On May 3, 2024, the Senate HELP Committee hosted a hearing entitled, “What can Congress do to address the severe shortage of minority health care professionals and the maternal health crisis?” Chairman Bernie Sanders (I-VT) stated that the US health-care system is inefficient and ineffective. The US spends twice as much per capita on healthcare
On May 7, 2024, Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Senator Mike Braun (R-IN), Representative Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA), and Representative Erin Houchin (R-IN) reintroduced the Higher Education Access and Success for Homeless and Foster Youth Act to remove barriers to higher education for homeless and foster youth and help ensure they can pursue a higher education and
On May 3rd, 2024, the Center for the Study of Social Policy (CSSP), the Global Women’s Strike and Women of Color/Global Women’s Strike hosted a webinar, “Compensating Care: How US Policy Can Support Unpaid Family Caregivers.” Elisa Minoff from CSSP stated that caregiving is essential work, but caregivers receive little support. Also, caregiving exists on
The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee held a hearing, “Challenges in Preserving the U.S. Housing Stock,” on April 16, 2024. Senator Smith (D-MN) indicated that in the USA, more than half of the homes are over forty years old. Also, in rural areas there are an estimated 400,000 government sponsored apartments that are
On April 9, 2024, the House Ways and Means Work and Welfare Subcommittee held a field hearing in Chicago, IL, on the Dignity of Work: Lifting Individuals Out of Poverty. Subcommittee Chairman Darin LaHood (R-IL) indicated that current job vacancies are the result of a lack of qualified employees and that work is a pathway
On April 11th, 2024, the House Committee on Ways and Means held a hearing entitled “Expanding on the Success of the 2017 Tax Relief to Help Hardworking Americans,” with the intent to discuss the impacts of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), enacted by former President Donald Trump, and consider upcoming 2025 tax policy.
The Joint Economic Committee held a hearing on Wednesday April 10, 2024 entitled, Building Blocks for Success: Investing in Early Childhood Education. The goal of this hearing was to address the need for funding in the world of early childhood education and those families who need child care. Four witnesses came to testify before the
On March 20, 2024, the Administration for Children and Families released the AFCARs data for 2022. Again this year, the report shows a significant decrease in foster care placements from the 2021 figure of 391,641 to 368,530 children in care in 2022, a 5.9 percent decrease from 2021 and a more than 15.6 percent decrease
On Saturday, March 23, 2024, President Biden signed the final six appropriations bills into law, bringing the drawn-out FY 2024 appropriations process to a close at last. Although government funding ran out at midnight on Friday March 22, because it was a weekend and the bill was signed quickly, the impact of the brief government
The Institution for Research on Poverty hosted a webinar on Wednesday, March 20, 2024 entitled “Interrupting Intergenerational Poverty: New Research And Recommendations For Policy and Practice”. The panelists included Greg Ducan from University of California, Irvine, Mary E. Pattillo from Northwestern University, Michael R. Strain from American Enterprise Institute, and Rita Hamad from Harvard School
