On Wednesday, March 16 the Senate HELP Committee will take up a major draft bill to strengthen mental health services in the United States. The committee will also address other legislation, including an amendment to CAPTA, building on that body’s recent attempts to address substance abuse. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-TN) and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA)
On Thursday, March 3 the Administration through the Department of Health and Human Services announced they were expanding Medicaid coverage to pregnant women and children beyond what the current Medicaid coverage allows. The announcement by HHS would expand care to an estimated 15,000 patients. The HHS expansion would also increase some of the coverage to
On Tuesday, February 23 the Senate Finance Committee held a hearing on the prescription drug to heroin addiction issue. The hearing highlights the continued intense interest within Congress on the issue of heroin and opioids use. With sixteen senators in attendance at one time or another there was a great deal of interest on a
While the Finance Committee was holding a hearing on opioids and heroin, two key senators, Senator Charles Grassley (R-IA) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), were introducing a bill to reauthorize the $20 million in funding for Regional Partnership Grants (RPGs) to address substance abuse. The grants have been a part of the Promotion
The Administration is proposing that, as part of the need to reauthorize the Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) program, (title IV-B part 2) that the set-aside that targets drug treatment be increased from $20 million to $60 million a year. The drug treatment funding was created as part of the 2006 reauthorization of the
More than 35 groups, including CWLA, signed onto a letter circulated by the Foster Family-based Treatment Association (FFTA) calling on Senate leaders to move legislation that would provide emergency financial assistance to address the lead poisoning crisis now confronting Flint, Michigan. Michigan’s senators are attempting to get the money to help address the lead poising
President Obama will release his final budget on Tuesday for the Fiscal Year 2017. The budget year begins on October 1. The overall spending caps for domestic and defense spending have been set as part of last year’s budget deal but that does not mean that the Administration and their Congressional counterparts won’t try and
Senator Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Senator Roy Blunt (R-MO) are introducing new legislation likely this week, the Excellence in Mental Health Act. The bill that would fully fund 24 states that qualified for a planning grant to create parity between community mental health services and physical health services. The bill is a follow up to
On Wednesday, January 27, the Senate Judiciary Committee focused on heroin and the prescription drug abuse issue during a hearing labeled, “Attacking America’s Epidemic of Heroin and Prescription Drug Abuse” As noted previously, the President in his State of the Union address singled out the drug use issue as one area both parties could work
In his January 12, State of The Union address President Obama shied away from a list of specific policy proposals but he did single out a few areas including the drug use issue that is starting to rattle the foster care numbers. President Obama said, "Helping people who are battling prescription drug abuse and heroin
