The Senate agreed to a CR extension through February 18, 2022, late Thursday night (November 2) after a week of threats by some Republican senators who objected to the Biden Administration vaccination policies. The House of Representatives reached a deal to extend funding beyond January, as Democrats had originally sought, and they compromised on the
The latest analysis from the Center on Poverty and Social Policy at Colombia University on the impact of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) shows that the October Child Tax Credit payments kept 3.6 million children out of poverty. While that was being released, the advocacy community, including CWLA, are having increased concerns that these same families
On December 1, 2021, ProPublica and The New York Times Magazine published an article titled, ‘They Took Us Away From Each Other’: Lost Inside America’s Shadow Foster System” by reporter Lizzie Presser. The article details what some have labeled diversion from foster care by using informal kinship care placements. It doesn’t question kinship care, but
The House of Representatives passed the Build Back Better Act reconciliation bill (HR 5376) on Friday, November 19, 2021, after a week of waiting. The waiting was driven by the need for a Congressional Budget Office (CBO) “score” or estimation of costs and savings. That score came back on Thursday at the expected $1.7 trillion.
Current funding for federal fiscal year ends on December 3, 2021, and while it appears likely Congress will pass another CR for a matter of weeks, a full year long appropriation adding new funds now seem much in doubt. A CR that extended for the rest of FY 2022 means that there would be a
On November 17, 2021, CLASP released a new national CTC survey findings. According to the research parents reported reduced financial stress, help in affording necessities and, for about one-quarter of respondents receiving monthly payments, working more hours outside of the home. The survey included 1,012 eligible families with children ages 0-17 living at home. It
Congress returns this week with a long list of issues that need some form of resolution before the end of the year—or maybe not. The House will take up the reconciliation bill now that the infrastructure bill has been sent to the President. There was a commitment in some form on the part of more
When Congress completed work on the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act they passed a major highway and road construction bill but there are important ‘human service” components that go beyond just the potential jobs created. The most significant human service need are the new provisions on drinking water, particularly with the removal of lead but
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will provide some relief for an important human service need, reducing children’s exposure to dangerous lead in our drinking water. In the middle of the last decade, the country saw close-up the havoc lead contamination can mean to a city and more importantly the families that live there.
On November 2nd, 2021, First Focus on Children hosted a Congressional briefing, “Covering all Children – the Path Forward.” Panelists included, Kelly Whitener, Georgetown University McCourt School of Public Policy’s Center for Children and Families, Dr. Glenn Flores, Holtz Children’s Hospital and Dr. David Rubin, Population Health Innovation at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. The panelists
