Pages tagged "News Article"
In the News: The Democrats' Luck Runs Out
From The Atlantic:
After a run of unlikely victories last month, it seemed possible for Democrats to forget—at least momentarily—that they were the party shut out of power in Washington.
They had watched in gleeful relief as Republicans failed yet again to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Charles Schumer had persuaded President Trump to abandon the GOP leadership in a fiscal agreement, and they were poised to strike yet another favorable deal on immigration. Republicans were mired in the kind of infighting that usually follows defeat.
Yet the last two weeks have tested the limits of the Democrats’ leverage, offering them bitter reminders that success for the minority party is relative, and often fleeting. On Sunday, Trump laid out a list of hard-line demands on immigration that seemed to extinguish hopes for a quick agreement to shield young undocumented immigrants from the threat of deportation. Then, on Monday, Scott Pruitt, the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, announced that the EPA would fully repeal the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan to combat climate change. And on Thursday, Trump signed an executive order that could ultimately...READ MORE.
In the News: Congress Can’t Get Its Sh*t Together and It’s Putting Kids at Risk
From The Daily Beast:
Ever since mid-September, Emily Piper has been on high alert.
The commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Human Services drafted a letter to Minnesota’s congressional delegation on the 13th warning that funding for the state’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) would run out soon and the state would have to “take extraordinary measures” to ensure coverage continued after the end of the month.
Congress, ultimately, did not act—leaving the fate of some 9 million children who depend on the program nationwide up in the air. And through the start of October, local officials like Piper have had to determine how to maintain coverage for the recipients while anxiously...READ MORE.
SEE ALSO:
- Health Kids Act (H.R.3921)
- "Nine Million Reasons to Extend CHIP Now" by Bruce Lesley
In the News: 9 Million Kids Could Soon Be Without Free Or Low-Cost Health Insurance
From Jezebel's THE SLOT:
In the midst of their bid to rip health insurance from millions of Americans under the now-failed Graham-Cassidy bill, Republicans allowed the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) to expire, leaving 9 million kids waiting for their states to run out of money that provides them with free or low-cost health coverage.
CHIP was a popular, bipartisan measure that passed under President Bill Clinton in 1997; it was sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and the late Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts), and was last renewed in 2015. It provides low-cost health coverage for kids whose families don’t qualify for Medicaid but can’t afford to cover their healthcare costs, and has brought the uninsured rate for children down to 4.5 percent. The program is mostly funded by the federal government, and without reauthorization...READ MORE.
In the News: Congress threatens to take health insurance away from 9 million kids, just because
From The Intercept:
A program that provides health coverage to some nine million children was allowed by the Republican-controlled Congress to expire over the weekend.
The Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP, a bipartisan initiative that was originally co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch and the late Ted Kennedy in the 1990s, allows children who fall above the Medicaid threshold to obtain low-cost health insurance.
Republicans diverted nearly all attention to another failed Obamacare repeal attempt. The bill’s co-sponsors, Sens. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., claimed to have momentum on their side and enough votes to pass the measure, but that turned out to be false, as the effort fell short of even the mark set by the previous failed effort. Graham later acknowledged he had no idea what he was doing.
Democrats in Congress and around the country, however, fully...READ MORE.
In the News: As CHIP expires unrenewed, Congress blows a chance to save healthcare for 9 million children
From The LA Times:
Advocates for children’s health started worrying months ago that congressional incompetence would jeopardize the nation’s one indisputable healthcare success — the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which has reduced the uninsured rate among kids to 5% from 14% over the two decades of its existence.
Their fears turned out to be true. Funding for CHIP runs out on Saturday, and no vote on reestablishing the program’s $15-billion appropriation is expected for at least a week, probably longer. That’s the case even though CHIP is one of the few federal programs that has enjoyed unalloyed bipartisan support since its inception in 1997. The consequences will be dire in many states, which will have to curtail or even shut down their children’s health programs until funding is restored. Hanging in the balance is care for 9 million children and pregnant women in low-income households.
What happened? The simple answer is that congressional Republicans’ last harebrained attempt to repeal the Affordable Care Act got in the way. A funding bill for CHIP seemed to be well on its way to enactment until a week or so ago. That’s when the effort to pass the egregious Cassidy-Graham repeal bill sucked all the air out of the legislative room.
There are huge ramifications in pretty much every state across the country.— Bruce Lesley, president of children's advocacy group First Focus.
Agreement on a bill had been reached in mid-September by Sens. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.). “Momentum was building,” says Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus, a children’s advocacy group in Washington. Then came Cassidy-Graham, and “we couldn’t even get a meeting,” Lesley says. “No one was even taking our calls.” ...READ MORE.
In the News: Home visits for rural parents could be slashed if law expires
From 89.3 KPCC:
One of the items on Congress' long to-do list of things to accomplish before the fiscal year ends is reauthorizing federal funding for home visitation programs that support parents and infants.
The law supporting the Maternal, Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program is set to expire Sept. 30.
Some of the programs at greatest risk as this threat of funding loss looms are the 25 tribal organizations across the country. California is home to three such programs in Lake County, Alameda County and Riverside-San Bernardino counties.
"We do get nervous sometimes," said Priscila Jensen, program director of the Riverside‐San Bernardino County Indian Health Home Visiting Program, which started running in 2012. "At the same time...READ MORE.
Youth Advocates Share Hopes for First 100 Days
1/9/17
By Molly McCluskey
WASHINGTON — Candidate Donald Trump offered little insight into his prospective policies surrounding youth and families, and President-Elect Trump has not provided any more clarity. Many youth advocacy groups say their approach to the beginning of the new administration is a sort of cautious optimism.
Their top priorities for the first 100 days are strengthening tax credits for families, increasing access to affordable child care, making more housing more affordable, investing in mentoring and after-school programs, and ensuring that youth employment is included in plans to increase jobs nationwide.
Who are the Real Champions for Children?
12/21/16
By Bruce Lesley
In “Senators owe vulnerable kids real debate, floor votes” by John Kelly and Daniel Heimpel (Dec. 14), they correctly highlight the enormous problem that children face in the legislative process where bills involving children, such as the Family First Prevention Services Act (child welfare) and the Supporting Youth Opportunity and Preventing Delinquency Act (juvenile justice), fail to get votes in the Senate despite overwhelming bipartisan support. To their list, I would add the Improving Child Nutrition Integrity and Access Act, which also failed to get approved by Congress.While State Focuses on Adult Homelessness, Homeless Youth on the Rise
12/16/16
By David Desroches
Homelessness among children and youth in Connecticut has increased by over 11 percent since 2012, according to new data by the U.S. Department of Education. And this is happening while adult homelessness is falling.
State officials and advocates have touted their work to reduce homelessness among adults. But a new report shows that homelessness among youth is actually increasing.
"Families who are experiencing severe poverty really haven't benefited from the economic recovery," said Barbara Duffield, executive director of a nonprofit called SchoolHouse Connections, which focuses on reducing youth homelessness.
National Report Shows Rise in Homeless Student Numbers
12/16/16
By Michael Erb
PARKERSBURG — While nationally many states are seeing an increase in the number of homeless students, locally those numbers have dropped or remained steady in recent years.
The First Focus Campaign for Children, a national advocacy program, said this week new statistics from the U.S. Department of Education show the number of homeless children and youth enrolled in public schools has increased, even since the end of the recession.