Procrastination: Congress Style

Congress left town this week for the month of August. When they return after Labor Day they might just turn around and leave again. Why? Because all the tough calls they couldn’t make before August will still be here when they get back and with even less time to get it all it done.

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Goodwill® Conveys Need for Welfare Reform Before Congress

This week I had the great pleasure of working with Boyd Brown, area director of employment & training of Goodwill Easter Seals Minnesota (St. Paul), as he testified before a Congressional subcommittee. The hearing, which was on welfare reform proposals, specifically involved the reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. His testimony provided great insight into the journey of an individual on public assistance, struggling to find a job and the challenges faced by case managers trying to put people to work.

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Urge Senators to Co-sponsor Bill to Help People with a Criminal Background

Last week, I received a phone call from Audrey, a woman in Wisconsin who was seeking help for her brother, Frank. He has recently been released from prison after serving a 20-year sentence and needs help finding a job. The harsh reality is that without support and resources, Frank’s chances of recidivating are overwhelming.

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Could Private Investment be the Answer to Appropriators’ Prayers?

For the past several years, efforts to advance annual spending bills have broken down. The result is usually end-of-the-year political theater that causes most constituents to shake their heads in disgust and keeps Congressional approval rates at historically low levels. But to be fair, Congressional appropriators face increasingly difficult choices.

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Support Our Seniors During Older Americans Month

The very first Older Americans Month took place in May 1963.  While the poverty rate for seniors declined from the abysmal high point of 65 percent, it still hovered around an unacceptable 30 percent. Today the senior poverty rate stands just above 10 percent, about the same as other age groups. Social Security, one of

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Congress Set to Move Budget, Spending Bills While Challenges Loom

For the first time in 15 years the House and Senate Budget Committee chairs announced a deal on a ten year budget resolution that sets the broad parameters of spending and revenues. If approved, outlays (another word for spending) grow from $3.88 billion for FY 2016 to just over $5.0 billion in FY 2025. Revenues would also increase slightly more than outlays by 2024, meeting the GOP goal of achieving a balanced budget within ten years.

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House and Senate Budgets – A Case of Vote and Run

Both the House and Senate are due to complete work on their respective budget resolutions this week, right before leaving town for a two week recess. The budget resolutions don’t become law, but they do set the spending targets for the current fiscal year, creating one possible blueprint for spending and tax policy for the next 10 years.

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President Releases FY 2016 Budget, Battles with Congress Loom

When the president announced his next to last budget on Monday he laid down a blueprint designed to draw sharp distinctions from the new GOP controlled Congress, but also looks for common ground on some policies. For example, the budget calls for tax increases on the wealthiest Americans while seeking to boost defense spending. The budget proposes ending the sequester, something the bipartisan Murray-Ryan budget deal accomplished for two years, but it also called for increases in non-defense domestic spending increases.

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Congress Lurches to the Finish Line with FY 2015 Budget Baton

Negotiations over the $1.1 trillion spending bill for FY 2015 continue despite snags over everything from trucking regulations and pension funding to terrorism insurance and the Dodd-Frank law that tightened financial regulations in the wake of the financial meltdown that helped trigger the Great Recession.

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Urge Congress to Renew Programs That Reduce Recidivism

The sad facts are that the United States incarcerates more people per capita than any other country in the world, with approximately 2.3 million people in prisons or jails. Of the 700,000 people who are released from prison each year, approximately two-thirds will return within three years of their release. In response to these disturbing statistics, Congress enacted the Second Chance Act in 2008, which is up for reauthorization this year, to establish and shape programs that aim to help returning prisoners successfully transition back into and positively contribute to society.

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