On Wednesday, November 29, the HELP Committee held the first of two Committee hearings on his nomination. HELP holds a hearing over the HHS Secretary position, but the actual approval vote comes through the Senate Finance Committee. Alex Azar, nominated to fill the vacancy left when Tom Price was forced out earlier this year due
Last week’s Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) released similar bills to extend the Court Improvement Program (CIP). The CIP is part of the Promoting Safe and Stable Families program. It provides approximately $30 million a year to all fifty states through their state court systems to better link and educate judges
There has been no progress on CHIP reauthorization but there was a lot of talk. There was a debate on the Senate floor when Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) said that CHIP would get done because “I invented it. I was the one who wrote it… Kennedy came over and became the one who helped put
Thursday, November 16 was a big day for tax cut advocates. The House of Representatives passed their tax bill (HR 1) by of 227 to 205 with all but 13 Republicans and no Democrats voting for it. Later that evening the Senate Finance Committee passed their counter proposal out of Committee by a vote of
On Tuesday, November 14, the Senate passed S 534, the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017. The legislation, which has had the active support of CWLA, was originally introduced by Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) to address reports of sexual abuse of Olympic athletes. After passage Senator Feinstein said,
On Wednesday, November 15, CWLA partner organization Voice for Adoption, hosted their 13th annual Adoptive Family Portrait Project. November is national adoption month and the project is a way to highlight adoptions from foster care. Members of Congress are recruited to display and feature families from their state or district. An adoptive family’s photo is
Last week a new report, Missed Opportunities: Youth Homelessness in America, the study covers youth homelessness in a range of settings. Young people may survive by sleeping on the streets, in shelters, running away, being kicked out, and couch surfing. The report was conducted by Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago and is the
The major development regarding the Affordable Care Act occurred on Wednesday when the Senate Finance Committee under the leadership of Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT), inserted a repeal of the individual mandate as part of the Senate Finance Committee’s tax package. According to an analysis by the CBO and the Joint Committee on Taxation, “… repealing
Last week Altarum issued a new analysis that demonstrates that the opioid epidemic is costing this country $95 billion in annual costs. More specifically in 2016. According to their research $43 billion was from the economic impact from the loss of life, the next largest costs were $12 billion due to lost productivity due to
On Monday, November 13, the President nominated Alex Azar to become the new Secretary of Health and Human Services. Azar will fill the vacancy left when Tom Price was forced out earlier this year due to his travel expenses. Azar worked at HHS as the Department’s General Counsel and Deputy Secretary. The focus during upcoming
