This has been a very busy week for Congress and the Administration so we have a lot to report on. Let's get to it and enjoy your first official summer weekend!
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On this day in 1944...
President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the G.I. Bill which provided financial aid to veterans.
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The Latest from Congress...
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Farm Bill Comes Up for Second Vote
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House of Representatives:
Yesterday, the House passed the Farm Bill (
H.R. 2
) by a very close vote of 213-211. The bill seeks to reauthorize and extend many farm and nutrition programs, which are set to expire on September 30th. Last month, the bill failed in the House due to debate over immigration reform but a procedural rule was later passed to allow the House to bring the bill back up for a vote by June 22nd.
Senate:
In the upper chamber,
Sen. McConnell filed a motion to limit debate on proceeding with the Senate Farm Bill. The Senate Farm Bill (
S. 3042
) is a bipartisan measure which does not include some of the more controversial changes to SNAP benefits. It remains uncertain exactly when Senators will vote on the bill.
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Lawmakers Continue Work on FY 2019 Spending Bills
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House of Representatives:
This week, the House Appropriations Committee was expected to markup the FY 2019 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. However, the markup has been postponed and the full committee is expected to begin work on the 177.1 billion dollar bill next week (June 26). As previously reported, the current draft of the bill would provide $89.2 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and $186 billion in discretionary funding. Roughly $6.7 billion of the bill’s discretionary funding would come from unspent Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funding.
Click here
to view other notable proposed funding in the bill.
Senate:
This week, Senators continued work on the House-passed
H.R. 5895
, an appropriations package which encompasses three bills: Legislative Branch, Energy-Water, and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs. The Senate, however, replaced the three bills in the House package with their own respective versions of the bills (
S. 2975
,
S. 3024
,
and
S. 3071
). On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
—
as a precautionary measure
—
filed
cloture motions
on the underlying House-passed H.R. 5895 and the substitute Senate amendment. A vote is expected to take place on Monday.
The Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to release its version of the Labor-HHS-Education bill, however, lawmakers are scheduled to markup the Senate version next week.
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Vote on Rescission Package
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As previously reported, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) successfully collected 20 signatures to trigger a vote on the rescission package (
S. 2979
) which would codify the President’s $14.7 billion rescission request. On Wednesday, in a vote of 48-50, the Senate rejected the discharge motion, leaving the passage of the bill in doubt. With an unexpected ‘no’ vote on the discharge motion, Sen. Burr (R-NC) blocked the bill from bypassing the Appropriations Committee days before its procedural protections were set to expire. As of today, procedural protections under the 1974 budget law have expired and the measure is now subject to a filibuster. Passage of the bill remains uncertain despite the Senate Majority's intent to remove the proposed $7 billion cuts from unspent Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) funds in the House-passed rescission bill (
H.R. 3
).
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Following up on last week’s opioid hearings and markups, the House again spent significant time on opioid bills this week. On Tuesday, lawmakers approved 15 measures, including the
Medicaid Reentry Act
(
H.R. 4005
), which would require the Department of Health and Human Services to offer guidance on how states can create demonstration programs to provide Medicaid coverage to inmates thirty days before they are released from a public institution.
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As the debate over immigrant family separations at the border heated up, many congressional members on both sides of the aisle began to draft and introduce legislation to end the practice of separating families at the border. Some of the notable bills included measures from...
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The Latest from the Administration...
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President's Executive Order on Immigrant Family Separation
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According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, over 2,300 children who entered the United States unlawfully with family members have been separated from their families since last month. On Wednesday, the President signed an executive order—the
Executive Order on Affording Congress an Opportunity to Address Family Separation
—reversing the controversial policy separating immigrant children from their parents at the southern border. The Order, stating that “[i]t is also the policy of this Administration to maintain family unity” allows for families to be detained together “where appropriate and consistent with law and available resources.” However, the order maintains the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy and desire to rigorously enforce U.S. immigration laws.
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Administration Proposes Reorganization of Federal Agencies
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As previously reported, the President issued an
executive order
signed on March 13, 2017 guiding a comprehensive plan to reorganize the federal government. Yesterday, the Administration
released a blueprint
of the reorganization structure.
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On Tuesday, the U.S. Department of Labor
released its final rule
on the changes to
association health plans
. The rule allows these plans, which are not required to provide comprehensive health coverage, to be sold as soon as September 1, 2018. While the plans may have lower premiums, they are allowed to offer less benefits than the Affordable Care Act (ACA) mandates for exchange plans. In addition, the plans allow associations to charge different rates based on gender and industry. Self-employed individuals with no employees can also join these plans. As we previously
reported
, this rule stems from an
executive order
previously signed by President Trump to provide an alternative to the ACA and its rules.
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Practical Solutions that Lift up Children and Families
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A report
out Thursday shows home prices are the least affordable since the third quarter of 2008 when the financial crisis erupted.
Senators
submitted a letter
to Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson about making condo ownership easier for people of color.
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The Department of Health and Human Services and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration announced availability of funding to combat the opioid crisis:
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The Congressional Budget Office
scored
the Substance Use-Disorder Prevention that Promotes Opioid Recovery and Treatment (SUPPORT) for Patients and Communities Act (H.R. 6).
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Trends in Children's Health Insurance Coverage
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The State Health Access Data Assistance Center (SHADAC)
released a report
on state-level trends in children’s health insurance coverage in 2016.
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APHSA Submits Response to Economic Mobility Executive Order
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Yesterday, APHSA submitted a comment letter in response to the President's
Executive Order on Promoting Opportunity and Economic Mobility
. The recommendations provided in the letter
are supported by the key principles that guide APHSA members’ work at the state and local levels. The appendix includes examples of state and local member innovation.
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Registration for 2018 NSDTA Conference is Open
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Celebrating its 30th year, the 2018 National Staff Development and Training Association (NSDTA) Annual Education Conference is designed to assist health and human service leaders responsible for human services training, staff, and organizational development/effectiveness shape the future of these vital programs through collaboration, innovation, and the exchange of experience and knowledge.
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Children and Family Fellowship
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The Annie E. Casey Foundation is now accepting nominations and applications for its signature
Children and Family Fellowship
. This executive leadership program, which will run from April 2019 to January 2021, empowers child and family serving professionals to lead major system reforms and community change initiatives that get results. The Foundation will accept nominations for its 11th class through
August 17
. Candidates can also apply to the program directly, no nomination necessary, by
September 7
.
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Center for Juvenile Justice Reform Programs
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2018 NAPIPM Annual Education Conference
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Registration for the 2018 National Association for Program Information and Performance Measurement (NAPIPM) Annual Education Conference is now open! Join us August 13-16 in Tampa, FL to learn and network with other dedicated professionals responsible for improving the performance measurement capabilities of health and human services. Topics include real-world innovations from leading experts at the federal, state, and local level, as well as the private sector; SNAP, Child Care, TANF, and Medicaid policy updates; and more! Additional information is available
here
.
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Deadline Approaching! ISM Awards and Fellowships
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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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