Human Needs Report

The Human Needs Report is the Coalition on Human Needs' newsletter on national policy issues affecting low-income and vulnerable populations. It is published every other week while Congress is in session.

If you would like to receive the Human Needs Report by email, send an message to Adam Hughes with "subscibe Human Needs Report" in the subject line.

Articles from March 26, 2004

• TANF Bill to Hit Senate Floor Next Week
  With the latest extension of the federal welfare law due to expire on March 31, the Senate passed a bill on March 25 to extend TANF for another three months. Debate on full renewal of the law is scheduled to begin on Monday, March 29. No votes will be taken the first day.
  (More >)

• House Approves Fiscal Year 2005 Budget Resolution
  On Thursday, March 25 the House of Representatives approved a $2.4 trillion fiscal year 2005 budget resolution (H Con Res 393) by a vote of 215 - 212. All Democrats and 10 Republicans (Michael Castle (DE), John Duncan (TN), Virgil Goode (VA), Joel Hefley (CO), John Hostettler (IN), Walter Jones (NC), Ron Paul (TX), Rick Renzi (AZ), Christopher Shays (CT), and Christopher Smith (NJ)) voted against the Republican-sponsored budget resolution. By promising to move a subsequent bill to make changes to the budget process, Republican leadership was able to persuade several reluctant Republicans concerned about the deficit to vote in favor of the resolution.
  (More >)

• House Approves Child Nutrition Reauthorization
  On March 24, 2004 the House voted by an overwhelming margin of 419-5 to reauthorize child nutrition programs through 2008. The Child Nutrition Improvement Act (HR 3873) reauthorizes programs that provide subsidized breakfast, lunch and milk for eligible children, and includes provisions aimed at targeting childhood obesity. The bill enforces nutritional guidelines for all food sold in schools, but does not include provisions proposed by some Democrats to set stricter federal standards for food sold in schools outside of the school lunch program. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, childhood obesity has doubled in children ages 6-11 since 1980.
  (More >)

• More Than One Million Unemployed Workers Lost Help Because Of Failure To Extend Federal Benefits
  More than one million unemployed workers are going without unemployment benefits because Congress has failed to extend federal unemployment compensation, according to a new report by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. The federal unemployment program, Temporary Extended Unemployment Compensation (TEUC), provides 13 weeks of federally funded unemployment benefits for workers who have exhausted their 26 weeks of state-funded benefits, and are still unemployed. Unemployment insurance is critical to keeping families out of poverty, particularly in times of weak economic activity and slow job recovery.
  (More >)