Last week the House Appropriations Committee began to move the 12 annual Fiscal Year 2021 appropriations bills through their respective subcommittees. The Labor-HHS-Education bill passed through the subcommittee on Tuesday, July 7, 2020, with funding receiving a slight increase. Congress is still acting under the final year of the ten-year budget caps. The HHS portion of
Senator Murray (D-WA), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Democrats introduced the Coronavirus Child Care and Education Relief Act before the fourth of July holiday break. This bill includes $430 million for many of the Senate Democratic priorities for child care, K-12 schools and higher education, and child welfare: The child welfare specific legislation includes $1.5
The 2020 KIDS COUNT Data Book released last week details how children are faring in the United States and in each state based on thee most recent data on key trends in child well-being prior to the coronavirus pandemic. The KIDS COUNT index captures what children need most to thrive, using four domains: (1) Economic
On Tuesday, June 23, 2020, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support held a hearing on the status of child care during the pandemic and the recession. In his opening remarks, Chairman Danny Davis (D-IL) said that, in Illinois, nearly half of all available child care slots are at risk of disappearing altogether
On Thursday, June 11, Zero to Three released the State of Babies Yearbook: 2020, a comprehensive report and advocacy tool that tells the story of how the United States’ babies are faring and provides a clear view of the significant disparities in opportunity for the youngest children throughout the country. Speakers included Myra Jones-Taylor from
On Thursday, June 4, 2020, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) introduced a companion to Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) the Child Care is Essential Act that would provide $50 billion in child care funding as part of the fifth or next COVID-19 bill. CWLA has endorsed Senator Murray’s bill which is co-sponsored by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR0,
On Thursday, May 28, 2020, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) released a joint letter to promote family strengthening and virtual primary prevention during COVID-19 and beyond. As federal agencies with a collective mission to improve the health, economic, and social well-being of children and families
On Tuesday, May 26, 2020, the House Education and Labor Committee held a virtual briefing on the impact of COVID-19 on America’s Child Care System. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the child care sector with over half of child care providers having closed and as many as 4.5 million child care slots could be
The National Women’s Law Center released a new report on child care during this COVID-19 pandemic. The survey of states called, Child Care’s Struggle to Survive COVID-19: State Impacts and Response, released on May 12, 2020, says that, with the shutdown of many jobs and the economy, many child care programs have been forced to
On Tuesday, May 12, 2020, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) unveiled the $3 trillion Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (HEROES) Act, the next major coronavirus relief bill. The legislation provisions related to former foster youth and other vulnerable youth populations includes the following emergency assistance: • $50 million for the John H. Chafee Foster
