Before leaving for the weekend, House Republicans introduced a reauthorization of the MIECHV (Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting), or home visiting program. The bill, the Increasing Opportunity through Evidence-Based Home Visiting Act (HR 2824), would extend the program for five years—as CWLA and other advocates have pursued—but provides level funding of $400 million a
Majority Leader Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is bound and determined to have a vote on the Senate ACA repeal bill by the end of this month. The logic is that the Senate needs to move the issue one way or another so that the rest of the legislative year and priorities such as a tax
On Tuesday, a coalition of groups including CWLA sponsored a Capitol Hill briefing, Understanding and Meeting the Needs of Families Experiencing Homelessness. The briefing included Mary Haskett (NC State), Carmela DeCandia (Artemis Associates), Grace Whitney (IMH-E Schoolhouse Connections), Preston Britner (University of Connecticut), Anne Farrell (Chapin Hall, Chicago) and Ruth White (National Council on Homelessness
Congress has started to step up their hearing process for appropriations with several committees and subcommittees, holding preliminary reviews and testimony from Administration officials. Concurrently, there has been no more clarity on the debt ceiling front except for the fact that the Administration reaffirmed the need to raise it before the August break. The Democrats
The Congress returns this week for what promises to be a very challenging and unpredictable two-months. Before Congress leaves for the August summer break, they will attempt to deal with most of the 2018 appropriations, raise the debt ceiling, vote out a Senate version of an ACA repeal, continue dealing with the ongoing hearings/controversies on
The debt ceiling must be raised again and it could suck all the oxygen out of the political room. Technically the federal government is restricted from paying its bills once the ceiling on total federal debt is hit. Due to federal deficit spending, the ceiling must be raised periodically by Congress. The only time this
The Partnership for Public Service tracks the progress of Administration hiring. There are over 1200 positions that require an OK from the US Senate. Many of these however are somewhat less significant such as commissions, even smaller ambassadorships. But the Partnership tracks what they consider to be key appointments that include number two and three
While dealing with a debt ceiling, Congress must be on a fast track on the FY 2018 appropriations with the new fiscal year starting on October 1. To this point the dozen appropriations committees are in the first stages of hearings, something that would have taken place in February. To make matters worse, a budget
After the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued the new assessment of the American Health Care Act that showed that the amendments made to the original bill costs $32 billion more and it will reduced the number of uninsured under the original bill by only 1 million people, conversations were continuing on a Senate bill. Now
There are dozens of federal programs that need reauthorization and are not likely to get extended, at least not in this year. Some reauthorizations ran out years ago but they can still receive funding through the appropriations process. This includes the Higher Education Act, Head Start, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) which
