On April 10, 2023, A Better Balance hosted a webinar about the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act (PWFA) and PUMP Act. This webinar helped break down the benefits, regulations and standards of each of these pieces of legislation. Additionally, speakers discussed possible areas of benefits beyond these two acts, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act
Gun violence claimed more children's lives last week with the shooting at the Covenant School in Nashville, Tennessee. As we noted in our statement after the tragic shootings in Uvalde, Texas, and Buffalo, New York, last year, “firearm violence is now the leading cause of deaths among children and adolescents. This matters, and unless every
On March 28th, 2023, the Work and Welfare Subcommittee of the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing about the reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, titled “Welfare is Broken: Restoring Work Requirements to Lift Americans Out of Poverty.” The approach of the two parties was starkly different. Subcommittee Chairman
On March 29, 2023 the Congressional Dad’s Caucus had its kickoff meeting with a panel of lived experience. Representative Jimmy Gomez (D-CA), the Chair and Founder of the Dad’s Caucus, opened the discussion by highlighting the importance of “family friendly” policy. Several other congressmen offered their support, including Representative Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), founder of the
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) is under consideration in both the Appropriations debate as well as the looming Farm Bill reauthorization due this year. These debates are happening as a “hunger cliff” is affecting SNAP, as benefits are being rolled back resulting in reductions of $82 per month on average, a significant sum for
On March 28, 2023, a STAT News article highlighted the negative health impacts that ending SNAP allotments would have on children. In March 2020, Congress passed legislation enabling states to provide Emergency Allotments, assisting millions of families in feeding their children. However, the allotments ended on March 1, 2023, sharply cutting a lifeline for 16
On Tuesday, March 28, Secretary Xavier Becerra of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) testified before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education about the fiscal year 2024 budget. Chairman Aderholt (R-AL) opened the hearing with the goal of identifying the programs most critical to our population, creating
In the wake of the tragedy at The Covenant School in Nashville last week, Stat News offered research from JAMA pediatrics that found almost one-third of teenagers living in Colorado have access to a loaded gun, half stated they could obtain one in under ten minutes, and a quarter reported they could obtain one in
On Wednesday, March 28th, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on President Biden’s FY24 Budget proposal with HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. Although Chairman Jason Smith [R-MO] and Ranking Member Richard Neal [D-MA] raised diverging criticisms, there was bipartisan agreement on preventing “surprise billing,” providing Alzheimer treatments, and holding corporations accountable for migrant
On March 29th, 2023, the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE) published a new brief highlighting information from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being, Second Cohort (NSCAW II) on service needs and receipt for children in kinship care and non-relative foster care in 2008 and 2009. OPRE sought to answer the following
