The Senate finished its work on S 524, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), when it approved the legislation on Thursday by a vote of 94 to 1. The bill was introduced by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) with the bipartisan co-sponsorship of Senator Rob Portman (R-OH), Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Senator Kelley Ayotte (R-NH),
On Wednesday, March 16 the Senate HELP Committee will take up a major draft bill to strengthen mental health services in the United States. The committee will also address other legislation, including an amendment to CAPTA, building on that body’s recent attempts to address substance abuse. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)
In an effort to garner enough conservative Republican votes, House leadership is pushing a strategy this week that would enact cuts to mandatory and entitlement programs including the elimination of SSBG through legislation by the House Ways and Means Committee. The House was not in session last week but Senate leaders indicated that they may
The criticism of SSBG leveled by some members of Congress and even a few advocates in recent years has been that it lacks accountability and outcomes. One legislative committee report described it as “no-strings-attached slush fund for states with no accountability…Ending this program …continues efforts to focus limited taxpayers’ dollars on outcomes, not inputs, of
By Dusty Murphy On Tuesday, March 8, the Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs) and the National Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) held a briefing to highlight the importance of their two programs and the need for full appropriations in FY 2017. The briefing, cosponsored by Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX) and Congressman Jim Costa (D-CA), co-chairs of
Last week there was no breakthrough on how leadership will move a budget resolution. The public optimism of House leadership has not won over enough conservatives who still want to lower the budget caps agreed to last December. Budget Chairman Congressman Tom Price R-GA) has not been able to convince members to stick with the
On Tuesday, February 23 the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the prescription drug to heroin addiction issue. The hearing highlights the continued intense interest within Congress on the issue of heroin and opioids use. With sixteen senators in attendance at one time or another there was a great deal of interest on a
Last week the budget struggles continued at least in the House of Representatives where they've decided to delay any markup on the budget resolution in the budget committee. There were indications and public comments by the Chairman of the Budget Committee, Congressman Tom Price that they had reached an agreement with more conservative elements of
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) five-year reauthorization ran out in FY 2010 and has been extended through a series of short term extensions ranging from a few months to a year at a time. In this year’s budget, for the first time, the Administration proposes several changes and enhancements. There appears to be
Last October, when HHS awarded the annual adoption incentives, now renamed the Adoption and Legal Guardianship Incentive Payments Program, the awards were much less than the fifty states had earned. The awards now based on adoptions and kinship placement increases that took place in federal fiscal year 2014 (FY ’14) were funded from FY 2015.
