House legislation

Defense Increase of 10 Percent Could Devastate

The President’s desire to provide a ten percent increase in the Defense Department budget could devastate a number of human services and domestic programs. Unless Congress agrees to fund the increase through deficits, the $54 billion will create enormous pressure on the annual appropriations (discretionary spending) which totals only $1.1 trillion out of a federal

House May Take Committee Action on ACA Repeal This Week

Under criticism that they are drafting an ACA repeal in secret, House Republicans are crafting legislation that they could begin to move out of the two key House committees later this week.  The White House may also release its official plan which is expected to mirror what Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WS) is pushing.   The plan that

SSBG Factsheets Now Available

CWLA has created a new resource on the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). The new resource are state-by-state fact sheets found on the advocacy site as a separate tab.  Each state    there is a sheet that provides a simple description of how much a state receives in SSBG-human services funding and gives a broad view

Senate Judiciary Focuses on Juvenile Justice

On Tuesday, February 28, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on juvenile justice issues.  The hearing began with remarks by the Chairman, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA), who in his opening statement,  discussed the fact that last year he, along with Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) crafted a bill that garnered bipartisan support to reauthorize the

President’s Speech Likely Start of Budget Debate

When the President addresses Congress and the nation on Tuesday, it will likely bring in a broader discussion of the federal budget which has had limited debate thus far into the new Administration.  It is expected that the Administration will outline a budget proposal for FY 2018 when they release a slimmed down version of

Center Paper Outlines Consequences of A Block Grant

Last week the Center on Budget Policy and Priority released an analysis of federal block grants and their negative consequences.  The analysis, Block-Granting Low-Income Programs Leads to Large Funding Declines Over Time, History Shows, examined 13 different block grants including TANF, Child Care, SSBG, Housing as well as some other human service funding sources and

Leaked Copy of House ACA Repeal Outlines Medicaid Caps-Tax Credits

Over the weekend a leaked copy of a draft ACA repeal bill was made public by Politico magazine.  The bill draft would implement some of the general descriptions Speaker Paul Ryan outlined in a white paper the week before and like that white paper it leaves questions to be answered on how the bill will

Deadlines on Health Care

This week the Trump Administration will have to make decision on what to do with the House v. Burwell.  House v Burwell is the House of Representative’s efforts to cut off funding to insurers that help reduce the cost of health insurance premiums for some people purchasing health insurance through the ACA.   House Republicans had

Resources To Improve Education and Foster Care Status

The Legal Center for Foster Care & Education  has created a guide and factsheet, Roadmap for Foster Care and K–12 Data Linkages, that promotes the cooperation between state and local education and child welfare agencies in the sharing of data.  The Center points out that by sharing data, child welfare and education agencies can work

President’s Harsh Immigration Actions Leaves Window Dreamers—for Now

The Homeland Security Memorandum implementing the President’s Executive Order of January 25, has been interpreted as widening the immigrant targets for removal but, at least for now, this has not extended to DACA students and young people who were brought here at a young age by parents or guardians.  DACA is short for Deferred Action

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