Congressional Research Service Reports - 513 Matching Results

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Welfare Reform: An Issue Overview: No Description Available.
Welfare Reform: An Issue Overview: No Description Available.
Child Welfare Waiver Demonstrations: This report provides background information on the child welfare waivers and a description of the progress states have made on these demonstration projects. Waiver projects must be cost neutral to the federal government; may be conducted for no longer than 5 years (though HHS may grant an extension of up to 5 years); and must include an evaluation comparing the existing state program to the waiver project.
Welfare Reform: An Issue Overview: The decline is TANF rolls has slowed to a near halt (see Figure 1). National numbers in September were only 73,000 below those of a year before. However, TANF enrollment topped that of September 2001 in several states (including New York, which has moved into a state-funded safety net program more than 40,000 families after they reached the 5-year federal time limit). Persons now enrolled include rising proportions of minorities, and 37% of TANF “families” now have no adult recipient (child-only cases). The 2001 poverty rate among children in female-headed families was 39.3%, compared with 39.8% in 2000, 49.3% in 1996, and 52.9% in 1994, when AFDC numbers peaked.
Child Welfare Issues in the 108th Congress: The purpose of this report is to present a number of generally less broad legislative proposals related to child welfare financing have been introduced in the 108th Congress. Additional child welfare-related proposals designed to improve services, promote timely placement of children across state lines, and for other purposes, are described in this report.
Child Support Enforcement: New Reforms and Potential Issues: P.L. 104-193 (the 1996 welfare reform legislation) made major changes to the Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program. Some of the changes include requiring states to increase the percentage of fathers identified, establishing an integrated, automated network linking all states to information about the location and assets of parents, and requiring states to implement more enforcement techniques to obtain collections from debtor parents. Additional legislative changes were made in 1997, 1998, and 1999, but not in 2000, 2001, or 2002. This report describes several aspects of the revised CSE program and discusses three issues that probably will be reexamined by the 108th Congress — CSE financing, parental access by noncustodial parents, and distribution of support payments.
Child Support Enforcement: New Reforms and Potential Issues: This report describes several aspects of the revised CSE program and discusses three issues that probably will be reexamined by the 107th Congress — CSE financing, parental access by noncustodial parents, and distribution of support payments.
Welfare Reform: An Issue Overview: On June 30, the scheduled expiration of TANF, a bill was presented to the President to extend TANF, supplemental TANF grants, mandatory child care, abstinence education, and transitional medical assistance (TMA) for another quarter, through September 30, 2003. The Welfare Reform Extension Act (H.R. 2350), which passed the House on June 11, was held at the Senate desk until June 27, when it was passed by unanimous consent. It was uncertain when the Senate Finance Committee would mark up a comprehensive reauthorization measure, for which staffers are preparing. Pending are four bills H.R. 4, the House Republican leadership bill, passed by the House February 13, S. 5, the Senate Republican leadership bill, and two Democratic alternatives, S. 367, and S. 448. H.R. 4 is almost identical to the bill passed by the House last year (H.R. 4737). Both H.R. 4 and S. 5 set the work week for most TANF recipients at 40 hours and require that states eventually engage 70% of recipients in a work activity. S. 5 would allow states to privatize determination of food stamp eligibility
Medicaid: A Fact Sheet: No Description Available.
Child Nutrition and WIC Programs: Background and Funding: About a dozen federally supported child nutrition programs and related activities – including school meal programs and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (the WIC program) – reach over 37 million children and almost 2 million lower-income pregnant and postpartum women. Total FY2002 spending on these efforts was $15.1 billion. FY2003 spending is projected at an estimated $15.9 billion under the Agriculture Department appropriations portion (Division A) of the FY2003 Consolidated Appropriations Resolution (P.L. 108-7; H.Rept. 108-10; enacted February 20,2003). And the Administration anticipates spending $16.3 billion under its FY2004 budget.
Welfare Reform: An Issue Overview: On July 22, as preparations continued for Senate Finance markup of a bill to reauthorize TANF, a bipartisan bill was introduced by Democratic former governors from Delaware and Nebraska and a Maine Republican. S.1443 would boost mandatory child care funding by $5.5 billion over 5 years and provide numerous special grants. It would increase work participation standards and lengthen the TANF work week (to 32 hours) for those without a child under 6, but give prorated credit for part-time work. On June 30, the scheduled expiration date of TANF, the President signed a bill that extended TANF, supplemental TANF grants, mandatory child care, abstinence education, and transitional medical assistance (TMA), on FY2002 terms, through September 30, 2003 (P.L. 108-40). These programs have operated under temporary authority since October 1, 2002.
