The Senate finished its work on S 524, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), when it approved the legislation on Thursday by a vote of 94 to 1. The bill was introduced by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) with the bipartisan co-sponsorship of Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Senator Kelley Ayotte (R-NH),
The criticism of SSBG leveled by some members of Congress and even a few advocates in recent years has been that it lacks accountability and outcomes. One legislative committee report described it as “no-strings-attached slush fund for states with no accountability…Ending this program …continues efforts to focus limited taxpayers’ dollars on outcomes, not inputs, of
By Dusty Murphy On Tuesday, March 8, the Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) and the National Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) held a briefing to highlight the importance of their two programs and the need for full appropriations in FY 2017. The briefing, cosponsored by Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX) and Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA), co-chairs of
Following up on last week’s Finance Committee hearing on the increasing prescription drug/heroin use, the United States Senate spent last week’s floor debate on consideration of S 524, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act or “CARA” for short. The bill was introduced by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) with the bipartisan co-sponsorship of Senator Rob Portman
On Tuesday, February 23 the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the prescription drug to heroin addiction issue. The hearing highlights the continued intense interest within Congress on the issue of heroin and opioids use. With sixteen senators in attendance at one time or another there was a great deal of interest on a
While the Finance Committee was holding a hearing on opioids and heroin, two key senators, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), were introducing a bill to reauthorize the $20 million in funding for Regional Partnership Grants (RPGs) to address substance abuse. The grants have been a part of the Promotion
--Dusty Murphy, CWLA On February 24, 2016, Representatives Dave Reichert (R-WA) and Tony Cárdenas (D-CA) sponsored a briefing, “Reducing Demand for American Children Trafficked for Sex: King County, WA as a National Model.” Briefing panelists included Tim Matsui, director of The Long Night, a documentary about youth in the American sex trade, Alisa Bernard, survivor
The Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) is a combination of funding streams for different but related services. Like Title IV-B part 1, Child Welfare Services (CWS), PSSF was reauthorized in 2014 as part of the Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act. In FY 2017, the President is requesting PSSF funding at the
President Obama released his final budget for fiscal year 2017 last Tuesday. While the politics of this year and the President’s lame-duck status makes this a difficult budget to adopt there are some key proposals that can build on a vision for reforms and changes for child welfare. It also offers the potential for some
The Administration is proposing that, as part of the need to reauthorize the Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) program, (title IV-B part 2) that the set-aside that targets drug treatment be increased from $20 million to $60 million a year. The drug treatment funding was created as part of the 2006 reauthorization of the