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Washington D.C. – At a briefing today on Capitol Hill, Senator Casey joined a panel of renowned child advocates and a distinguished media member to discuss lessons the United States can learn from Great Britain in prioritizing children in budget decisions and other key policies, particularly in the midst of economic downturn.
The discussion examined key findings from a new report entitled, Protecting Children in Tough Economic Times: What can the United States Learn from Britain?. The report, authored by Jane Waldfogel, Ph.D. of Columbia University and London School of Economics, was released in conjunction with the briefing and revealed that following a successful, decade-long campaign to reduce child poverty by half, the United Kingdom has taken concrete steps to maintain its commitment to reduce child poverty in the midst of deficit reduction, even following a change in government. The U.K. preserved its commitment to fighting child poverty right up through the recession – through a set of income support policies that preserved and increased supports for low-income children, as well as critical investments in children in the areas of education, early learning, and development.
In contrast, the United States has largely ignored a national crisis, with 1 in 5 American children now living in poverty. With the exceptions of the passage of the Child Tax Credit extension and calls from President Obama and Senator Casey to protect education and early childhood funding from budget cuts and to instead make investments in America’s next generation, there has been little concerted effort by other policymakers to address the national crisis of child poverty.
In referencing his landmark early childhood bills that would ensure a continuity of high quality early learning and development programs for children, and particularly disadvantaged children, from birth through kindergarten, Senator Robert Casey (D-PA) discussed the need for significant investments in young children and the connection of such investments to our national economic security and global competitiveness.
“When a child grows up in poverty, we know they will not have as good as good of a chance to grow up healthy, succeed in school, and find a good job,” said Senator Casey. “That is a loss for every American. I believe it is our duty to ensure every child born in this country has the best shot at success. I appreciate First Focus and the Foundation for Child Development holding this briefing today so that we can hear from the experts about the types of programs and policies Congress can adopt to help reduce child poverty.”
“Here in the United States, policymakers can learn much from the example of Great Britain,” saidBruce Lesley, president of the bipartisan child advocacy group, First Focus. “We hear a great deal of rhetoric about the need to cut federal spending and we do not dispute a critical need to address our budget and deficit problems in the United States. However, solutions must be real and they must be long term. Cutting programs for low income and other vulnerable children will not only hurt the next generation; such cuts will increase our costs in the long run as well as damage our economic and global competitiveness. We urge policymakers to learn from Great Britain’s continuing experience and to examine the ways in which the United States can benefit from the lessons it provides. Our nation must not balance the budget on the backs of the next generation. It is not right and it is not effective. We call our nation’s leaders on both sides of the aisle to protect our children from harm as they work to find solutions to our budget challenges.”
The congressional briefing was moderated by Ruby Takanishi, President of the Foundation for Child Development. Additional speakers included Dr. James Marks, Senior Vice President of the Health Group at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; Alexandra Frean, U.S. Business Correspondent for the Times of London; and Bruce Lesley, President of First Focus.