Child Welfare Issues in the 108th Congress: Child welfare services are intended to protect children who have been abused or neglected or are at risk of maltreatment. These services take various forms, ranging from counseling and other supports for parents — which are intended to improve child well-being and prevent child abuse and neglect — to removal of the children from their homes. At the most extreme, these services include termination of parental rights and placement of the children for adoption. This report describes child welfare legislative issues in the 108th Congress.
Welfare Reform: An Issue Overview: Efforts to extend TANF and related programs beyond their scheduled expiration on September 30 await the return of Congress from its August recess. The House passed a 5- year extension bill (H.R. 4) in February, but the Senate Finance Committee has taken no action beyond two hearings. On June 30, the President signed P.L. 108-40, which extends TANF, supplemental TANF grants, mandatory child care, abstinence education, and transitional medical assistance (TMA), on FY2002 terms, through September 30. These programs have operated under quarterly extensions of spending authority since October 1, 2002.
Welfare Reform: An Issue Overview: Senate Finance Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley said September 4 that he would continue to work toward a bipartisan consensus on reauthorization of TANF, which is scheduled to expire on September 30. Noting the continued decline in the TANF caseload, the Senator said that “simply going off welfare doesn’t mean that families have achieved significant income and job security.” He said the next phase of welfare reform should focus on strengthening policies to provide every TANF family the opportunity to become self-sufficient and indicated that he supported expanded state flexibility, increased options for education and training, combined with an emphasis on job attainment and experience; and work supports,
Welfare Reform: An Issue Overview: The House passed a bill (H.R. 3146) on September 24 to extend TAIF, mandatory child care, abstinence education, and transitional Medicaid, on current terms, through March 31, 2004. In the absence of legislation these programs would expire on September 30. The Senate Finance Committee approved a comprehensive TAIF preauthorization proposal of Chairman Chuck Grassley on September 10. Entitled Personal Responsibility and Individual Development for Everyone (PRIDE), the legislation would extend TANF, mandatory child care, abstinence education, and transitional Medicaid for 5 years, FY2004 through FY2008. It would raise TANF work participation standards, increase weekly work hours, add new countable work activities,
Charitable Choice, Faith-Based Initiatives, and TANF: The 108th Congress has resumed efforts to pass tax incentives for private giving (S. 476, passed by the Senate on April 9, and H.R. 7, introduced May 7, 2003). However, these bills do not contain provisions intended to promote religious organizations as providers of federally funded social services – charitable choice provisions.. The House voted in 2001 to extend charitable choice rules, which now apply to a limited set of programs, to numerous new programs (H.R. 7 in the 107th Congress), as the President urged, but the Senate refused. However, in an Executive Order, President Bush on December 12, 2002, directed six cabinet-level departments and the Agency for International Development (AID) to bring policies concerning social service programs into line with charitable choice principles set forth in the Order.
Welfare Reform: An Issue Overview: The House passed a bill (H.R. 3146) on September 24 to extend TAIF, mandatory child care, abstinence education, and transitional Medicaid, on current terms, through March 31, 2004. In the absence of legislation these programs would expire on September 30. The Senate Finance Committee approved a comprehensive TAIF preauthorization proposal of Chairman Chuck Grassley on September 10. Entitled Personal Responsibility and Individual Development for Everyone (PRIDE), the legislation would extend TANF, mandatory child care, abstinence education, and transitional Medicaid for 5 years, FY2004 through FY2008. It would raise TANF work participation standards, increase weekly work hours, add new countable work activities,
A Review of Medical Child Support: Background, Policy, and Issues: Improving the establishment and enforcement of medical child support has been hampered to some extent by factors such as high health care costs, a decline in employer-provided health insurance coverage, an increase in the share of health insurance costs borne by employees, and the large number of uninsured children. This report provides a legislative history of medical support provisions in Child Support Enforcement (CSE) programs, describes current policy with respect to medical child support, examines available data, and discusses some of the issues related to medical child support. This report will not be updated.
Child Support Enforcement: New Reforms and Potential Issues: P.L. 104-193 (the 1996 welfare reform legislation) made major changes to the Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program. Some of the changes include requiring states to increase the percentage of fathers identified, establishing an integrated, automated network linking all states to information about the location and assets of parents, and requiring states to implement more enforcement techniques to obtain collections from debtor parents. Additional legislative changes were made in 1997, 1998, and 1999, but not in 2000, 2001, 2002, or 2003. This report describes several aspects of the revised CSE program and discusses three issues that probably will be reexamined by the 108th Congress — CSE financing, parental access by noncustodial parents, and distribution of support payments.
How Medicaid Works: Program Basics: Medicaid is a means-tested entitlement program that has been in existence for over 35 years. It provides primary and acute care as well as long-term care to over 40 million Americans at a cost to federal and state governments of approximately $258.2 billion in FY2002. Of all federally supported social programs, only Medicare comes close to this level of spending, and only Social Security costs more.
