Wyden Secures Priorities for Seniors, Kids, Clean Energy

CHRONIC Care, Family First Bills, Four Additional Years of CHIP Funding and Five Years of Advanced Technology Tax Credits, Home Visiting, Included in Final Deal

Washington, D.C. – Senate Finance Committee Ranking Member Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., today cheered the inclusion of several Finance Committee policies he championed as a part of the recently announced budget deal. These include the CHRONIC Care Act, the Family First Act, a further extension of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for four additional years, and critical extenders in the Medicare, Medicaid, health and human services, and tax spaces, including five years of funding for advanced technology tax credits and home visiting programs.

“The CHRONIC Care Act is a big step forward in the ongoing effort to update and strengthen the Medicare guarantee for seniors,” Wyden said. “By improving treatment for chronic illnesses like heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer that dominate Medicare spending, this bill will make Medicare work better for seniors and secure the program for future generations.”

For more information on the CHRONIC Care Act, see here.

“The Family First Prevention Services Act will usher in the most significant improvements to the child welfare system in decades and provide real help to families to fight the opioid epidemic,” Wyden said. “We owe our most vulnerable children the best chance to stay with their families when it’s safe to keep them at home and the highest standards of care to protect children who are already in foster care.”

For more information on the Family First Act, see here.

“After months of uncertainty and political games, it’s clear that CHIP needs to be extended as long as possible to give the most security to states and families that count on this health care lifeline for young Americans. I’m proud that Chairman Hatch and I could come together to get this historic accomplishment for children’s health care into the final agreement.”

The agreement includes an additional four years of funding for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), helping to secure the program into the future and bringing the total extension of the program this Congress to 10 years, the longest in its history.

“The new five-year extension of these advanced technology tax credits puts them on an equal playing field with other important clean energy technologies. These credits will reward companies investing in clean energy here in the U.S. creating more good-paying jobs here at home. Today is an important step toward a more technology neutral tax code.”

The final spending deal includes five years of tax credits for U.S. companies investing in fuel cells, small wind, geothermal heat pumps, combined heat and power, and microturbines.

“The evidence is clear – home visiting helps kids and at-risk moms do better together,” Wyden said. “These proven programs reduce child abuse and neglect, health care costs and juvenile justice involvement and simply help parents with parenting. I’m exceptionally glad the Senate restored home visiting funding for five years.”

MIECHV (Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting) funds voluntary, evidence-based home visiting services for families living in poverty, first-time parents, and other at-risk families through voluntary visits from nurses, social workers, or parent educators.

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