On Wednesday, July 22 the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute (CCAI) held the modified 2020 Foster Youth Internship Program congressional briefing webinar. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the twelve current and former foster youth interns (FYI 2020 cohort) spent their summer participating in a virtual internship where they provided policy solution to address four areas
After a two-week break, the Senate returns this week with the expectation that the focus will be on the fifth COVID-19 package. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) rejected the House $3 trillion HEROES Act that passed the House of Representatives on May 15, saying he wanted to wait and see how the economy and the
On Monday, July 13, 2020, the House Appropriations Committee approved an FY 2021 appropriations bill for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education by a party-line vote of 30-22. In total, the bill provides $196 billion in discretionary (annually appropriated) funds for the three federal departments, with HHS getting approximately $96.4 billion
On Thursday, July 2, Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) introduced the Child Welfare Emergency Assistance Act. The bill, co-sponsored by Senators Kamala Harris (D-CA), Bob Casey (D-PA), and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV), will provide flexible, emergency aid for key child welfare programs working to support children, youth, and families during the COVID-19 pandemic. The senators’ legislation
Last week the House Appropriations Committee began to move the 12 annual Fiscal Year 2021 appropriations bills through their respective subcommittees. The Labor-HHS-Education bill passed through the subcommittee on Tuesday, July 7, 2020, with funding receiving a slight increase. Congress is still acting under the final year of the ten-year budget caps. The HHS portion of
On Wednesday, July 1, 2020, the House passed the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), extending the small business loans until August 8. The bill was passed by unanimous consent after the Senate passed it (S.4116) the previous evening via unanimous consent led by the Ranking Member Ben Cardin (D-MD) of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.
Senator Murray (D-WA), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Democrats introduced the Coronavirus Child Care and Education Relief Act before the fourth of July holiday break. This bill includes $430 million for many of the Senate Democratic priorities for child care, K-12 schools and higher education, and child welfare: The child welfare specific legislation includes $1.5
For those people who lack bank accounts and other measures to deposit the rebate checks of up to $1200 per person, the U.S. Treasury has issued 3.6 million electronic impact payments (EIPs) more commonly thought of as debit cards. In a letter to members of the House, Treasury indicated that as of June 19, 2020
As Congress gets closer to July, it will increase pressure on Senate leadership to address a fifth COVID-19 package. States are entering their new fiscal years on July 1, and many of those states are assuming new needed federal funding to offset the expected loss of revenue and need for health care, human services, and individual
The National Association of Counsel for Children (NACC) held a webinar to discuss congregate care and group care for youth and advocating for connected placements during the COVID-19 pandemic. This public health pandemic places youth in congregate care facilities at an increased risk of contracting the virus than youth in family-like settings or foster homes. In