Over the last few months, Congress has been working on a $600 billion package of seven FY 2022 spending bills. The budget package, H.R. 4502, included the reauthorization and expansion of many HHS related initiatives, including:
An increase of $40 million for targeted research related to the impact of COVID19 on children and on mental health
$153 million, an increase of $150 million above the FY 2021 enacted level, for social determinates of health
$100 million for the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative, an increase of $28 million above the FY 2021 enacted level
$25 million for Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health, an increase of $17 million above the FY 2021 enacted level
$150 million for the Children’s Mental Health program, an increase of $25 million over the FY 2021 enacted level
$257 million for Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) programs, an increase of $71 million above the FY 2021 enacted level.
Continued support for a Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) Initiative to support SEL and “whole child” approaches to education through various funding streams
After the lower chamber passed the resolution, it stalled in the Senate for over a month while negotiations took place. Without an agreed-upon budget bill, a government shutdown loomed.
With the new fiscal year beginning on October 1, and with no final FY ‘22 budget in sight, members of Congress started work on a Continuing Resolution to keep the government funded through the end of the calendar year.
On September 30, Congress passed Continuing Resolution to avert a partial government shutdown and the President signed it later that day. The Continuing Resolution originally included a suspension of the Debt Ceiling through 2022, a measure that failed to make it into the final Continuing Resolution and continues to be highly contested. The current Continuing Resolution runs through December 3rd, 2021, and will keep the government funded at current levels. You may read the bill here.