Generations United’s Summary of the Intergenerational Provisions in the President’s Budget

On Thursday, March 9, President Biden released his fiscal year 2024 (FY24) budget proposal. While the proposal is simply a request to Congress, who ultimately determines the budget, it is seen as a snapshot of the president’s priorities and where their administration wants to direct their energy.

The president’s budget includes funding for many important programs and shows the administration’s commitment to working on issues that impact all generations. Some highlights relevant to the priorities in Generations United’s Policy Agenda for the 118th Congress are:

1. Improved Support for Grandfamilies/Kinship Families

a. Increases support and incentives to place more children with kin and fewer children in group homes and institutions

i. Adjusts Title IV-E reimbursement rates to promote kinship foster care and guardianships by reimbursing states 10 percentage points above each state’s Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) rate.

ii. Title IV-E-eligible placements in unrelated family foster homes would continue to be reimbursed at each state’s FMAP rate.

iii. Reduces reimbursement rates for placements in Child Care Institutions and Qualified Residential Treatment Programs (QRTPs) to 5 percentage points below each state’s FMAP rate.

b. Expands and incentivizes Title IV-E Prevention Services and Kinship Navigator Programs

i. $30 million for FY24 for states to develop, enhance or evaluate kinship navigator programs.

ii. Increases the federal reimbursement rate for Prevention Services and Kinship Navigator Programs to 90% for FYs 2024–2027 (rather than 50% as under current law). After FY2027, the greater of 75% or the state’s FMAP rate plus 10 percentage points, rather than the FMAP rate as under current law.

iii. Increases funding for the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse and related evaluation and technical assistance to $10 million per year.

iv. Allows for increased tribal and cultural adaptations of approved prevention services programs.

v. Allows for up to 15% of a state’s Prevention Services funding to be spent on emerging or developing services that do not currently meet the Clearinghouse ratings criteria, but states must evaluate the services and either modify or cease using title IV-E funding if the evaluation shows the service to be ineffective.

c. Creates new supports and flexibilities in the Chafee Program, which would allow states to serve youth up to age 27, and youth who exited foster care to adoption or guardianship after age 14 rather than age 16.

d. Strengthens the MaryLee Allen Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program (Title IV-B, Part 2)

i. Adds kinship support services as an allowable spending category.

ii. Increases funding by $300 million per year, nearly doubling the program funding.

iii. Requires states to report on kinship diversions (“hidden foster care”), including number of children in those settings and the support offered to children and caregivers.

e. Expands the Adoption Tax Credit to make it fully refundable, allow multiyear use of the credit, and expanding it to include qualifying legal guardianships, potentially benefiting kinship families.

f. Restores the expanded child tax credit (CTC) by making the CTC fully refundable and expanding the credit from $2,000 per child to $3,000 per child 6 years old and above, and to $3,600 per child under 6.

2. Investments in quality affordable early child care and learning

a. The Budget provides $22.1 billion for HHS’s existing early care and education programs.

b. $9 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant to expand access to quality, affordable child care for families.

c. Expands access to free, high-quality preschool by providing $13.1 billion for Head Start to help young children enter kindergarten ready to learn.

3. Strengthening Social Security service delivery, equity, and access by investing an increased $1.4 billion to improve services at the Social Security Administration’s field offices, State disability determination services, and teleservice centers for retirees, people with disabilities, and their families.

4. Expanding access to and affordability of healthcare

a. Guarantees adequate and stable funding for the Indian Health Service (IHS) by including $8.1 billion in funding and proposes all IHS resources as mandatory beginning in 2025.

b. Invests $150 billion over 10 years to improve and expand Medicaid.

5. Provides critical nutrition assistance to increase food security

a. Includes $6.3 billion to support the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC).

b. Provides $1.3 billion, an increase of $218 million, for home-delivered and congregate Senior Nutrition Services to expand services and offset the increased costs of service delivery.

c. Provides over $15 billion to allow more states and schools to provide healthy, free school meals to an additional 9 million children through the Community Eligibility Program.

d. Invests $70 million in Native American Nutrition and Supportive Services to begin to address the unmet needs for services in tribal communities.

6. Maintains stable funding for the Social Security Block Grant (SSBG) at $1.7 million, which funds critical programs for children, youth, and older adults, including grandfamilies/kinship families.

7. Investments in grandfamily and family caregiver supports

a. Provides $250 million for Family Caregiver Support Services and $16 million for Native American Caregiver Support Services.

b. Invests $14 million in the Lifespan Respite program.

The release of the president’s budget is the first step in the long process of determining the funding for Fiscal Year 2024. Generations United staff will continue monitoring the budget process and working to ensure the budget benefits all generations.