Supplemental Educational Services for Children from Low-Income Families Under ESEA Title I-A: This report discusses supplemental educational services in the general sense, which include educational activities provided outside of normal school hours that are designed to augment or enhance the educational services provided during regular periods of instruction.
The Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Program: Background and Context: This reports details the effect the Safe and and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Program including the change in violence and drug use.
Child Welfare: The Adoption Incentives Program: This report provides background information and a description of the Adoption Incentives program, with references to recent legislative action, sizes of incentive payments earned, and adoption trends.
Education for the Disadvantaged: Overview of ESEA Title 1-A Amendments Under the No Child Left Behind Act: This report provides an overview of aspects of ESEA Title I-A which were substantially amended by the NCLBA; elements of the program which are important but which were not substantially revised by the NCLBA (such as parental involvement requirements) are not discussed in this report. Other current and forthcoming reports will provide more detailed discussions and analyses of selected major aspects of the program, including pupil assessments,2 accountability, and allocation formulas. This report will be updated regularly, to reflect significant actions regarding funding and implementation of the NCLBA provisions.
State Policies on Immigrant Eligibility for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): No Description Available.
Child Care and Child Welfare: Background Checks: This report discusses the details related to background checks to help ensure the safety of children served through their organizations.
Transitional Medical Assistance (TMA) Under Medicaid: Medicaid, a means-tested federal/state program that provides health care coverage to certain groups of individuals, requires that states continue Medicaid benefits for certain low-income families who would otherwise lose coverage because of changes in their income. This continuation of benefits is known as transitional medical assistance (TMA). The law permanently requires four months of TMA for families who lose Medicaid eligibility due to increased child or spousal support collections, as well as those who lose eligibility due to an increase in earned income or hours of employment. Congress expanded work-related TMA under Section 1925 of the Social Security Act as part of the Family Support Act of 1988, and states currently must provide TMA to families who lose Medicaid eligibility for work-related reasons for at least six, and up to 12, months.
Child Support Enforcement: New Reforms and Potential Issues: P.L. 104-193 (the 1996 welfare reform law) made major changes to the Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program. Some of the changes include requiring states to increase the percentage of fathers identified, establishing an integrated, automated network linking all states to information about the location and assets of parents, and requiring states to implement more enforcement techniques to obtain collections from debtor parents. Additional legislative changes were made in 1997, 1998, and 1999, but not in 2000, 2001, 2002, or 2003. This report describes several aspects of the revised CSE program and discusses three issues of concern to the 108th Congress — CSE financing, parental access by noncustodial parents, and distribution of child support payments.
Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP): Implementation of the No Child Left Behind Act: This report is intended to provide an overview of the Adequate Yearly Process (AYP) concept and several related issues, a description of the AYP provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act, and an analysis of the implementation of these provisions by the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the states. It will be updated when major administrative actions are taken by ED, or substantial new data on state implementation become available.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and Vocational Education: Policy and Practice: No Description Available.
Child Nutrition and WIC Programs: Background and Funding: Federally supported child nutrition programs and related activities — including school meal programs and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (the WIC program) — reach over 37 million children and almost 2 million lower-income pregnant/postpartum women. In FY2004, anticipated spending on these programs is $16.6 billion, and the FY2004 appropriations law (P.L. 108-199) supports this spending level (although with new appropriations of a lesser amount, some $16 billion). The Administration’s FY2005 revised budget request envisions spending a total of $17.15 billion, supported by new appropriations of $16.47 billion. The House FY2005 appropriations bill (H.R. 4766) would support spending of $16.97 billion with new appropriations of $16.29 billion.
Charitable Choice, Faith-Based Initiatives, and TANF: This report is one in the series of reports that discusses the Charitable Choice Act of 2001 (Title II of the House bill) and its rules, as well as the charitable choice laws, and other areas of this program.
Charitable Choice, Faith-Based Initiatives, and TANF: This report is one in the series of reports that discusses the Charitable Choice Act of 2001 (Title II of the House bill) and its rules, as well as the charitable choice laws, and other areas of this program.
Child Welfare Issues in the 108th Congress: The purpose of this report is to present a number of generally less broad legislative proposals related to child welfare financing have been introduced in the 108th Congress. Additional child welfare-related proposals designed to improve services, promote timely placement of children across state lines, and for other purposes, are described in this report.
Indian Tribes and Welfare Reform: This report provides an overview of the Indian tribes and welfare reform.
