There are millions of children each day living in poverty in the U.S. and trying to thrive and, through no fault of their own, they are faced with barriers to success at every stage of their development.

Instead of supporting these children and investing in programs that are proven effective at lifting children out of poverty, the President’s FY18 budget proposes enormous cuts that would result in millions children going hungry, losing their housing, and falling into poverty.

Some of the most devastating cuts for children in poverty include:

 

  • The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) gets a cut of $193 billion over 10 years, including changes that weakens the program’s integrity and effectiveness to be responsive during times of economic downturns.

 

  • The budget proposes a cut of $21 billion over 10 years to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, including zeroing out the TANF Contingency Fund.

 

  • A $40 billion cut to the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) over 10 years. Families filing their taxes with an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) would no longer be eligible to receive these credits, putting more than 4 million citizen Latino children at greater risk of poverty.

 

  • Legal Services Corporation (LSC) funding is eliminated. Access to civil legal services is already extremely limited and the overwhelming majority of low-income families facing eviction and other civil disputes already do not receive representation.

 

  • Reduces the Title I formula by $578 million below the FY17 enacted level, severely reducing education resources for low-income students in areas of concentrated poverty.

 

  • Proposes a $7 million cut to the Education for Homeless Children and Youth (EHCY) program, which serves over 1.2 million students experiencing homelessness in the public-school system and is already severely underfunded.

This budget is not only cruel, it is economically foolish. Investing in children leads to economic gains that result in a strong and educated workforce. These solutions benefit businesses and communities, for when all kids are successful, all of us benefit.

First Focus will be providing a more detailed analysis on the ramifications of the President’s budget proposal for low income children and families in the coming days.