Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus on Children, issued the following statement regarding the outcome of the 2024 election:
This morning in his victory speech, Donald Trump promised to ‘not rest until we have delivered the strong, safe, and prosperous America that our children deserve.’ His running mate, JD Vance, also invoked kids, saying ‘We’re never going to stop fighting for you, for your dreams, for the future of your children.’ We are encouraged to hear these words. But they must be more than words. To accomplish what they say is their goal, the incoming Trump Administration must substantially improve its record from the first term where children saw record-low investment, dramatic losses in pediatric health coverage, sizable increases in food insecurity and families experiencing homelessness, and brutal policies that cruelly separated children from their parents as they navigated the immigration or asylum process. Children cannot afford and our nation should not tolerate divestment in children’s needs or a government that subjects them to harm.
We are confident that American voters support this position. For instance, in Kentucky, Colorado, and Nebraska voters firmly rejected school voucher proposals in favor of students and public schools. In Austin, Texas and Sonoma County, California, voters also passed initiatives to help make child care more affordable for families.
The way we treat children — and the policies we enact to protect them — matter more than others because children are only children for a very short time. When our policies fail them, there is no way to make it right.
So we echo the president- and vice president-elect’s words when we say that our children deserve better. We will be carefully watching and working to hold the Administration and Congress accountable to this standard.