On April 23, the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) and Prevent Child Abuse America (PCA) released a new Capitol Hill brief, A Call to Action for the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. The paper highlights the fact that the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) provides an average of only 32 cents
On Tuesday, April 21, the Senate Judiciary Committee held an oversight hearing Improving Accountability and Oversight of Juvenile Justice Grants Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) with a focus on some recent whistleblower complaints alleging a lack of enforcement by the federal government in requiring states to meet the JJDPA requirements. Chairman Charles Grassley (R-IA) sent a
Republican negotiators were getting closer to reaching an agreement on a concurrent budget resolution or one resolution that combines the House and Senate versions (H. Con Res 27 and S. Con. Res. 11 ). Regardless of that negotiation the appropriations committees were beginning the process that should require them to pass 12 separate bills by
Late last Tuesday the Senate gave final approval to the Medicare SRG “doc fix” and in doing so also extended by two years the home visiting program (Maternal and Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting—MIECHV) and the CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program). The Senate followed the House in an overwhelming vote of approval by 92 to
On Thursday, April 16 the Senate HELP Committee gave a unanimous vote of approval to a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The unnumbered bill is called the Every Child Achieves Act of 2015. It would replace the current ESEA reauthorization more commonly known as the “No Child Left Behind
Both houses have named their Budget Committee conference committee members but any final deal will be driven by what Republican members can build a consensus around. While both resolutions (H. Con Res 27 and S. Con. Res. 11 ) have a great deal in common, significant defense spending increases, cuts between $5.5 trillion to $4.5
The President used April 15, tax day to highlight his proposed expansion of a child care expansion proposal first unveiled in January. The President called for an expanded child care credit which is designed to compliment and wrap around federal child care funding. The current child care tax credit would be expanded for families with
On Wednesday, April 15 Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) introduced the Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act of 2015. It makes the current adoption tax credit fully refundable. The adoption tax credit was made permanent in the American Taxpayer Relief Act in January 2013 but the law did not extend the refundability
Congress returns this week with one of its top goals the passage of a single House-Senate budget resolution. The agreements that allowed the House and Senate budget resolutions (H. Con Res 27 and S. Con. Res. 11 ) to pass included significant defense spending increases but those increases were included because both houses classified it
Last week the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) joined Voice for Adoption (VFA), the Donaldson Adoption Institute, and the North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC) in issuing a joint statement on Parenting of Children by Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Adults. The statement says: (we) “believe that children deserve every opportunity to have