Weekly Update 2/12/24

Appropriations

Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) said Tuesday, 2/6, that appropriators are making “very, very positive” progress toward meeting the March 1 and March 8 shutdown deadlines…

Congress-White House Border Discussions

Donald Trump spent last weekend telling senators they should not pass more unconditional U.S. foreign aid…

California

Bay Area Democrats have found common cause with prosecutors hoping to crack down on drug and property crimes…

California state Superintendent Tony Thurmond backed new legislation that would require high school students to take a computer science course — the third additional graduation requirement he has supported during his tenure…

President and Administration

A final HHS rule released Tuesday, 2/6, strengthens the availability of health care programs for older adults who want to stay in their homes as they age…

Teenagers with suspected substance use problems say they turn to drugs because of a crushing need to relax and escape worries, according to research recently published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention…

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said last weekend that it’s time for the federal government to “get back to putting a priority on fiscal sustainability,” noting that debt held by the public is growing faster than the economy…

Former President Donald Trump — and indeed any other former president — may be prosecuted for alleged crimes they committed while in office, a federal appeals court panel ruled Tuesday, 2/6…

A surge of immigration that will expand the labor force is expected to boost GDP by about $7 trillion and raise federal revenue by $1 trillion above where they would be otherwise from 2023 to 2034, the Congressional Budget Office reported Wednesday, 2/7…

Puerto Rico’s allies on Capitol Hill hope this is the year President Biden fulfills a campaign promise to fix the island’s low Medicare Advantage rates, which they say contribute to its health care system’s deterioration…

The Drug Enforcement Administration has released the digital copy of an updated Prescription for Disaster: How Teens Misuse Medicine…

Congress

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Tom Carper (D-DE) announced new legislation on Thursday, 2/8, to keep extending and expanding at-home care for patients who would otherwise be in a hospital by creating a CMS pilot program for acute care at home, including common observation services…

Republican-backed legislation to temporarily boost the cap on state and local tax deductions cleared a key hurdle on Thursday, 2/8, but the House Rules Committee vote portends tough sledding for GOP leaders to get the bill on the floor…

Over three dozen senators and more than 130 House lawmakers are pushing congressional leaders and appropriators for “robust” child care funding in any forthcoming government funding deal, or subsequent emergency spending package…

Border security isn’t the only policy area getting derailed by dysfunction and politics…

Education

The rise of AI chatbot tools caused panic among high school teachers and administrators nationwide — but researchers say the frequency of students cheating on assignments remained “surprisingly” stagnant…

Enrollment in U.S. schools was fairly steady between 2021 and 2022, but the number of K-12 students remained below pre-pandemic levels, according to new federal data released Monday, 2/5…

Weekly Update 2/5/24

Appropriations

Funding for a portion of the federal government dries up in less than four weeks, but appropriators are feeling positive about heading off the first of two shutdown deadlines on March 1…

Congress-White House Border Discussions

Senators in both parties finalized a deal on stricter border and immigration policies that is headed toward an uncertain floor vote in the coming days…

On Saturday, 2/3, Speaker Mike Johnson warned that the House won’t rush to pass a Senate border-foreign aid deal and will instead take up a stand-alone bill for Israel aid this week…

California

California state lawmakers introduced a slate of reparations bills on Wednesday, 1/31, including a proposal to restore property taken by “race-based” cases of eminent domain…

California State Sen. Nancy Skinner and Assemblymember Buffy Wicks are introducing two new bills, backed by California Attorney General Rob Bonta, to protect kids' safety and privacy on social media…

Revenue from California income tax withholding in January came in $1 billion short of the state's most recent projections — the ones the Newsom administration used to estimate a $38 billion state budget deficit…

The halting effort to overhaul California’s recall system got a jolt of momentum on Thursday, 2/1, as the State Senate advanced a constitutional amendment…

California’s snowpack is still below average as what is expected to be the largest storm of the year is about to hit the state…

A major pandemic learning loss lawsuit brought by families against the state of California has been settled out of court and will prompt new legislation aimed at helping students still experiencing setbacks from school closures…

President and Administration

The Education Department recently sent its long-awaited Title IX rule to the White House for final approval, a key procedural step before it can be made public…

he Department of Health and Human Services has finalized rules that will permanently allow buprenorphine — a treatment for opioid use disorder — to be prescribed through telehealth without an in-person visit…

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments on Feb. 26 in two cases that could determine the future of how social media companies moderate content online…

