Human Services & Education Policy Steering Committee

Every other week, NACo's County Countdown reviews top federal policy advocacy items with an eye towards counties and the intergovernmental partnership. This week features the ARPA reporting deadline, a budget reconciliation update and more

On April 8, President Trump signed four [RY1] [CM2] executive orders (EOs) focused on the U.S. coal industry, aligning with the Administration’s “Unleashing American Energy” EO signed in January 2025.

In March, lawmakers in the House and Senate reintroduced the bipartisan Sarah Debbink Langenkamp Active Transportation Safety Act. The legislation honors Sarah Debbink Langenkamp, a former U.S. diplomat and mother of two who was tragically killed while biking home in Bethesda, Md., just weeks after being evacuated from Ukraine in 2022. 

On February 21, the U.S. Department of Transportation announced the availability of $1.2 billion through the Safe Streets and Roads for All competitive grant program in Fiscal Year 2024 for transportation safety planning or construction projects.

Two bipartisan bills aimed at addressing the Medicaid Inmate Exclusion Policy (MIEP) were recently reintroduced in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Since in March 2021, the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) authorized the $350 billion State and Local Coronavirus Fiscal Recovery Fund (SLFRF), which provided $65.1 billion in direct, flexible aid to every county, parish and borough in America. Now that we are four years into the program’s implementation, compliance with reporting requirements is of utmost importance.