There are several priorities CWLA holds for the next package that reach beyond “child welfare” but are critical to families and to future trends for child welfare caseloads. These can be as broad as tax rebates (that need to reach families that adopt, foster parents, kinship care and youth that transition from foster care) but
As the end of the week approached, Washington was still waiting for a complete initial package from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on what will be a fifth COVID-19 relief measure. Negotiations that had started within the White House on Monday between the President’s staff and Republican Congressional leaders from the House and Senate
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
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
On Wednesday, July 1, 2020, the House passed the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), extending the small business loans until August 8. The bill was passed by unanimous consent after the Senate passed it (S.4116) the previous evening via unanimous consent led by the Ranking Member Ben Cardin (D-MD) of the Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee.
For those people who lack bank accounts and other measures to deposit the rebate checks of up to $1200 per person, the U.S. Treasury has issued 3.6 million electronic impact payments (EIPs) more commonly thought of as debit cards. In a letter to members of the House, Treasury indicated that as of June 19, 2020
The House-passed HEROES Act adopted by the House on May 15, 2020, includes significant funding under the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG) that would help state and local governments address current budgetary shortfalls. SSBG has always been a significant funder of a range of child welfare services, including foster care, youth services, child protection, prevention
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
Two areas addressed in the House bill and supported by CWLA include the FMAP increase for state Medicaid and Title IV-E programs and an increase in funding of $9.6 billion for the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). The second COVID-19 bill increased each state’s Medicaid matching rate (FMAP—the federal medical assistance percentage) by 6.2 percent,
On Friday, May 8, 2020, Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) introduced legislation that would provide $10 billion in emergency TANF funding. CWLA has endorsed the legislation. The TANF funding increase of $10 billion would be paid out until the end of the fiscal year 2021 (September 30, 2021) and it could be used for current services