The Senate voted on their opioids legislation on Tuesday, September 18 and passed it by a vote of 99 to 1 (Senator Mike Lee (R-UT)-no). Immediately they began negotiations on the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018, with their House counterparts. The hope is that they can get a quick deal and pass it before
Cutting their week short due to the hurricane, the Senate gave final approval to a Military Construction and Veterans -Energy and Water--Legislative Branch FY 19 spending package sending it back to the House for a final approval. The bill goes to the White House for signature and marks the first FY 2019 bills enacted before
Shaquita Ogletree On Wednesday, September 12, the U.S. Census Bureau released new data on income and poverty in the United States for the year 2017. According to the data released, the U.S. poverty rate declined to 12.3 percent in 2017 for the third consecutive year accounting for 39.7 million people living in poverty. The poverty
Congressman Danny Davis (D-IL) is promoting one-time funding that can assist social workers seeking education loan forgiveness. The temporary funding acts as a patch for some who qualify for loan forgiveness under a ten-year plan that covers some workers (including social workers working within child welfare) if they have paid on their loans over the
The Senate delayed a vote on an opioids package of legislation until this week. The Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018, addresses a range of programs and agencies, sometimes building on 2016 Congressional action though the CARA and CURES acts of that year. Senators had intended to debate the bill on Thursday but put off
Last week the Journal of the American Medical Association -Pediatrics (JAMA-Pediatrics) published research that indicated youth with an opiods-use disorder are less likely to receive medication-assisted treatment despite its positive effect in encouraging on-going substance abuse treatment. The research, Receipt of Timely Addiction Treatment and Association of Early Medication Treatment with Retention in Care among
Shaquita Ogletree On Wednesday, September 12, the Senate Caucus on Foster Youth hosted a congressional briefing on effective interventions that are working to keep children and families intact and preventing entry into foster care. The panel included a discussion by Christen Glickman and Jessica Wooten from Youth Village, Chelsea Geyer and Ms. U from DC127,
Last Monday and Thursday the House Ways and Means Committee acted on a second package of tax cuts. The bills were introduced on Tuesday and passed in Committee on Thursday. Committee Chairman, Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX) announced the unveiling of “Tax Reform 2.0.” The package includes three bills: H.R. 6760, H.R. 6757 and H.R. 6756.
Last week Congress continued on a path that would allow some appropriations bills to be signed into law by October 1, the start of the fiscal year. Last week Republican leadership met with the President, appointed some House-Senate conferees and continued to negotiate. All of this was done with the President sending some mixed messages.
On Friday, September 7, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a federal register notice that proposes, through the regulation process, to amend a court agreement relating to the apprehension, processing, care, custody, and release of children detained at the U.S. border. The notice, Apprehension, Processing,
