The draft bill, the Families First Act, will likely come up early in the New Year rather than this month as had been originally hoped. The legislation would allow Title IV-E funding on a limited category of substance abuse, mental health and in-home parent support programs for up to 12-months contingent on a child being
This week the Senate is expected to complete action on the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), more commonly referred to as the No Child Left Behind Act since the last reauthorization in 2002. The House approved the new version S. 1177, the Every Student Succeeds Act, on Tuesday with an overwhelming
The House is expected to re-approve a reconciliation bill that guts the ACA and cuts Planned Parenthood funding this week. The Senate redesigned an earlier House version in an effort to attract enough Republican Senators. The bill passed the Senate on Thursday by a vote of 52 to 47. Two Republican Senators (Kirk R-IL, and
When Congress returns this week there is the possibility the Senate Finance Committee could take up a child welfare bill that is still very much in flux. The draft bill, the Families First Act, would allow Title IV-E funding on a limited category of substance abuse, mental health and in-home parent support programs for up
Appropriations decisions are likely to come to a head in the next ten days. The deadline before the government runs out of funding is December 11. While staffers and committee members continued to work on allocating funding between the 12 spending categories and various priorities within those 12 committee jurisdictions it is still unclear how
Appropriations staffers and committee members continued to work toward beating a December 11 deadline when the government will run out of money. Despite the ongoing work it is unclear whether or not issues around policy riders and, as of last week the issue of Syrian refugees, will prevent a deal before the government shuts down.
The Senate is struggling to move a reconciliation bill that would repeal parts of the ACA and cut-off federal funds to Planned Parenthood. Last month the House of Representatives passed a reconciliation measure based on an instruction included in the spring budget resolution. The legislation is political message bill that will certainly be vetoed by
On November 17, Senator Tom Kane (D-VA) introduced S 2289, the Family Unification, Preservation and Modernization Act, a bill that would extend the Family Unification Program or “FUP.” The 1990, Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) program provides housing vouchers to families involved with the child welfare system. In 2000, Congress extended this program
On Tuesday, November 17, the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Human Resources held the last of a series of hearings on welfare and human services funding programs with a focus on how other countries design their programs. In announcing an end to the series of subcommittee hearings Subcommittee Chairman Charles Boustany (R-LA) said, "While
Lawmakers last Thursday took a significant step toward approving a reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) when a Conference Committee made up of Senate HELP Committee members and more than a sampling of House Education and Workforce members approved a deal. The vote was approved by a margin of 39-1. The bicameral,
