The 114th Congress began last week formalizing the leadership choices and committee assignments and setting in motion some early legislative actions in both houses. This week the Senate is expected to begin debate on an approval of the Keystone pipeline. The debate is expected to take up to two weeks. On the House side members
The new 114th Congress will begin this week on Tuesday. Most of the week will be about conducting the formal start up actions. That start up includes the selection of the various leaders, all returning from the last Congress with the Senate leaders swapping their majority/minority roles. We will also see the formal selection of
The next Congress will have the opportunity to reauthorize more than a dozen programs that have a significant impact on children but whether that happens seems less than likely. Generally federal programs are reauthorized for periods of four to five years. The reauthorization process is intended as a way to provide needed oversight but in
After the House of Representatives narrowly passed HR 83 by a vote of 219 to 206 late on Thursday night December 11, the Senate acted late Saturday to approve the legislation (HR 83). The package represents one of the last acts by a Congress that has been rated by some critics as one of the
On Wednesday, December 10, the President focused attention on early childhood education and child care with the White House Early Learning Summit. The goal of the event was to build on recent work by the Administration over the last several years and to hopefully build momentum around early learning and get the word out about
Over 750 national, tribal, state and local organizations and elected officials groups have signed onto a letter advocating for an extension of Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting Program (MIECHV). The letter says in part, “ As diverse national, state, tribal and local organizations committed to accountable policies that both improve outcomes for vulnerable
Now that the new leadership of the Senate Finance Committee is settling in, there is the possibility that the Congress can finalize the Adoption Incentives reauthorization in the coming weeks. In October the House of Representatives approved the “Promoting Adoption and Legal Guardianship for Children in Foster Care Act” (H.R. 3205). The bill was passed on suspension,
