The debate on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secretary Education Act, S 1177 (ESEA/No Child Left behind Act) began last Tuesday. At the same time the House leadership narrowly passed their education bill, HR 5, and approved it by a narrow Republican majority of 218 to 213. The final vote came after House leadership
On Wednesday the House Ways and Means Human Resources Subcommittee will hold a hearing on reauthorization of TANF in what could be a serious effort to reauthorize the block grant. The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program was last reauthorized for a full five years in 2006 with a series of yearly and monthly
Last month key Republican leaders, including leaders from the House Ways and Means Committee and Senate Finance Committee, introduced legislation and tough language to restrict the Administration’s implementation of new regulations of state child support enforcement practices. S.1525 and H.R. 2688 would prohibit HHS (the Secretary) from issuing a final rule making changes to the
Last week was a historic week for the U.S. Supreme Court and on Thursday June 25, the Supreme Court issued one of its most anticipated decisions of the term with a 6 to 3 rejection of the latest challenge to the Affordable Care Act. The Court in King V Burwell rejected the challenge by the
Last week both houses moved on an appropriations bill for the departments of HHS, Education and Labor. The House Appropriations Committee moved the bill that had been approved by the Subcommittee a week earlier while in the Senate the Subcommittee and then the full Committee acted on their version of a bill on Tuesday
A bill that would restore the refundability of the adoption tax credit is gaining bipartisan and bicameral support. The tax credit seeks to assist families that adopt. It was refundable for a brief period in 2010 and 2011 and in making it refundable the credit is a much greater assistance to families that adopt from
It appears now that a tentative date for debate on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secretary Education Act, S 1177 (ESEA/No Child Left behind Act) will be the week of July 7. The Senate is off this week for the July 4th break but key senators from the HELP Committee have been waiting to
A bipartisan bill that would create a commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, S. 991 was reported out of a Senate Committee last week. The bill, sponsored by Senator Patty Murray (DWA) is similar to a House bill, HR 1831, sponsored by Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WS). Generally the commission would evaluate the use of data on federal
The Coalition on Juvenile Justice and the Tribal Law and Policy Institute have published a new brief paper, "American Indian/Alaska Native Youth & Status Offense Disparities: A Call For Tribal Initiatives, Coordination & Federal Funding." The paper examines the overrepresentation of American Indian and Alaskan Native youth in the nation’s juvenile justice system. The research indicates that
With time running out on this session’s Supreme Court term, Republican senators are discussing their options on how to react to a possible court ruling that would cut-off potentially 6.4 million people from their health insurance tax credits. At the same time the Congressional Budget Office said in an updated review that repeal of the