On Wednesday, March 30th, 2022 the Senate Finance Committee continued their series on mental health with a hearing entitled ‘Behavioral Health Care When Americans Need It: Ensuring Parity and Care Integration.’ Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) emphasized the need to hold insurance companies accountable for not adhering to parity laws. Wyden referenced a recent GAO report,
On Tuesday, March 22nd, 2022 the Senate HELP Committee held a hearing entitled ‘Child Care and Preschool: Cutting Costs for Working Families.’ The hearing centered around how to provide affordable childcare to families. Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) and Democrats advocated for the proposal included in President Biden’s Build Back Better package, which would expand the
On Wednesday March 23rd, 2022, Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) led the Senate HELP Committee’s hearing: “Strengthening Federal Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Programs: Opportunities, Challenges, and Emerging Issues.” The Committee members and witnesses discussed issues necessitating bipartisan legislation addressing the increasing severity of the mental health and substance use disorders prevailing across the country.
The final appropriations for FY 2022 sharply reduced the significant increases in children’s and child welfare programs compared to what the House had adopted last July. Many of the House increases had adopted the Biden Administration request in their first budget request. Within CAPTA, state grants receive $95 million which represents an increase of $5
In November 2021, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) conducted the School Food Authority (SFA) Survey on Supply Chain Disruptions to better understand the impact on school nutrition programs. The survey found that 92 percent of schools reported experiencing challenges due to supply chain disruptions. The most frequently cited challenges include
On Wednesday March 2nd, 2022 the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis held a hearing that highlighted “COVID Child Care Challenges: Supporting Families and Caregivers”. Chairmen Clyburn (D-SC) opening remarks noted that “46% of childcare providers reported in summer 2021 they were likely to close without government relief packages”. He went on to state that
On Tuesday, February 22, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra, Gender Policy Council Director Jen Klein, and Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Mobility Carmel Martin hosted a conversation with parents and their children at the White House to discuss their struggles with finding and affording childcare
On Tuesday, February 15th, 2022, the full Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on “Protecting Youth Mental Health: Part II- Identifying and Addressing Barriers to Care,” which continued the conversation and efforts of Congress to address the growing mental health crisis. CWLA previously reported on part one of this series. The witnesses called to testify
On Thursday, February 17, 2022, after some delaying tactics by a few Senators, the Senate did give final approval to a new CR that extends funding until March 11, 2022. The hope is that March 11, deadline will allow completion of the 12 FY 2022 appropriations bills. The appropriations leadership has been very tight-lipped on
On Tuesday, February 8, 2022, the Senate Finance Committee started their series of hearings on mental health with Protecting Youth Mental Health: Part I – An Advisory and Call to Action. This series of hearings will focus on five areas of behavioral health: youth mental health, mental health workforce, parity between mental and physical health,