West Virginia MetroNews - As Congress moves closer to a budget deal, Senator Shelley Moore Capito has acknowledged the possibility of significant effects on Medicaid. Read the full article. Medicaid is a joint federal and state program for health insurance and medical services, traditionally for low-income people but more recently also for the working class.…
WVCBP in the News
West Virginia Public Broadcasting - Despite an increase in state funding compared with last year, advocates for child care say an estimated 2,000 families could lose access to child care due to a lack of funding. The state had been relying on COVID-19 era federal funding to fund a expensive change in how daycares are paid out…
West Virginia Watch, News from the States - While facing the huge uncertainty around proposed federal cuts to food banks, SNAP and school feeding programs, county officials have been sounding the alarm that if their county jail bills keep increasing, they do not know how their counties can afford funding popular, non-mandated services like senior…
Public Employees Won’t See a Pay Raise in Any Version of the State Budget. Here’s What Else to Know.
Mountain State Spotlight, Charleston Gazette-Mail - In the final days of the session, lawmakers are hashing out the only bill they are required by law to pass – the state budget. Read the full article. In February, Gov. Patrick Morrisey said the budget would be tight. Money coming into the state coffers has decreased over…
West Virginia Watch, Yahoo - Funding for foster care has been slashed in the House Finance Committee as members opted to ignore Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s proposed budget, including his $182 million request for a child welfare system in crisis. Read the full article. There are more than 5,800 children in foster care, and there aren’t…
Raw Story - Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters he can edit federal spending and revenue baselines as the chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. Read the full article. “As Budget Chairman, under section 312 of the Congressional Budget Act, I have the authority to determine baseline numbers for spending and revenue. Under that authority, I have…
WTRF - A recent executive order signed by The Trump Administration to dismantle the Department of Education is causing some concern about how public schools will receive federal funding. Read the full article. According to the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, federal funding brings more than $350 million annually into West Virginia’s 55 county school…
West Virginia Watch, Charleston Gazette-Mail - West Virginia lawmakers on Monday walked back a measure that would have put more than 165,000 residents at risk of losing their health care coverage through Medicaid expansion. Read the full article. House Bill 3518 would have put in place a trigger so that if the federal government lowered the…
West Virginia MetroNews - West Virginia needs to send a message to the federal government about the possibility of cuts to Medicaid expansion coverage, the deputy speaker of the House of Delegates said. Read the full article. If federal officials cut the amount West Virginia is reimbursed for the healthcare expenses of its Medicaid expansion…
Charleston Gazette-Mail - For reasons not entirely explicable, for the past few years legislative leaders have prided themselves on passing the Budget Bill by the 60th day of the regular session, avoiding the traditional post-session budget conference, when the session would be extended for a few days to work out a final version of the…