Today the President’s Middle Class Task Force released its annual report with significant recommendations that would provide support for families.   Chaired by Vice-President Joe Biden with social worker Dr. Jared Bernstein serving as Executive Director, recommendations were categorized in the following four areas: Protecting Workers and Creating Middle Class Jobs Retirement Security Balancing Work and Family... 

Earlier this week the White House released a summary of its $950 billion plan to reconcile the House and Senate versions of comprehensive health reform legislation. Release of the plan marks a new phase of more direct presidential involvement in the legislative negotiations. The President’s plan largely favors the Senate’s bill and clarifies use of a legislative strategy known as budget reconciliation,... 

Within four weeks of taking office, Congress presented a “stimulus package” to President Obama, who signed it.  The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) is now one year old.  About half of the money has been distributed, mostly to states, as well as to extend unemployment benefits, expand eligibility for Food Stamps, support Medicaid for states.  Independent economic analyses of ARRA show where... 

Take Action Now! – Social Work Reinvestment On February 3, Ed Towns (NY-10) introduced H.R. 795, the Dorothy I. Height and Whitney M. Young, Jr. Social Work Reinvestment Act. To date there are 38 cosponsors. The act establishes a Social Work Reinvestment Commission to address the future of the profession. It also establishes demonstration programs that address the current state of the social work profession. You... 

In an effort to keep you informed of the work NASW is doing on health care reform, we will periodically send out a roundup of activities. Health Reform Update With the election of Senator Scott Brown (R-MA), there were concerns that health care reform would take a back seat to other congressional priorities such as jobs and the economy. Congressional leaders are still committed to passing health care reform legislation... 

Families USA held its 15th Annual Grassroots Meeting Health Action 2010 on January 28-30, 2010 in Washington, DC.  NASW was a cosponsor of the conference.  Some of the presenters included White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett, Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, Sen. Al Franken, Reps. Donna Edwards and Chris Van Hollen, NAACP President Benjamin Todd Jealous, and U.S. Surgeon General... 

On Tuesday, Feb. 2, the Senate Armed Services Committee, chaired by Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), held a hearing on the status of the U.S. military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT) policy. The two witnesses invited to the hearing were Admiral Michael Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Robert Gates, Secretary of Defense. Sen. Levin opened the hearing by calling the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy “discriminatory”,...