September 14, 2018
Greetings!
Welcome to another issue of TWIW! Before we turn our focus to this week's happenings, a few announcements about next week are in order. The House will not be in session, the Senate is scheduled for a short week, and APHSA is headed to Seattle for our 2018 ISM Conference. Taking all of this into consideration, TWIW will take a short recess and return to your inbox on Friday, September 28th. In the meantime, we hope to see you in Seattle!
On this day in 1901...
Theodore Roosevelt is sworn in as the youngest man to serve as US President after William McKinley dies as a result of gun shot wounds 9 days prior.
The Latest from Congress...
Appropriations
On Wednesday and Thursday, both chambers of Congress passed the first “minibus” spending package that would appropriate $147.5 billion in discretionary spending for FY 2019. Included in the package of bills is funding for Energy and Water, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and the Legislative Branch. This package is on its way to President Trump’s desk for his signature, which he has reportedly said he would sign. 
Tax Reform 2.0
House of Representatives : On Monday, the House Ways & Means Committee Republicans introduced a package of bills that is being dubbed as Tax Reform 2.0. Republicans are seeking to build on the success of a “booming” economy—low unemployment and a rise in average wages—credited to the passage of last year’s tax reform law, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ( PL 115-97 ). Democrats, on the other hand, who claim last year’s tax reform law provided a windfall of tax breaks to corporations and the wealthy while also growing the federal deficit, believe this next phase of tax reform will only lead to more of the same.
Opioids
Senate: A vote on Senate opioid legislation was postponed from Thursday to next Monday as lawmakers left Washington, D.C. early to avoid Hurricane Florence. The House already voted on its opioid package and the Senate version touches on many aspects of the crisis, compiling more than 70 different provisions and leaving out some more controversial provisions from a similarly assembled House package. Bipartisan in nature, the Senate version authorizes new funding for states to combat addiction, expands access to medication assisted treatment, grants the National Institutes of Health more authority to research and develop non-opioid pain therapies, and more.

The CBO scoring of Amendment Number 4013 to H.R. 6, the Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018 , can be found here .
Affordable Care Act
House of Representatives: On Wednesday, the House Rules Committee met to set rules for debate on the Save American Workers Act . The House bill would impose additional delays and changes to provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The bill would delay the “Cadillac tax”—a 40 percent excise tax on costly health insurance plans until 2023. Additionally, if signed into law, it would change the definition of “full-time employee” from employees working at least 30 hours a week to 40 hours a week. 
Reports & Resources
From Our National Collaborative
Check out  the latest newsletter brought to you by the National Collaborative for Integration of Health and Human Services!  
From the Urban Institute
From the National Conference of State Legislatures
Announcements
ACF Funding Opportunities
On Monday, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announced details on funding available to increase program hours in Head Start and Early Head Start. Applications must be submitted no later than December 1, 2018 .
Last Friday, ACF posted the Preschool Development Grant Birth through Five (PDG B-5) Funding Opportunity Announcement—a grant that works to strengthen state and local efforts to build, develop, and expand high-quality preschool programs so that more children from low- and moderate-income families enter kindergarten ready to succeed in school. The deadline to submit a grant application is November 6, 2018 .