Family & Community Support

Shutdown Looms in Final Week of Fiscal Year

Congress has just five days to negotiate and pass a bill to continue to fund the government after the end of the fiscal year on September 30th, 2023. Last weekend, leadership of both the House Freedom Caucus and House Main Street Caucus released a stopgap proposal, or continuing resolution (CR) that would temporarily fund the

Senate HELP Moves Three Bills on Maternal and Pediatric Health

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

Childcare Since the Pandemic: Macroeconomic Impacts

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

CWLA Endorses: Bills to Support Children and Families

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

Child Poverty More than Doubled in 2022

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

Child Care Stabilization Act Introduced

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

CWLA Commented: Increasing Access to Child Care NPRM

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

Youth from Foster Care, Unhoused, and Veterans Now Temporarily Exempt from SNAP Time Limit

The Food Research Action Center (FRAC) hosted a webinar on September 11, 2023, about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) entitled “Foster Youth, Unhoused, and Veterans Now Temporarily Exempt from Time Limits”. The four panelists discussed the three groups that will no longer be affected by SNAP time limits starting this month, and the best

Congress Returns to Big Challenges Ahead

The Senate returned from recess last Monday, September 4, 2023, and the House will return to Washington, D.C. this week to resume work on the numerous legislative priorities before them, the most pressing of which is finding a way to fund the government past September 30th, the end of the fiscal year. With just about

CTC and Racial Equity: An Analysis

The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy released a new report, Expanding the Child Tax Credit Would Advance Racial Equity in the Tax Code, on August 29, 2023, examining the Child Tax Credit under current law and the House expansion proposal, introduced by Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT). The report makes the following key findings: “Expanding

Value prop about becoming a member