Last week both houses moved on an appropriations bill for the departments of HHS, Education and Labor. The House Appropriations Committee moved the bill that had been approved by the Subcommittee a week earlier while in the Senate the Subcommittee and then the full Committee acted on their version of a bill on Tuesday
With time running out on this session’s Supreme Court term, Republican senators are discussing their options on how to react to a possible court ruling that would cut-off potentially 6.4 million people from their health insurance tax credits. At the same time the Congressional Budget Office said in an updated review that repeal of the
Operating under budget caps and an allocation $3 billion below 2014 funding, on Wednesday, June 17 the House Appropriations Subcommittee approved a funding bill for 2016. The bill is still in draft form until the full report is prepared for full committee deliberation. The House draft avoids some of the controversial cuts of the recent
The House Appropriations Subcommittee will take up a Labor-HHS appropriations bill for FY 2016 on Wednesday. Any real debate is likely to be delayed for the full committee later in the week or month. As of last week the House had sent six appropriations bills to the Senate: Commerce-State-Justice (HR 2578), Energy and Water (HR
Late last week the House of Representatives was working on the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and other agencies (THUD) appropriations bill trying to make it the fourth bill to pass the House. There are twelve appropriations bills (and an annual Defense Department reauthorization that gets adopted at the same time) that need to be
A letter in support of the President’s budget request for greater funding in some child welfare services has collected over 160 organizational sign-ons. The Administration’s FY 2016 budget request includes a number of proposals including the expansion of services to help prevent foster care placements as well as some limited funding for post-permanence funding. The
On Tuesday, May 19, the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the use of congregate care. The hearing was titled, "No Place to Grow Up: How to Safely Reduce Reliance on Foster Care Group Homes." The hearing focused on the desire to make sure that children do not grow up or stay in
On Tuesday, May 20 more than a dozen groups led by Futures Without Violence released their new recommendations called, Safe, Healthy and Ready to Learn: Policy recommendations to ensure children thrive in supportive communities free from violence and trauma. The recommendations focus on seven goals: * invest early in parents and young children; * help
On Tuesday, May 19, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee approved legislation that would establish a congressional commission to examine how evidence and data can assist in reviewing federal programs and tax expenditures. The legislation is bipartisan and sponsored by Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WS) Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee and Senator
On Friday morning May 15, the White House sponsored a forum that focused attention on the topic of preventing placement of children in foster care. The discussion included more than 60 individuals representing national organizations (including the Child Welfare League of America), federal officials, state representatives and individuals affected by the child welfare system. Part