CWLA released the Summary of the President’s FY2024 Budget Proposal and the FY 2024 Federal Budget Chart. Each year, CWLA compiles this targeted summary and budget chart explaining the President’s budget proposal, with a particular focus on spending and legislative requests that directly impact children and families.

President Biden released his FY 2024 budget on Thursday, March 9th, 2023. It proposes increases in the human services and medical services areas of the budget while proposing a projected reduction in the deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade. The budget calls for significant increases in spending in the child welfare system and in other systems that support and stabilize children and families.

Some of the highlights of the budget proposal include:

  • Making the Expanded Child Tax Credit, as enacted in the American Rescue Plan Act, permanent
  • A proposed increase in the federal match for IV-E eligible relative care placements
  • A $20 million increase for the state grants under the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) and a $19 million increase for the Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CB-CAP) program
  • Total increase of $300 million for the Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) program, including increases for the Court Improvement Program, the Regional Partnership Grants, and a new allocation for legal representation
  • A proposed increase of $100 million for the John Chafee Independent Living program
  • A proposal to make the Adoption Tax Credit refundable and allow certain guardianship arrangements to qualify
  • A proposed increase of $1.1 billion for Head Start and nearly $1 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant
  • A proposed increase of $3.3 billion for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

More information is available in the Summary and Budget Chart.

As noted last week, due to the split in party control of the two houses of Congress, many observers are projecting a very late budget or potentially a full 12-bill appropriations budget replaced by a year-long “continuing resolution” or “CR”. Such an action would likely mean much of the 2024 funding levels would be the same as 2023. How this is resolved will likely not be decided until late into the 2023 calendar year, even though Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) and Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-ME) have reaffirmed their commitment to marking up and moving all twelve appropriations bills. Before that, Congress will need to raise the debt ceiling which is expected to hit in mid-August. It may or may not force some resolution of spending targets.

CWLA is committed to advocating for the highest possible allocations for these programs and others as Congress begins to negotiate Federal spending bills for FY 2024. CWLA members are encouraged to reach out to Kati Mapa at kmapa@cwla.org with questions about the budget, the Appropriations process, or to learn more about opportunities to participate in advocacy activities.