One of the first critical decisions that will have to be worked out over the next several days is how President Biden will get his COVID-19 proposal through Congress. As a veteran senator who was also key to many of the Obama Administration’s congressional negotiations, he has raised hopes for bipartisan action, but that would
CWLA has published its transition paper for the new Administration and new Congress. The report has been circulated with key staff over the past several weeks. It reflects a look forward to improving child welfare services and more broadly strengthening families across the country. This A Stronger Foundation for America’s Families reflects the collective wisdom, insights, and concerns
At the end of last month, President Donald J Trump signed into law a $908 billion relief package in the larger omnibus budget legislation. Still, the President-elect has indicated they would be seeking additional help for a country devastated by a pandemic that is trending toward more than 400,000 to over a half million fatalities
On Tuesday, November 10, 2020, the Senate Appropriations Committee released a full package of 12 appropriations bills nearly a month before the temporary funding for fiscal year 2021 runs out. Last week Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) had agreed to complete the FY 2021 appropriations with an omnibus
On Wednesday, October 14, SchoolHouse Connection hosted a Congressional briefing titled “Educating Homeless Children and Youth During COVID-19”. The briefing included several panelists, including Congressmen Jimmy Panetta (D-CA) and Don Bacon (R-NE). The bipartisan Congressional briefing also featured four local educational agency homeless liaisons experts, John Bright from Omaha Public Schools in Nebraska, Ayesha Buckner
On Wednesday, September 30, 2020, the Senate gave final approval to (HR 8337) a continuing resolution or CR that will keep the government from shutting down at the start of the fiscal year. The CR provides level funding (FY 2020 funding levels) with some slight adjustments to address formulas and some program changes. The CR
On Thursday, October 1, 2020, the House approved a $2.2 trillion COVID-19 relief bill representing a reduction from their $3.2 trillion passed on May 15, 2020, but higher than the general support the White House has said they would support at $1.5 trillion. The House action was against a backdrop of ongoing discussions between the House Democrats
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