On Monday, December 12 the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth held their last round table discussion for 2016. This week’s discussion focused on foster care and “normalcy” or attempts to make foster care placements as family like as possible for children in care. The overview was provided by Jenny Pokempner from the Juvenile Law Center
The fate of the Families First Act wasn’t decided until the very last days of session. While advocates made a final push to get the legislation included in the CR, that did not happen when that bill was published late on Tuesday night. Despite that, discussions continued until the very end. On Wednesday, Senate Finance
Two studies last week provided some numbers to what will happen if Congress repeals the Affordable Care Act without a replacement. According to an analysis by the Urban Institute, if Congress repeals the ACA through the congressional reconciliation process without a replacement plan, at least 29 million people will lose their health insurance coverage. That
On Wednesday, December 7, the Senate gave final approval to HR 34 the 21st Century Cures Act by a vote of 94 to five. The bill (which had temporarily served as a vehicle for passage of the Families First Act) is a compilation of National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding increases, changes in the drug
The Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention and Treatment Act (JJDPA), a program that seeks to prevent juvenile incarceration through prevention efforts and better and more appropriate sentencing fell short late in the week. The last time the JJDPA was reauthorized was in 2002 with the current programs operating without an authorization since 2007. In July, the
The fate of the Families First Act, in these last few days of Congress rests with a continuing resolution as the last possible vehicle for enactment. Congressional sponsors are asking advocates to weigh-in with House and Senate leadership to move the bill as part of a CR that must be passed before Congress wraps up.
The Senate Caucus on Foster Youth, on Thursday, December 1, held the first of what is expected to be a series of Hill roundtable discussions on the challenges of youth in foster care. The first roundtable was “A Focus on Older Youth and Young Adults in Foster Care.” This forum began with opening comments by
Congressman Tom Price (R-GA) was nominated by President-Elect Donald Trump to become the next Secretary of Health and Human Services. Congressman Price was a practicing doctor before he entered politics. He has been a major supporter of a repeal of the Affordable Care Act. In the past, he has introduced his own proposal that is
Funding for FY 2017 runs out on December 9. If Congress wraps up by Thursday this Congress will come to an end. Congressional Republicans, working with the in-coming Administration, will partially extend current year funding into the spring instead of finishing the fiscal year decisions. All last week Republican leaders from both houses were behind
It appears more likely that there will be two reconciliation measures next year. The first will be implemented through an FY 2017 budget resolution so that it can be used early in the year. The second would be implemented through a budget resolution for 2018. The first reconciliation will likely be used to repeal the