Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL) updated the guide for kinship caregivers on COVID-19 stimulus payments last week with several updates from the IRS with important updates including: • “Certain kinship caregivers may need to quickly give the IRS information about their children in order to get stimulus payments for children in 2020; once payments are sent,
In the last week to ten days, a number of groups and leaders have submitted public letters outlining their greatest concerns. One of the most prominent was a letter by the National Governors Association (NGA), which is currently co-chaired by Governor Larry Hogan (R-MD) and Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) calling on Congress to provide an
The National League of Cities and the United States Conference of Mayors released a joint survey on Tuesday, April 14, 2020, that indicated that 100 percent of all cities with a population of more than 500,000 people would feel the direct impact of the pandemic and a crumbling economy. Whereas 98 percent of cities with
On Tuesday, April 7, the Administration requested another $250 billion for the Small Business Loans that just opened a little more than a week ago. The forgiveness loans are open to small businesses of less than 500 employees. SBA loans are available to nonprofit organizations. There has been significant confusion and even frustration as loan
Senate Democrats unveiled a "Heroes Fund" on Tuesday, April 7. The legislation, announced by Minority Leader Schumer, would create a federally funded program that would allow a $25,000 premium pay increase for essential workers. It would also pay for a $15,000 worker recruitment incentive grant to workers. According to information provided by bill sponsors, employers
Governor Larry Hogan (R-MD) and Governor Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI) joined together in a bipartisan plea through the Washington Post: What governors need from Washington during this health emergency. In their comments posted on Tuesday, March 30, 2020, the two governors, who have both been bold and aggressive in their actions to contain COVID-19, called on
Last week the Congressional Research Services released Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) Increase Available for Title IV-E Foster Care and Permanency Payments, a brief description of how the Coronavirus relief package #2 will impact on foster care and adoption assistance funding. The Medicaid matching rate was raised for all state Medicaid programs by 6.2 percent.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said on a press call Monday, March 30, 2020, that there would be a fourth relief package. The Speaker indicated that she has directed committee chairs to start work on another large bill to respond to the coronavirus pandemic. She didn’t think anything would be ready before the Easter and Passover
On Tuesday, March 31, Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Ron Wyden (D-OR) urged the Trump Administration to provide guidance to child welfare agencies during the coronavirus pandemic. The letter was addressed to Vice President Mike Pence and the Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF) Commission Elizabeth Darling urging for immediate relief for youth, support
On Wednesday, March 25, 2020, the U.S. Senate unveiled and passed HR 748, the third COVID-19 emergency spending legislation. The House gave its final approval on Friday. The $2 trillion supplemental package attempts to cover a range of problem areas from small and big business relief, expanded and extended unemployment compensation, a tax refund pass-through,