With some proposing that we defund programs that have not been reauthorized, the Congressional Budget Office issues regular annual reports of how many programs have not been reauthorized. Congress frequently fails to meet the window to reauthorize programs. An occurrence that seems more frequent in recent congresses. In January 2016, the CBO released, Unauthorized Appropriations
Evidence is all around that the country is facing another drug abuse crisis. Not surprisingly that crisis is impacting the number of children entering foster care. Child welfare will continue to be effected by increased drug epidemic and that could become even more significant if Congress repeals the ACA, block grants Medicaid and does not
The Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) is a vital source of support for your state ESPECIALLY for child welfare, domestic violence, elder abuse services, and other human services. Speaker Ryan has offered proposals to eliminate all $1.7 billion in human services funding. See how your state spends its SSBG and who they serve in the
The new 115th Congress officially starts on January 3. Behind the scenes discussion have been on-going on using a 2017 budget resolution (left over from last year) to very quickly provide the first budget reconciliation. The process will start this week with the Senate expected to pass a budget resolution this week and the House
On Wednesday, December 7, the Senate gave final approval to HR 34 the 21st Century Cures Act by a vote of 94 to five. The bill (which had temporarily served as a vehicle for passage of the Families First Act) is a compilation of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding increases, changes in the drug
Although crowed out by the election, Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy’s report on substance abuse, Facing Addiction in America, offers a detailed roadmap to expanding this nation’s strategy on addressing the ever-present problem of substance use. The Surgeon General said, “the reason I'm issuing this report is I want to call our country to action
Since much of the President-elect Trump's agenda was wrapped less around specific domestic issues and more around the larger issues such as immigration and trade, it is not clear what the domestic policy agenda will look like. As a result, the priorities may be wrapped around a few big Trump initiatives and a Republican congressional
On Wednesday, November 2 there was a Capitol Hill briefing on the home visiting program, MIECHV (Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting). The target audience included Capitol Hill staff from both houses and both parties. The goal of the briefing was an early education of congressional staff on the program and how it works. The
Recently National Public Radio (NPR) ran a report on a fateful turn in the history of this nation’s child care system dating back to the early 1970s. The story outlines how close we came to a universal child care system. Close enough for a Democratic Congress to pass in 1971 a system of care that
Massachusetts has reported some new and detailed information on the impact of substance abuse on child abuse reports. The data, reported recently by the Boston Herald indicates that within a six month period substance abuse was a factor in 14,000 cases, or 30 percent, of the 47,700 total reports of abuse and neglect the state