At first talks between the President of the United States and a single senator last week did not result in an agreement on a reconciliation bill and, as a result, the legislation was delayed until January at the earliest. That senator, Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), first appeared to be taking aim at the Child Tax
Last Tuesday, December 7, 2021, congressional leaders came to an agreement on how to raise the federal debt ceiling that should be adopted and finalized this week. The process is a two-step bill strategy that first allowed Congress to adopt a bill to suspend Medicare cuts along with a temporary procedure allowing the Senate to
The Prevention Services Clearinghouse, created under the Family First Act, has issued a new call for additional recommendations. As noted in the announcement the call is an opportunity for the public to recommend mental health, substance abuse, in-home parent skill-based, and kinship navigator programs and services for systematic review. Additional public calls for recommendations will
Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) and Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced the Helping Foster and Homeless Youth Achieve Act last Thursday, December 9, 2021. CWLA has endorsed the legislation. The bipartisan legislation seeks to improve access to educational opportunities by requiring that higher education institutions receiving federal assistance waive application fees for young people who are
The Senate agreed to a CR extension through February 18, 2022, late Thursday night (November 2) after a week of threats by some Republican senators who objected to the Biden Administration vaccination policies. The House of Representatives reached a deal to extend funding beyond January, as Democrats had originally sought, and they compromised on the
The latest analysis from the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Colombia University on the impact of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) shows that the October Child Tax Credit payments kept 3.6 million children out of poverty. While that was being released, the advocacy community, including CWLA, are having increased concerns that these same families
On November 30, 2021 House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) released the 2022 House Calendar here. If the Congress runs into the Christmas and New Year’s holidays it will be a quick return to work for the House members with the start of the second session on Monday, January 10, 2022. There will be a break
There have been no official announcements by the Administration, but with Congress once again unable to complete a budget before the end of the calendar year, (and maybe a reconciliation that would change programs) that likely sets back the planning, budget baseline and so many other factors that go into publishing an annual budget by
The House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act reconciliation bill (HR 5376) on Friday, November 19, 2021, after a week of waiting. The waiting was driven by the need for a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) “score” or estimation of costs and savings. That score came back on Thursday at the expected $1.7 trillion.
Current funding for federal fiscal year ends on December 3, 2021, and while it appears likely Congress will pass another CR for a matter of weeks, a full year long appropriation adding new funds now seem much in doubt. A CR that extended for the rest of FY 2022 means that there would be a