Last week the House passed HR 7617 a “mini-bus” legislative package that included funding for four separate appropriations bills. Included in the mini-bus (as opposed to an omnibus bill) were the four appropriations for Agriculture-FDA, Interior-Environment, Military Construction-VA, and the State Department-Foreign Operations. There is a total of 12 annual appropriations bills. This week
After a two-week break, the Senate returns this week with the expectation that the focus will be on the fifth COVID-19 package. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) rejected the House $3 trillion HEROES Act that passed the House of Representatives on May 15, saying he wanted to wait and see how the economy and the
On Monday, July 13, 2020, the House Appropriations Committee approved an FY 2021 appropriations bill for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education by a party-line vote of 30-22. In total, the bill provides $196 billion in discretionary (annually appropriated) funds for the three federal departments, with HHS getting approximately $96.4 billion
The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights released report on family separation under the Trump Administration titled, Family Separation is Not Over. The report shared how even after the Zero Tolerance Policy ended, children have continued being separated from their parents. During the administration’s Zero Tolerance policy, the government separated nearly 4,500 children from their
Last week the House Appropriations Committee began to move the 12 annual Fiscal Year 2021 appropriations bills through their respective subcommittees. The Labor-HHS-Education bill passed through the subcommittee on Tuesday, July 7, 2020, with funding receiving a slight increase. Congress is still acting under the final year of the ten-year budget caps. The HHS portion of
Senator Murray (D-WA), Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), and Democrats introduced the Coronavirus Child Care and Education Relief Act before the fourth of July holiday break. This bill includes $430 million for many of the Senate Democratic priorities for child care, K-12 schools and higher education, and child welfare: The child welfare specific legislation includes $1.5
On Tuesday, June 23, 2020, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support held a hearing on the status of child care during the pandemic and the recession. In his opening remarks, Chairman Danny Davis (D-IL) said that, in Illinois, nearly half of all available child care slots are at risk of disappearing altogether
On Thursday, June 11, Zero to Three released the State of Babies Yearbook: 2020, a comprehensive report and advocacy tool that tells the story of how the United States’ babies are faring and provides a clear view of the significant disparities in opportunity for the youngest children throughout the country. Speakers included Myra Jones-Taylor from
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) released the House summer schedule at the end of May. He expects a month full of appropriations and other committee action through all of June with floor votes beginning on June 30th until the July 4th break. It appears likely the House will begin committee action on appropriations starting
Last week, CWLA’s members urged Congress to pass another emergency supplemental bill that expands the current level of federal support for state and territorial Medicaid and child welfare programs. In the Families First COVID-19 emergency supplemental bill, Congress acted swiftly to provide a much-needed 6.2 percentage increase in the FMAP. As the pandemic increases the