Reducing Teen Pregnancy: Adolescent Family Life and Abstinence Education Programs: Congressional Research Service (CRS) report entailing information about Adolescent Family Life (AFL) and Abstinence Education programs in regards to reducing teen pregnancy. Topics include, purpose of the programs, allowable projects, evaluations and research, etc.
Education for the Disadvantaged: Overview of ESEA Title 1-A Amendments Under the No Child Left Behind Act: Title I, Part A, of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) authorizes federal aid to local educational agencies (LEAs) for the education of disadvantaged children. Title I-A grants provide supplementary educational and related services to low-achieving and other pupils attending schools with relatively high concentrations of pupils from low-income families in pre-kindergarten through grade 12. Title I-A is the largest federal elementary and secondary education assistance program, with services provided to (a) over 90% of all LEAs; (b) approximately 45,000 (58% of all) public schools; and (c) approximately 11 million (22% of all) pupils, including approximately 167,000 pupils attending private schools. Four-fifths of all pupils served are in pre-kindergarten through grade 6, while only 5% of pupils served are in grades 10-12.
Welfare Reform: An Issue Overview: No Description Available.
Medicaid Reimbursement Policy: This report begins with a summary of basic federal requirements applicable to payments for all services and an overview of major developments in federal Medicaid reimbursement policy over the last 20 years. This overview provides a historical context for current policies and highlights some issues that have been perennial concerns for federal and state policymakers. The next four sections of the report provide a detailed discussion of Medicaid reimbursement for four basic categories of services or providers.
Temporary Protected Status: Current Immigration Policy and Issues: This report discusses Temporary Protected Status and other forms of blanket relief offered by the United States to aliens who are fleeing and unable to return to dangerous situations abroad.
Child Welfare: Implementation of the Adoption and Safe Families Act: This report provides an overview of the implementation of adoption and safe families act on child welfare.
Children in Poverty: Profile, Trends, and Issues: This report documents the trends of economic well-being of children, giving data on child poverty and the employment rate of their mothers.
Welfare Reform: Comments from the Public on TANF Reauthorization: This report presents a summary of the comments that were received by HHS in response to the Department's request, and is intended to convey a general sense of the views and opinions expressed. The report begins with an explanation of the methodology used for preparing this summary and a discussion of the categories of groups and individuals who submitted comments.
Child Care Reauthorization: A Side-by-Side Comparison of Child Care Provisions in House and Senate Versions of H.R. 4, S. 880, and Current Law: This report discuses the legislative action to reauthorize child care legislation that expired at the end of FY2002. The Child care reauthorization” is composed of two parts: legislation to reauthorize the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) Act and legislation to extend mandatory funding appropriated under Section 418 of the Social Security Act.
Medicaid Disproportionate Share Payments: The Medicaid statute requires that states make disproportionate share (DSH) adjustments to the payment rates of certain hospitals treating large numbers of low-income and Medicaid patients — recognizing the disadvantaged situation of those hospitals. Although the requirement was established in 1981, DSH payments did not become a significant part of the program until after 1989 when they grew from just under $1 billion to almost $17 billion by 1992. During that time states’ Medicaid budgets were facing a number of upward pressures while states were learning about financing techniques that made it easier to collect increased DSH payments from the federal government.
Child Welfare Issues in the 108th Congress: This report discusses child welfare services that seek to protect children who have been abused or neglected or who are at risk of maltreatment. It also point out child welfare financing and other child welfare issues.
Temporary Protected Status: Current Immigration Policy and Issues: This report discusses Temporary Protected Status and other forms of blanket relief offered by the United States to aliens who are fleeing and unable to return to dangerous situations abroad. Updated January 14, 2005.
Housing Assistance and Welfare: Background and Issues: This paper will introduce the reader to federal housing assistance and welfare programs, the people they serve, how the programs interact and current issues.
Medicaid and the Current State Fiscal Crisis: Medicaid, a health insurance program funded jointly by the federal government and the states, is facing a period of quickly escalating costs at a time when the need (as measured by the number of uninsured) among the population it serves — the lowincome disabled, families and elderly — is rising. The pressures of quickly rising costs and increasing need are driving legislative attention both at the state and federal levels. Between FY2000 and FY2003, the annual growth rate of federal Medicaid expenditures was 11.3%.
Coverage of the TANF Population Under Medicaid and SCHIP: Health insurance is an important support for individuals receiving, leaving or diverted from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) welfare or cash assistance program for low-income families. Medicaid and SCHIP (State Children’s Health Insurance Program) are key vehicles for providing such coverage. While there is no formal link between TANF and either Medicaid or SCHIP, some TANF-eligibles, especially children, are likely to qualify for one of these programs. But state eligibility rules can be complex and often differ for parents versus children, leaving some parents, in particular, without coverage.

Congressional Research Service Reports - 513 Matching Results

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