On Saturday, June 3rd, President Biden signed the debt limit bill, titled the Fiscal Responsibility Act, into law, one week after he and Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) had struck a deal on the details of the legislation and just ahead of the June 5th deadline. As reported last week, the bill raises
On May 31, 2023, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing focused on the stabilization funds for early childhood care centers that were initially disbursed as part of the American Rescue Plan following the COVID-19 pandemic. While Ranking Member Cassidy (R-LA) and other committee members expressed concerns that federal funding
The National Health Collaborative on Violence & Abuse (NHCVA) presented policy recommendations on mental health and substance-use-related effects of violence at a policy briefing on June 1, 2023. During the previous years, Congress has provided unprecedented financing for behavioral health programs and victim assistance. There was an emphasis on how to use the funds to
On May 31, 2023, the National Women's Law Center published a new fact sheet, "The Child Care and Early Learning Workforce Is Underpaid and Women are Paying the Price." This fact sheet includes data and tables on who comprises the child care workforce, their educational attainment, parental status, and their pay. Key findings include: Women
News broke on Saturday, May 27, 2023, that President Biden and Speaker McCarthy (R-CA) had reached an agreement on the key provisions of a bill to raise the debt ceiling until after the 2024 election. Both the White House and the Speaker of the House released talking points and statements about the agreement, and bill
On May 24, 2023, Bloomberg reported that the House Ways and Means Committee is planning to release a tax package after the debt ceiling has been addressed, and Representative Blake Moore (R-UT) said the Child Tax Credit is “absolutely” on the table and has been part of committee discussions on the package, though the extent
On Thursday, May 25, 2023, Representative Danny K. Davis (D-IL) joined with Representative Blake Moore (R-UT) to introduce the bipartisan H.R. 3662, Adoption Tax Credit Refundability Act of 2023. The legislation would make the current Adoption Tax Credit fully refundable, removing income as a barrier to adoption. Representative Gwen Moore (D-WI), Representative Randy Feenstra (R-IA),
On May 17, 2023, a hearing was held by the Senate HELP Primary Health & Retirement Subcommittee, “A Crisis in Mental Health and Substance Use Disorder Care: Closing Gaps in Access by Bringing Care and Prevention to Communities,” to discuss the disparities in access to mental health and substance use disorder care throughout the country.
In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic, federal waivers issued by the Food and Nutrition Service at the U.S. Department of Agriculture provided flexibility that enabled child nutrition program operators to feed children amid challenges brought on by the pandemic, according to a new study. “Our study revealed how measures taken at the height
On May 24, 2023, Trust for America’s Health released its annual report, “Pain in the Nation 2023: The Epidemics of Alcohol, Drug, and Suicide Deaths.” The report finds that the rate of U.S. deaths due to alcohol, drugs, and suicide climbed 11 percent in 2021 to a record 209,225 deaths. Key findings include: Drug overdose
