Before we take off for a 3-day weekend, we're bringing you the latest from Washington! Congress will be taking their week-long Memorial Day recess next week so we won't be back in your inbox until June 8. Have a great and safe Memorial Day weekend!
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House Ways and Means Committee Passes TANF Reauthorization and Reconfiguration Bill
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Yesterday, by a vote of 22-14, the House Ways and Means Committee passed sweeping welfare reform legislation, the
Jobs and Opportunity with Benefits and Services (JOBS) for Success Act
(H.R. 5861). The bill reauthorizes the
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program
for five years with no increased funding, renames it as the Jobs and Opportunities with Benefits and Services (JOBS) program, and fundamentally changes multiple aspects of TANF by eliminating the Work Participation Rate (WPR) in favor of four new employment outcome measures that are closely aligned with the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) that will take effect in 2021.
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Farm Bill to get Second House Vote in June
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In a technical amendment passed this Tuesday by a vote of 227-180, House Speaker Paul Ryan pushed through a rule vote allowing the recently defeated
Agriculture and Nutrition Act of 2018
(Farm Bill), including the Nutrition Title dealing predominantly with the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), to be reconsidered on the House Floor for another vote no later than June 22.
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Immigration Debate Ramps Up in Congress
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After months of inaction following the Administration’s decision to cancel the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program last year, members of Congress have employed a rare procedural maneuver (“discharge” petition) to force votes on immigration legislation which would provide DACA recipients a pathway to legal status. Several immigration bills are at the center of this effort, but the debate comes over a bill that would provide a pathway to citizenship by giving young undocumented immigrants—known as Dreamers—access to a 10-year path to legal permanent status (green card status), which would then open a 2-year pathway to citizenship. Debate continues around creating special pathways for Dreamers in the absence of more comprehensive immigration reform, as well as effectiveness of strategies to increase border security.
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Congressional Rescission Bill Update
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As
previously reported
, a bill to codify the President’s rescission request to rescind $15 billion in previously appropriated funds to various programs (
H.R. 3
), including over $7 billion in cuts to the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) budget authority was introduced in the House of Representatives. This week, the Government Accountability Office (GAO)
released guidance
on the rescission bill due to concerns that the bill violated a long-standing law. The GAO concluded that the rescission bill did not violate this law and that the funds from all but two of the targeted programs could be held by the Administration until June 22—the date Congress has to move on the measure under an expedited legislative procedure. As of today, there is still uncertainty as to when or if the rescission bill will be brought up for a vote by Congress.
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2019 Fiscal Year Appropriations Update
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This week, House of Representatives and Senate appropriators made vastly different decisions as it relates to the same spending bills. House appropriators, in a vote of 29-22, approved the decision to provide a 10 percent increase (amounting to $4.8 billion more) for the Homeland Security bill while providing no increase for the Labor-HHS-Education bill. In a completely different move, the Senate adopted a bipartisan plan, in a 31-0 vote, to give a 1.2 percent funding increase (amounting to an extra $2.2 billion) for the Labor-HHS-Education bill, specifically health and education programs, while “scaling back” the funding increase (amounting to only $611 million more) for the Homeland Security bill.
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Tri-Caucus Introduces Healthcare Bill
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On Wednesday, Congress’s Tri-Caucus (Congressional Black Caucus, Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, a
nd the Congressional Hispanic Caucus)
announced the introduction of their health equity bill entitled the
Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2018
(HEAA). The bill seeks to provide access to affordable, quality health care in an effort to eliminate
racial and ethnic health disparities in the US
. It has been introduced in every Congress since 2007.
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CBO Report on Health Insurance Coverage
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On Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released a report entitled
Federal Subsidies for Health Insurance Coverage for People Under Age 65: 2018 to 2028
. This report provides estimates of the number of noninstitutionalized people under age 65 with health insurance and the federal costs associated with each kind of subsidy over the next ten years. Findings show that in an average month in 2018 about 244 million of those people will have health insurance and about 29 million will not. By 2028, about 243 million are projected to have health insurance while 35 million will not. The market for nongroup health insurance (i.e. insurance bought individually rather than through an employer) is expected to be stable in most areas of the country over the decade.
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Proposed Changes to “Public Charge” Policies for Immigrants
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A draft version of a proposed rule by the Administration would make changes to “public charge” policies that govern how use of public benefits may affect individuals’ immigration status.
This fact sheet
produced by the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation provides an overview of the proposed changes and their implications for health and health coverage.
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APHSA's Collaborative Centers
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Check out
the latest
from the National Collaborative for Integration of Health and Human Services!
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Upcoming Webinar: Analytics in Human Services
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The National Collaborative Analytics Committee (NCAC) at APHSA has created multiple tools over the last three years to help state and county human services agencies build their analytics capacity and data management capabilities. On
Wednesday, June 13 from 4:00-5:00 p.m. EST
staff from Dakota County (MN), Hawaii Department of Human Services, and APHSA will discuss their experiences in developing analytic capacity to improve service delivery, contain costs, and improve the overall IT capacity of agencies.
Learn more about NCAC and the tools that this webinar will highlight
here
.
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ISM Awards and Fellowships Open
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IT Solutions Management for Human Services (ISM), an affinity group of APHSA, is currently accepting nominations for the 2018 Recognition Awards for Excellence in Human Services Information Technology. Any organization may submit a nomination and there is no limit to the number of nominations; however, a separate entry for each nomination must be submitted no later than
Monday, June 25
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ISM is also accepting applications for fellowships to the 2018 ISM Conference being held September 16-19 in Seattle, WA. Both full and partial travel fellowships are available to state and local government employees. Applications must be submitted no later than
Friday, June 29.
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