Budget

House Appropriations Committee: Labor-HHS Bill Passes Plus Poison Pills

On Thursday, July 12 the House Appropriations Committee passed their Labor-Health and Human Services and Education bill after two previous delays. Most of the votes cast were along party line with a great deal of the debate focused on immigration and family separation. In the end the bill was approved along party lines with several

Appropriations and Spending Update

Last week the House Appropriations Committee delayed action on the Labor-HHS-Education bill reported out by the Subcommittee. Their bill for FY 2019 was scheduled for a vote but leadership pushed out the hearing due to the confrontation over immigration and border issues that could add costs to the HHS part of the bill. HHS includes

House Passes Agriculture Bill Now Confronts Bipartisan Senate Deal

On Thursday, the House approved their farm bill with SNAP/food stamp restrictions by a vote of 213-211, HR 2. The vote was directly tied to the immigration debate as conservatives had sunk the bill last month because of unmet demands on immigration. Estimates are that the House bill will cut SNAP by $19 billion. CWLA

Administration Rolls-Out of Government Reorganization

On Thursday the Administration rolled out how they would reorganize the government. In addition to changing HHS, the plans would combine the Department of Education with the Department of Labor. It would be re-named the Department of Education and Workforce. The Department of Education was created under President Jimmy Carter when, at the same time,

House Labor-HHS Appropriations Moves Out of Subcommittee

  On Friday, June 15, the House Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education reported out their bill for FY 2019. The full bill won’t be released until it is considered next week in the full Committee but some items were made public. Overall the Subcommittee is spending the same amount for FY 2019 that was spent and approved

Addressing Early Childhood Poverty

Shaquita Ogletree The U.S. Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG), a partnership of national, child-focused organizations—including the Child Welfare League of America—dedicated to cutting child poverty in half within a decade held their first webinar. The presentation was based on a compendium of cross-sector solutions to significantly reduce child poverty in the U.S. CPAG presenters included

Approps Update More Time in Senate

With much fanfare, Majority Leader McConnell announced last week that the Senate would stay in session for most of August to vote on more nominations and more appropriations bills. The Senate had already agreed to bipartisan schedule with a goal of completing all 12 of the appropriations bills through Committee before they reach the July

Congress Back Until July 4th With Senate on Aggressive Approps Schedule

If they keep to the agreed to bipartisan schedule, the Senate will clear out all 12 of the appropriations bills this month before they reach the July 4th break. Senators started that process before the Memorial Day break. The Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee will take up its bill the week of June 25. That is the same

TANF Reauthorization Passes Committee, Floor Vote Unclear

On Wednesday, May 23 the House Ways and Means Committee held at markup of their TANF reauthorization bill, the JOBS bill (HR 5861) with a final vote of approval cast the following morning. Chairman Kevin Brady (R-TX) said, after the partisan vote of 24 to 12 for approval, “The JOBS for Success Act restores the

Value prop about becoming a member