On Thursday, September 26, the Senate Committee on Appropriations unanimously approved the FY2020 Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) bill (S.2584) including funding for the $7.6 billion for the 2020 Decennial Census (an increase of $3.7 billion). Appropriations to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP)
The Senate gave an ok to HR 4378, a Continuing Resolution (CR) to provide funding for FY 2020 from October 1 through November 21, 2019. Both Houses will be off for the next two weeks for the combination of Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Columbus Day. It is hoped that the additional time will allow
Last week, the House Financial Services Committee unanimously voted to send “The Fostering Stable Housing Opportunities Act (H.R. 4300) (FSHO) to the House for a full vote. FSHO would give preference in housing vouchers to youth transitioning from foster care. The bill, which has bipartisan support, led by Congressman Mike Turner (D-OH) and Steve Stivers
On September 20, 2019 a Federal District Court in Maryland rejected a challenge to Maryland’s recent law that prohibits conversion therapy of minor children. A Maryland psychotherapist, Christopher Doyle, claimed that the law violated his religious freedom. The plaintiff was supported by the Liberty Counsel based in Orlando Florida. Conversion therapy generally seeks to change
Last week the House Energy and Commerce Committee and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services (Approps Labor H) held hearings to discuss family separation policy and the conditions of children placed in the Office of Refugee and Resettlement (ORR) facilities based on the Office of Inspector General (OIG) report, “Care Provider
Capitol Hill is working on a bipartisan deal that is intended to assist states to implement the Family First Prevention Services Act. The bipartisan, bicameral legislation would give states an added $500 million in child welfare funds, allowing states to spend more flexibly on the three categories of evidence-based services and create a guarantee of
On Friday, September 20, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) provided guidance on whether or not the new classification of Quality Residential Treatment Programs (QRTPs) will fall under the Medicaid classification as an Institutions for Mental Diseases (IMDs). There has been great concern that the new QRTP standards would cause these same child
The Senate unveiled their Labor-HHS-Education appropriations legislation last Wednesday, September 18, 2019 and it shorts human services severely. Gone are the increases for child care, Head Start, CAPTA state grants, CB-CAP child abuse prevention funds and many other vital human services. While there was always an understanding that many of the House increases could not
On Tuesday, September 17, Senator Mazie Hirono (D-HA) introduced the Protect American Values Act that would restrict the Administration from using federal funds to implement its new “public charge” rule scheduled to go into effect on October 15, 2019. On August 14, 2019 the Administration published a new final rule to expand the definition of
On Tuesday, September 17, the Urban Institute released their 13th annual Kids’ Share report, Kids’ Share 2019: Analyzing Federal Expenditures on Children, on federal expenditures on children through 2018 and future projections. The report and a panel discussed federal spending on children younger than 19 from 1960 to 2018 and makes future projections through 2029.
