On Thursday, February 27, 2020, Chairwoman Carolyn B. Maloney (D-NY) of the Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Chairman Jamie Raskin (D-MD) of the Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties held a hearing entitled The Administration’s Religious Liberty Assault on LGBT Rights. The hearing focused on how the Trump Administration has been undermining LGBTQ
Last week Arkansas became the third child welfare agency to receive federal approval of the Family First Act plan, Family First Fits Us. Washington, DC and Utah are the other states with approved plans. Governor Asa Hutchinson stated “This plan highlights the enormous progress DCFS has made in the care of our foster children and
In the Administration’s FY 2021, the Department of Justice requested $227.5 million in discretionary funding for the Juvenile Justice Programs, a decrease of $92.5 million below the FY 2020 Enacted level. Despite the recent reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA), funding for the JJDPA has dropped by 40 percent since the
The Administration released its FY 2021 budget on Monday, February 10, 2020. This year’s budget, A Budget for America’s Future, proposes a number of human service cuts and human service funding increases but overall includes reductions in non-defense spending despite last year’s budget agreement. The President’s FY 2021 budget should be based on last summer’s
The Administration’s budget proposes a clarification under the Family First Act, the relationship between al Qualified Residential Treatment Programs (QRTP), and the definition of Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMD) under the Medicaid program. Additionally, the Administration would allow ACF to better align the ratings of child welfare programs under the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse, the HHS
The Administration proposes the same level of funding for the two CAPTA-related grants for FY 2021 with an increase in one of the grants. State Grants would be funded at $90 million, Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CB-CAP) grants would be funded at $55 million, and CAPTA Discretionary Grants would be increased by $16 million to
Building on their Thursday, January 30, 2020, their Medicaid Healthy Adult Opportunity waiver proposal, the Administration proposes cuts to Medicaid of $920 billion over the next ten years. The reductions are the result of various restrictions, new requirements (such as work), and various block grant options, as evidenced by January waiver notice to states. Both
The President’s budget again proposes the elimination of the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG), eliminating the $1.7 billion entitlement fund to states. They recommend keeping in place the SSBG law to allow the use of the block grant for emergencies and disasters. The rationale they state is the same as past budget justification (2019): “The
With the $5.6 billion cuts to the Department of Education, the Administration’s proposal for the fiscal year 2021 included eliminating the Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program. In 2007, the Bush Administration created the PSLF program under the College Cost Reduction and Access Act of 2007 (P.L. 110-84) for individuals who work ten years in
On Tuesday, February 11, 2020, the Youth Development Institute of Puerto Rico (Instituto del Desarrollo de la Juventud, IDJ), held a briefing entitled A Future of Child Poverty in Puerto Rico: How Much it Costs and What We Can Do About It. Congresswoman, Jenniffer Gonzalez-Colon [R-PR] explained how alarming the issue of child poverty in
