The House has enacted the omnibus spending bill, 225 to 201. Ten Republicans joined 215 Democrats. One Democrat (reported to be Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) joined 200 Republicans in opposing. So it will go to President Biden for his signature, and the 118th Congress will convene in January. Your unflagging work led to gains for people who need help, and protected people from hardship. It is a privilege to have the chance to work with you, learn from you, and amplify your voices.
Archives: Voices
Food insecurity is already a huge problem for the U.S. In 2023, it may get worse.
In 2021, according to the USDA’s Economic Research Service, 33 million Americans lived in food-insecure households. That number was actually a drop from the year before, due to the expanded Child Tax Credit and other pandemic relief programs. But in 2022, hunger in America was again on the rise, after Congress refused to extend the CTC expansion past December 2021.
The good, the bad, and the bitter: The FY23 Omnibus Package
Senate and House negotiators managed to include some important initiatives in the omnibus end-of-year funding package that will help millions of people withstand hunger and receive health care. More people will get help with home heating or cooling, urgently needed as temperatures plummet and home energy costs rise. There are increases for Head Start and child care. But because of the intransigence of Minority Leader McConnell and some in his caucus, a lot of good that could have been done for people nationwide was thwarted, and some of the good that was included was there only because other cuts were imposed. This is a Grinch-y approach to the nation’s needs.
COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship, December 16, 2022
The appropriations edition. During the next few days, leaders in Congress will try to hammer out an agreement on an omnibus appropriations bill for FY 2023. We don’t yet know the total for domestic funding, or how specific programs will fare. But there is one thing we do know, and we know it emphatically. We know that for the past 12 years, human needs programs have been starved of funding – and now, Congress has an opportunity to address this.
Across the country, more calls for an expanded Child Tax Credit
For the past few months, Voices for Human Needs has reported on renewed efforts throughout the U.S. to urge Congress to once again expand the Child Tax Credit. As Congress rushes to complete its work before year’s end, the expansion efforts have increased in volume and urgency. Over the past weeks, CHN has worked in an additional seven states with local leaders, children’s advocates and frontline service providers to explain to the public the tremendous need and rationale for an expanded CTC.
New report: 15 million Americans could lose Medicaid in 2023. Congress must act.
A report released Thursday by prominent human needs advocacy groups warns that unless Congress takes action, 15 million people could lose Medicaid coverage after the Biden Administration ends the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency. The report was co-issued by the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, the Coalition on Human Needs, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, the NAACP, the National Urban League, and UnidosUS.
Congress: Help struggling families before it’s too late
Right around the time I heard lawmakers were considering a year-end package of tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations, my 12-year-old son’s bike broke. It felt like just another thing I couldn’t fix for him. Yet here are our lawmakers “fixing” things for those with the fewest problems. That’s unacceptable when there are so many ordinary families who need help.
The opioid crisis: No more empty seats at our holiday tables
Where I live, the seasons change fast. We’ve barely put away our jack-o’-lanterns in Kansas City when a cold wind blows in from the prairie, bringing down leaves — and soon after that, ice storms and snow. But no matter how cold it gets, we always look forward to seeing family and friends over the holidays. We all want our homes to be filled with joy, comfort, and the people we love the most. But many of us will miss someone at the holiday table, because our country’s overdose crisis now touches almost every family and community.
COVID-19 Watch: Tracking Hardship, December 2, 2022
The no relief for corporations unless we help families edition. Congress has returned for its lame-duck session, and corporate lobbyists are frantically pressuring members to approve business tax breaks before they leave later this month. But families and human needs advocates are telling their Senators that expanding the Child Tax Credit (CTC) must be a priority in any year-end tax package. In particular, advocates are insisting on full refundability for the CTC so that 19 million children in low-income families across the U.S. are not excluded from receiving all or any of the current $2,000 per-child CTC.
Long Covid: ‘All hands on deck’
April 18, 2020, is a day that Heather Elizabeth Brown will never forget. It was the day that after receiving countless negative COVID-19 tests throughout the month and being sent home from the hospital twice, Brown was finally admitted as a COVID-19 patient. Her journey would then include a 31-day medically induced coma, a stroke, blood clots, and two blood transfusions. Now, more than two years later, Brown is still feeling the effects of her COVID-19 diagnosis.
Ten things we’re thankful for this Thanksgiving
Despite some hard times this year, there is much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Here are ten things that come to our mind at CHN.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Speaker Pelosi’s oft-repeated “For the children” exhortation was not just a catch-phrase, but a commitment to improve the lives of children and their families. In a time when far too many elected officials substitute aggrandizement for leadership, a look at the career of Nancy Pelosi is a good reminder of what real leadership can do.