved in
The Republican House Caucus is expected to vote on the selection of the next Speaker of the House on Wednesday with Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WS) the likely winner. Shortly after that they will be confronted with a possible vote on raising the debt ceiling. Ryan announced his intention to run in the middle of last