On Wednesday, October 25, 2023, the Biden-Harris Administration released a statement calling for additional funding for domestic emergency aid priorities, including $16 billion in additional child care funding to address the loss of COVID relief dollars. From the fact sheet: “There are already reports of providers needing to raise parent fees to help cover operating
The Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on October 25, 2023, entitled “Exploring Paid Leave: Policy, Practice, and Impact on the Workforce”. Committee Chairman Ron Wyden [D-OR] opened the hearing by talking about how crucial paid leave is to supporting the America workforce. Without it, Americans must decide between caring for loved ones and providing
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Institute for Research on Poverty hosted a webinar on October 4, 2023, entitled “Ensuring Access to High-Quality, Affordable Care and Education for Low-Income Families”. Panelists Julia Henly from the University of Chicago’s Crown Family School of Social Work, Yoonsook Ha from Boston University’s School of Social Work, and Gina Adams from
The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) convened for votes on multiple bills relating to medical research, funding and programs. Three bills were passed together, the PREEMIE Reauthorization Act, the Preventing Maternal Deaths Reauthorization Act and the Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act 2.0. These bills were voted out of committee by
On September 20th, 2023, the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Subcommittee hosted a hearing entitled “Childcare Since the Pandemic: Macroeconomic Impacts of Public Policy Measures.” Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) lead the meeting, joined by Senator John Kennedy (R-LA). Senator Warren started with how broken the childcare system in the United States is following the
Child Poverty Reduction Act On September 21, 2023, Representative Danny K. Davis (D-IL), Representative Barbara Lee (D-CA), Representative Gerald E. Connolly (D-VA), Representative Sara Jacobs (D-CA), and U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) introduced the Child Poverty Reduction Act of 2023 to commit the nation to cutting child poverty by half in 5 years and to
On September 11, 2023, the United States Census Bureau released Poverty in the United States: 2022, the annual report that measures the economic wellbeing of households, families, and individuals in the United States. This report provides estimates of two measures of poverty: the official poverty measure and the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM); the SPM is
On September 13, 2023, Representatives Katherine Clark (D-MA), Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Bobby Scott (D-VA), Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Mikie Sherrill (D-NJ), Sara Jacobs (D-CA), Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), and Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) and Senators Patty Murray (D-WA) and Bernie Sanders (I-VT) introduced the Child Care Stabilization Act to extend vital federal child care stabilization funding, which is
On July 13th, 2023, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) designed to improve affordability and access to care options for families and promote financial stability of child care providers participating in the federal child care subsidy program under the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG). This
On August 23, 2023, First Focus on Children and ZERO TO THREE released Babies in the Budget, a new report that examines federal investment in the nation’s youngest children across more than 120 programs. Their analysis finds that the federal government invests very little in babies and toddlers – the federal share of spending on
