Late last Tuesday the Senate gave final approval to the Medicare SRG “doc fix” and in doing so also extended by two years the home visiting program (Maternal and Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting—MIECHV) and the CHIP (Children’s Health Insurance Program). The Senate followed the House in an overwhelming vote of approval by 92 to
Both houses have named their Budget Committee conference committee members but any final deal will be driven by what Republican members can build a consensus around. While both resolutions (H. Con Res 27 and S. Con. Res. 11 ) have a great deal in common, significant defense spending increases, cuts between $5.5 trillion to $4.5
The President used April 15, tax day to highlight his proposed expansion of a child care expansion proposal first unveiled in January. The President called for an expanded child care credit which is designed to compliment and wrap around federal child care funding. The current child care tax credit would be expanded for families with
On Wednesday, April 15 Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) and Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) introduced the Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act of 2015. It makes the current adoption tax credit fully refundable. The adoption tax credit was made permanent in the American Taxpayer Relief Act in January 2013 but the law did not extend the refundability
Congress returns this week with one of its top goals the passage of a single House-Senate budget resolution. The agreements that allowed the House and Senate budget resolutions (H. Con Res 27 and S. Con. Res. 11 ) to pass included significant defense spending increases but those increases were included because both houses classified it
A letter that went to Capitol Hill on March 12, with more than 65 national organizations signing on in support of the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) has now been re-opened for signatures by state and local organizations, associations and governments. Sign up can be accessed here. The two budget resolutions being negotiated did not
Last week both the House and Senate passed their budget resolutions setting up a negotiation over the spring break. On Wednesday, March 25 the House of Representatives gave final approval to their version of a budget resolution (H. Con Res 27). The resolution passed with Republican votes only. It passed by a vote of 228
On Thursday, March 26 the House of Representatives took up the SRG “doc fix” bill and passed it in overwhelming bipartisan fashion by a vote of 392 to 37. The legislation (HR 2), if enacted, will not only permanently replace what has become an almost annual ritual of supplanting the current provider payments through Medicare
The House of Representatives started the process last Tuesday when the Budget Committee unveiled its resolution. It includes more than $5.5 trillion in cuts over 10 years. It would do this by converting Medicaid into a block grant to states and reducing projected funding by $913 billion over that ten year period. It would repeal
Late last week congressional leaders from both parties announced what appear to be an agreement to eliminate the Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate (SRG) formula, what is commonly referred to as the “Medicare Doc Fix.” It is expected that the legislation would also include an extension of some health related provisions included last year’s bill including
