Intergenerational Public Policy Update
By Chelsi Rhoades, Public Policy and Advocacy Coordinator, Generations United
Jump to: U.S. Supreme Court Upholds the Indian Child Welfare Act | Debt Limit Negotiations | Legislative Update- Grandfamily Housing Act | Older Americans Act | Title IV-B of the Social Security Act | Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Farm Bill
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds the Indian Child Welfare Act
Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court released their decision in the Brackeen v. Haaland case to uphold the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). This decision represents a fundamental victory for Native children and grandfamilies. ICWA affirms the sovereignty of tribes in child welfare and recognizes a framework of tribal courts, codes, and programs, which prioritizes placement of Native children with their relatives or tribes except in the rarest circumstances and requires states to provide active efforts to prevent the removal of American Indian and Alaska Native children. Passed in 1978 in response to the history of forcibly separating Native children from their families and tribes, ICWA is now seen as the gold standard of child welfare for how we should prioritize and support family and cultural connections for all children.
Generations United applauds the decision and proudly stands in support of ICWA. For more information, check out Generations United’s recent blog post celebrating the decision.
Debt Limit Negotiations
Averting the United States from defaulting on its debts, President Biden and Congressional leadership reached a bipartisan budget agreement in late May. The Fiscal Responsibility Act passed the House and Senate, and was then signed into law by President Biden on June 3rd. This bill raises and suspends the federal debt limit through January 1st, 2025 and includes provisions to keep non-defense spending levels flat through 2025, enact an administrative pay-go, expands work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to include individuals ages 50–54, and tightens work requirements for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
In their negotiations, House Republicans proposed major cuts to federal spending, including additional work requirements for TANF, SNAP, and Medicaid. On May 23rd, Generations United wrote a letter to urge Congress to pass a clean debt limit increase that does not cut critical programs or lead to further harm to children, older adults, and their families, and to express our concerns with the additional proposed work requirements.
While the bipartisan agreement is a significant improvement over the House Republican’s bill, the Limit, Save, Grow Act, the SNAP and TANF provisions are troubling and have the potential to harm children, older adults, and their families.
SNAP: The Fiscal Responsibility Act phases in SNAP work requirements for older adults ages 50–54. The bill also includes work requirement exemptions for young people aging out of foster care, veterans, and for people who are unhoused. These exemptions took effect immediately and apply to the full age group subject to SNAP work requirements (ages 18–54).
TANF: The Fiscal Responsibility Act phases in a reset of the TANF caseload reduction credit from 2005 case levels to 2015 case levels for states, which as a result tightens work requirements as most states rely heavily on the caseload reduction credit. It also excludes families that receive less than $35 per month from TANF from counting towards their state’s work requirement rate. Although child-only TANF grants, a critical source of support to grandfamilies, are not directly subject to work requirements, these provisions could push states to reduce the number of work-eligible and child-only TANF cases in order to achieve the caseload reduction credit needed to meet their state’s work requirement rate, which may disincentivize states from opening child-only TANF cases. However, the bill also includes a provision to allow for five states to establish pilot demonstration programs with alternative “work and family outcomes” benchmarks to replace their current work participation rate targets.
Legislative Update- Grandfamily Housing Act
On May 4th, 2023, Senator Bob Casey (D-PA), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Sherrod Brown (D-OH), introduced the Grandfamily Housing Act (S.1448). The bill would establish a new grant program to support housing providers in creating and maintaining stable living environments for grandfamilies. Specifically, this bill would authorize the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to award grants to nonprofits and local housing authorities to finance the upkeep and retrofitting of grandfamily housing and communal spaces, help housing providers employ a Grandfamily Resident Service Coordinator to offer onsite intergenerational services and support the grandfamily caregivers in navigating the complexities of raising children, and enable the housing providers to offer events for grandfamilies in the community. Representatives Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) introduced companion legislation (H.R. 3153) in the House.
Check out this press release from the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging related to the introduction of the Grandfamily Housing Act.
Reauthorizations We’re Watching
Older Americans Act
The Older Americans Act (OAA) provides grants to states to develop and improve community services and programs to help older adults live healthy and independent lives. The OAA includes many intergenerational opportunities through its authorized programs such as the National Caregiver Support Program, Nutrition Programs, and the Grant Program for Multigenerational Collaboration.
Although the Grant Program for Multigenerational Collaboration is authorized, to date no funding has been appropriated for it. If funded, it would provide support to a range of intergenerational programs, including shared sites, through a competitive application process. Generations United advocates for appropriations funding for this grant program and supports continuing to expand upon the intergenerational opportunities within the OAA. The Older Americans Act is up for reauthorization in 2024.
Ahead of 2024 reauthorization, the Administration for Community Living (ACL) is seeking input from the public on proposed updates to the regulations for the OAA programs and services. This will be the first significant update to most programs’ regulations since 1988. Generations United urges comments on ways to promote intergenerational programs and strategies through the OAA. Comments on these proposed updates must be submitted by August 15, 2023.
Learn more about the intergenerational opportunities included in the Older Americans Act.
Title IV-B of the Social Security Act
Title IV-B of the Social Security Act (Title IV-B) provides flexible funding to support families, including support for grandfamilies/kinship families, prevention of maltreatment, and helping reunify families separated by the child welfare system. Generations United, along with our partners, are currently working to educate Members of Congress on the importance of Title IV-B funding and advocate for a strong reauthorization with provisions to better support grandfamilies/kinship families. Without reauthorization, Title IV-B will expire September 30th, 2023.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the Farm Bill
The Farm Bill is a comprehensive package of legislation related to agriculture and federal nutrition programs that must be reauthorized every five years. There are many intergenerational opportunities in the Farm Bill. It authorizes the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps, and a variety of smaller nutrition programs to help low-income children, older adults, and their families afford to put food on the table. On April 19th, the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Food and Nutrition, Specialty Crops, Organics, and Research held a hearing entitled “SNAP and Other Nutrition Assistance in the Farm Bill”. Without reauthorization, the Farm Bill will expire September 30th, 2023.
For more information on Farm Bill reauthorization, check out the Food Research & Action Center’s Road to the Farm Bill webpage.
Take Action! If you’re joining Generations United for our 22nd Global Intergenerational Conference, join us for Hill Visits and our Hill Visit Prep Session.
For more information on Generations United’s policy priorities, check out our policy agenda for the 118th Congress.
