Senate Spending Bill Includes Home-Visiting, Child Health, More

As many of our readers will know, funding for the federal government’s operations expires at midnight tonight, and Congress is working to enact a spending measure before that date.  Yesterday, the U.S. House passed a bill that it sent to the Senate, and then the Senate introduced their version of the legislation.  The most recent version includes four things of particular interest to our followers:

• a 10-year extension of the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)
• a 5-year extension of the Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting program (MIECHV)
• a pay-for-success provision, similar to the Social Impact Partnership Act (SIP) we’ve discussed before (currently called SIPPRA)
• a child welfare bill called Family First

If passed by the Senate – which is expected to vote on it today – this version of the bill will go back to the House for its approval.  While neither vote is guaranteed, we are encouraged by Congress’s inclusion of these four provisions. We’re keeping an eye on these developments and hope to have more definitive (and positive) news for you all in the coming hours or days.