Weekly Update 1/16/24

Appropriations

The chief tax writers in Congress have reached a long-awaited deal that would temporarily expand the Child Tax Credit, an office involved in the negotiations said…

California

On Wednesday, 1/10, Governor Gavin Newsom outlined a plan to close a state budget deficit of $38 billion, a projected shortfall that is large by historic standards but a fraction of the record gap that was forecast in December…

Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA) and California Senate candidate is calling for an end to earmarks, which Senate appropriators who manage them call “congressionally directed spending” or community projects…

Three years after a national reckoning on race prompted California to study reparations, the Legislative Black Caucus is assembling legislation to put the recommendations of a reparations task force into law…

President and Administration

HHS has determined that marijuana is less dangerous than other controlled substances and said it has potential in medicine…

Thousands of teenagers and young adults have developed delusions and paranoia after using cannabis…

On Tuesday, 1/9, Meta said it would hide content related to suicide, eating disorders and self-harm from teenagers on Instagram and Facebook, policy changes that appear to mirror legislation being considered in Congress…

Vice President Harris announced on Thursday, 1/11, that the Biden administration is investing $285 million to help schools hire and train more than 14,000 mental health counselors…

Student loan borrowers enrolled in the administration's new SAVE plan will have their debt wiped…

Residential treatment facilities in the U.S. for teenagers with opioid and other substance use disorders are few and expensive, according to a new federally funded study on the availability of care…

Education

Since the early days of the COVID pandemic, dozens of students in Missoula, Mont., have attended a fully online program run by the school district…