The House Ways and Means Committee may meet this Wednesday to mark up a bill to reauthorize the home visiting program. Two House bills have been introduced to extend the Maternal Infant Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program which runs out on September 30. The Republican bill (The Increasing Opportunity through Evidence-Based Home Visiting Act) extends it for five years with some alterations and mainatining funding at the current $400 million a year. The Democratic bill (The Home Visiting Works Act of 2017) extends it for five year and increases it to $800 million by year five.
It is unclear just what the bill will look like but it is unlikely the House will increase funding.
The split in the House bills could be a concern. The Republican bill includes an additional state match in funding and new directives on research, changes the advocacy community is not happy about.
One way for CWLA members to show your support is to go to the CWLA ACTION CENTER and send a letter of support to your members of the House and Senate.
