Late Friday night, the  Senate passed its tax bill  by a vote of 51-49. Republican leaders in both houses will spend this week reconciling differences. The Senate bill contains several key differences from the legislation passed by the House  on November 16-including whether to repeal the Affordable Care Act's individual mandate - but Republican leaders are optimistic that a final bill will be agreed upon and sent to the President's desk before the December holidays. The bill will also trigger "PAYGO" cuts, which are required when a tax bill increases the federal debt, leading to a $1 million automatic cut to WIC and billions in cuts to other programs , including Medicare. Republicans argue that PAYGO rules have always been waived to avoid program cuts, and a waiver for the tax package is anticipated to move swiftly. Economists have been overwhelmingly clear that the pending tax bills constitute a dramatic tax cut for the already wealthy and corporations, while increasing the tax burden on low-income and middle-class families . Importantly, both bills significantly decrease federal revenues and increase the federal deficit by over $1 trillion, which would, in turn, impact the funding available for discretionary federal programs like WIC.

With only four days until a potential government shutdown, Congress is debating using a series of short term funding measures, Continuing Resolutions (CR) to keep programs running. Current discussion includes the first CR to cover until Dec. 22 or possibly Dec. 30 , then a second to extend funding to mid-January, after which it is hoped funding could be planned for the rest of FY 2018.  With the current focus being on tax reform, more time is needed to prepare the 12 appropriations bills and hold discussions on spending, including defense and non-defense appropriations, and also immigration issues, including DACA provisions and border security. While Republicans were able to get the House and Senate votes for tax reform, passing funding bills is expected to need some Democratic support, which may provide leverage for issues such as protection for DACA participants.

Our friends at the National WIC Association report Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a bill last Tuesday,  the Puerto Rico and Virgin Islands Equitable Rebuild Act of 2017   (S. 2165), which would provide additional disaster recovery assistance for Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands following devastating hurricanes. The National WIC Association worked closely with their Senate colleagues to ensure that this bill included an additional $14 million in infrastructure funding for WIC. The additional $14 million would be available to any state WIC agency responding to presidentially declared disasters. The Appropriations Committees in the Senate and House have also been working on separate legislation to provide additional funding for disaster relief, and it currently seems unlikely that these committees will include infrastructure funding for WIC in their bills. The Appropriations Committees have the ultimate authority on supplemental funding bills such as this one. Even if WIC infrastructure funding is not included in the final disaster relief package, NWA will remain pleased that this funding request was included in S. 2165, as the presence of WIC in this bill elevates the program within the disaster relief conversation and will hopefully push policymakers in Congress and the Administration to consider WIC during future deliberations.

The Supporting Working Moms Act of 2017 (SWMA) has been introduced in the Senate. This bipartisan legislation would protect and expand working moms' right to breastfeed by extending the existing federal law to ensure that executive, administrative, and professional employees, including elementary and secondary school teachers, have break time and a private place to pump in the workplace. Read the press release . ACTION: Tell Congress to Support ALL Breastfeeding & Working Moms! Use USBC's story collector to share stories of experiences with employer implementation of federal "Break Time for Nursing Mothers" law . Sign on to the thank you letter to Representative Carolyn Maloney and Senator Jeff Merkley for introducing SWMA, and tweet at your elected officials to ask them to support the bill!

CWA, along with partners at UC Davis Human Lactation Center and California Breastfeeding Coalition, will host a webinar tomorrow, December 6, ahead of the December 14^th release of our annual California hospital breastfeeding data fact sheets. The fact sheets highlights encouraging news - California hospitals continue to steadily increase their exclusive breastfeeding rates across geographic and ethnic lines. It also points out that consistent and comparable data is needed on breastfeeding duration and exclusivity after mothers and babies are discharged from the hospital if we are to drive policy change in other areas, such as employment and childcare, which will help mothers meet their breastfeeding goals.  ACTION:   Join us Dec. 6 to learn about the latest (2016) data and prepare for the release of new hospital breastfeeding state and county hospital breastfeeding rate fact sheets, and learn how you can help us get the word out!

When political turmoil and environmental and social tragedies surround us, where do we turn? WIC is one place where families and staff alike get help to cope and connect when the world around us gets overwhelming or discouraging. WIC can be a bridge to health - physical and mental - and CWA's 26^th Annual Conference & Trade Show will help you build these bridges for families in need. Bridge to Health: Advancing WIC to Support Today's Families will offer nutrition, early feeding and breastfeeding updates and strategies for strengthening the diverse families we serve. Workshops and the trade show will prepare us for e-WIC plus ways to apply data and technology. We will learn how to leverage collaborations and innovate to reach more families. Wellness presentations and activities will support our ability to be effective leaders. ACTION: Register before February 23 and watch for a draft agenda soon !

A  new government report  says the number of children in the U.S . foster care system has increased for the fourth year in a row, due largely to an uptick in substance abuse by parents. The report, issued annually by the Administration for Children and Families of the Department of Health and Human Services, shows that the foster care population has jumped from 427,400 children at the end of fiscal year 2015 to 437,400 children at the end of 2016. The foster care population peaked at 524,000 in 2002 and dropped to about 397,000 cases by 2012. Government data also shows that drug abuse by a parent was a factor in 34 percent of the cases in 2016, up from 32 percent in 2015. About 92,000 children were removed from their homes due to the substance abuse of at least one parent.In a recent  report   by the Chronicle of Social Change, a nonprofit publication, finds that as the number of American children in foster care increases, there is a concurrent shortfall in the number of foster homes to accommodate them.