On June 12, 2025, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Work and Welfare held a hearing, “Aging Out is Not a Plan: Reimagining Futures for Foster Youth,” which explored recommendations to reform and improve the John H. Chafee Foster Care Program for Successful Transition to Adulthood (the Chafee program). The purpose of Chafee is
Last week, three key House Committees were able to mark up and move forward their portions of the reconciliation bill. Each bill moved through the relevant committee on a party-line vote, with no amendments to the text; although many amendments were introduced by members of the minority party, each one was voted down. Ways and
Congress continues to move forward with the budget reconciliation process, with multiple House committees marking up their versions of the bill last week. As a reminder, both the House and the Senate have passed identical budget resolutions, but the instructions for the House and the Senate are very different, with the House receiving instructions to
In the early hours of December 21, 2024, the Senate wrapped up the 118th Congress by passing a Continuing Resolution (CR) to fund the government until March 14th, extending the Appropriations deadline into the new Congress. The Senate passed several House-passed bills in their wrap-up session, including the Supporting America’s Children and Families Act, which
The House is continuing to move forward with its appropriations process, writing and moving bills for the FY 2025 budget. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees will need to agree to and pass twelve funding bills, either separately or in a package together, on or before September 30th, or pass a continuing resolution (CR) to
This week is Congress’s last week in session before the beginning of the Memorial Day recess next week. Both chambers are working hard to make this a productive time – there are multiple hearings happening in both the House and Senate and several bills to be introduced this week. On May 16, 2024, the new
On May 1, 2024, House Agriculture Chairman G.T. Thompson (R-PA) unveiled an initial summary of the House Republican Farm bill, which encompasses important nutrition programs. A follow-up summary with additional detail was released on May 10th, providing more specific information about the various titles. Legislative text has not been released but is expected sometime this
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 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.
Congress passed the first six Appropriations bills for 2024 last week. On Wednesday, March 6th, 2024, the House voted 339-85 to advance the package to the Senate; because the bills did not go through the Rules Committee, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) had to rely on significant support from House Democrats to get the 2/3 majority
