On Thursday, November 2 Capitol Hill was the scene for a panel presentation on how to prevent human trafficking. The forum sponsored by the National Prevention Science Coalition to Improve Lives, entitled Strategies on Preventing Human Trafficking: Research on How to Stop Trafficking Before It Starts, focused attention on the need for primary prevention. Approximately
Despite an agreement by Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) on modest bipartisan changes to the ACA, the Trump Administration and Republican leaders have been taking aggressive action to undercut coverage and success. The President, HHS leaders, Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT), and Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX) were acting to aggressively undercut the
Last week HHS released new research on the impact of the Home Visiting Coalition or Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program. The Senate has been considering a bill that would extend the program for only two years instead of the five years that advocates including CWLA have been seeking. This research can
On Thursday, the President announced a declaration of a national health care emergency. The declaration is intended to make it easier to use current programs and funds to better address the opioids situation. The declaration (which lasts for 90 days unless extended) came one day after the House Energy and Commerce Committee held their second
On Tuesday Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced a new bill, S. 1964, the Child Welfare Oversight and Accountability Act of 2017. Its basic features are a de-link of Title IV-E kinship/subsidized guardianship from the AFDC eligibility, create a different and more flexible kinship care licensing standard for kinship
Three days after the Washington Post Story and the October 15, 60 Minutes report on Congressional interference with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) effort to go after the opioid wholesale drug distributors, the Washington Post hosted a forum, Addiction in America, A Nation Responds. The Wednesday forum include a short video on one particular Pennsylvania
The President on, Thursday October 12, took two actions designed to weaken the individual insurance market. Although the first action of the day, an Executive Order to deregulate markets, drew the most initial attention, it is the second action on Cost Sharing Reductions (CRS) that could have the most immediate impact. The Executive Order is
On Wednesday the House Energy and Commerce Committee took its turn at focusing on the Opioids epidemic. This and other recent Congressional hearings are not without irony since they come against a backdrop of efforts to weaken the ACA and Medicaid which have increased access to critical substance use and mental health services. The twin
Earlier this month, the GAO issued a report, Federal Action Needed to Address Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. The GAO report was the result of a House bill included in last year’s CARA Act passed last year. The GAO’s conclusion: “The rising opioid crisis has caused a significant increase in the number of infants born and diagnosed
The Washington debate of tax reform is in the process of confusing and potential combining two separate and significant tax credits, the Child Tax Credit and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit. The first one is provided to parents with a child under 17. The second is a long time established and important tax