In a press conference held the morning after the election, Wednesday, November 4, 2020, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that he expected a new relief package would get passed before the end of this year. With some Senate seats still uncertain, McConnell is likely to return as Senate Majority Leader, but that is still
According to a new report by the Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, the number of uninsured children grew by 320,000 in 2019 to a total of 4.4 million children. The report, Children’s Uninsured Rate Rises by Largest Annual Jump in More Than a Decade, finds that since the start of the Trump Administration, 726,000 children have
On Wednesday, October 14, SchoolHouse Connection hosted a Congressional briefing titled “Educating Homeless Children and Youth During COVID-19”. The briefing included several panelists, including Congressmen Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) and Don Bacon (R-NE). The bipartisan Congressional briefing also featured four local educational agency homeless liaisons experts, John Bright from Omaha Public Schools in Nebraska, Ayesha Buckner
Last week on Tuesday, October 6, 2020, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told members of the National Association for Business Economics that there needs to be more stimulus, telling members, “Too little support would lead to a weak recovery, creating unnecessary hardship for households and businesses.” Shortly after giving a boost to the discussions that
On Wednesday, September 30, 2020, the Senate gave final approval to (HR 8337) a continuing resolution or CR that will keep the government from shutting down at the start of the fiscal year. The CR provides level funding (FY 2020 funding levels) with some slight adjustments to address formulas and some program changes. The CR
On Thursday, October 1, 2020, the House approved a $2.2 trillion COVID-19 relief bill representing a reduction from their $3.2 trillion passed on May 15, 2020, but higher than the general support the White House has said they would support at $1.5 trillion. The House action was against a backdrop of ongoing discussions between the House Democrats
When CWLA joined hundreds of organizations in defense of the Affordable Care Act in 2017 and 2018, we explained to Congress, and our members, why the ACA is vital to any efforts to reduce the number of children coming into foster care and in preventing instances of child neglect. In a June 2017 letter to
Last week, Tuesday, September 22, 2020, the House of Representatives passed (HR 8337) and sent to the Senate a continuing resolution or CR that will keep the government from shutting down at the start of the fiscal year. The Senate leadership has indicated they hope to approve the CR by Tuesday of this week, a
On Thursday, September 24, Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR), and Senators Bob Casey (D-PA) and Sherrod Brown (D-OH) introduced, Rebuilding a Better Child Care Infrastructure Act, a bill to make child care more affordable and accessible for families, as well as helping to rebuild a more robust child care system. The COVID-19
The National Foster Care Youth and Alumni Policy Council released a brief this month titled “A Historic Opportunity to Reform the Child Welfare System: Youth & Alumni Priorities on Special Populations.” This brief was meant to discuss provisions in the Family First Prevention Services Act, Family First Act, for youth considered to be a part of the