The Department of Education will hold another rule-making meeting over its alternative student loan forgiveness plan…

A new amicus brief was recently filed with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in support of the legality of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program…

Congress

On Wednesday, 1/31, the House passed bipartisan tax legislation that would expand the Child Tax Credit and restore several business tax breaks…

During a hostile Senate hearing Wednesday (1/31) that sometimes devolved into bickering, lawmakers from across the political spectrum accused social media companies of failing to protect young people online…

On Tuesday, 1/30, the House Homeland Security Committee moved closer to approving articles of impeachment against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas…

In a letter to the Drug Enforcement Administration on Tuesday, 1/30, 12 Senate Democrats urged the Biden administration to ease federal restrictions on marijuana…

Lawmakers are feeling pressure from voters to take action on housing as Americans are increasingly being priced out of the market…

Education

The rate of students chronically missing school got so bad during the pandemic that it will likely be 2030 before classrooms return to pre-COVID norms, a new report says…

Charter schools will be barred from hundreds of Los Angeles Unified District school campuses under a new policy that is among the most restrictive of its kind…

Indiana lawmakers filed legislation this session aimed at fixing systemic problems for students with disabilities, including the use and oversight of restraint and seclusion in schools…

Nearly 70 percent of Black single mothers of school-aged children believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, a new survey shows…

Weekly Update 1/29/24

Congress-White House Border Discussions

Congress: Bipartisan border talks are “largely done” and have advanced to the Senate Appropriations Committee — signaling talks are entering a potential final phase — according to lead Democratic negotiator Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT)…

White House: President Biden is not backing away from negotiations over a border deal, even as Donald Trump moves to scuttle those talks…

President and Administration

SAMHSA’s recently released consumer guide titled How Can a Peer Specialist Support My Recovery From Problematic Substance Use? offers people…

The Biden administration is calling on the nation’s school principals to promote safe gun storage among parents and staff as part of its effort to prevent school shootings…

According to a recent Commerce Department report, the economy is growing at a faster rate than expected, all while inflation continues to drop…

On Tuesday, 1/23, Former President Donald Trump won the Republican primary contest in New Hampshire (54.4%)…

Congress

Today, Reps. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) are rolling out bipartisan legislation to expand the number of mental health professionals in schools…

Education

Seven and a half million American students, or roughly 15 percent of them, have disabilities that qualify them for special instruction, what's known as individual education plans…

Weekly Update 1/22/24

California

During California’s most recent drought, officials worked to safeguard water supplies, issuing emergency regulations to curb use by thousands of farms, utilities and irrigation districts…

California’s top Senate candidates are hours away from taking the stage in Los Angeles, where they’ll make their pitch to voters and fight for viral breakout moments in one of the country’s top-watched races…

President and Administration

Research finds that children of color in the U.S. are less likely than their white peers to get painkillers for a broken arm or leg, for appendicitis or for migraines, according to new findings published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health…

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health's latest program aims to widen access to hospital-level care in rural America…

The Joint Office of Energy and Transportation, in partnership with FHWA, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is offering free technical assistance on the planning…

On Thursday, 1/18, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), is announcing a new model to test approaches for addressing the behavioral and physical health, as well as health-related social needs, of people with Medicaid and Medicare…

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau recently unveiled proposed regulations aimed at curbing overdraft fees that banks charge on overdrawn deposits…

On Friday, 1/19, the Biden Administration announced another round of student debt relief, forgiving nearly $5 billion in student debt for 73,600 borrowers, the president said in a statement…

On Friday, 1/19, the bipartisan Child Tax Credit expansion in the tax bill negotiated by Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden and House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee in a strong bipartisan vote, while also winning an endorsement from the White House…

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his Republican presidential campaign on Sunday, 1/21…

Congress

The House Homeland Security Committee plans to vote on January 31 on an impeachment resolution of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas…

A pair of House Republicans are denouncing a Biden administration measure that would require Head Start programs to boost worker wages by 2031…

Education

Small, regular interactions with a reading tutor — about five to seven minutes — are making a big impact on young students’ reading skills…

Brown vs. Board of Education, the pivotal Supreme Court decision that made school segregation unconstitutional, turns 70 years old on May 17, 2024…

Photos show blood splattered across a small bare-walled room in a North Carolina school where a second grader repeatedly punched himself in the face in the fall of 2019, according to the child's mom…

Three weeks ago, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a case on corporal punishment in schools that questioned whether parents could sue schools under the U.S. Constitution…

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…