Congress is back and the Internet has supplied lawmakers with a perfect metaphor for the plight of America’s children.
You probably saw it. At the U.S. Open tennis tournament, a CEO — a wealthy and powerful man — snatched a free hat out of the hands of a child. The world recoiled. But in our politics, notes First Focus on Children President Bruce Lesley, lobbyists and lawmakers do this every day. From health care cuts to school vouchers, the wealthy, powerful and connected are systematically robbing children of care, opportunity, and dignity. And the world hardly makes a peep. Read The Heist: How the Powerful Are Robbing America’s Children for some ideas on how to change that.
To stave off this kind of behavior among lawmakers, First Focus Campaign for Children has sent leaders of the Senate Appropriations Committee a comprehensive list of proposals to reverse the downward spiral that is consuming the nation’s children (infant and child mortality are up, child poverty is up, uninsured rates for children are up….etc etc etc). Among the policy recommendations:
OPPOSE:
- Future rescission proposals that claw back congressionally approved resources for programs supporting children and their families.
- Policy riders to FY26 spending bills that could harm children’s healthy development, safety and well-being
- Any proposals to reorganize, restructure, or entirely eliminate federal agencies and departments during consideration of the FY26 annual spending bills
- Legislative proposals that would require the U.S. Census Bureau to exclude persons who are unlawfully in the U.S. from the state population totals used to apportion seats in the U.S. House of Representatives after each census.
INSIST:
- That the Trump Administration follow the law and release the FY 2025 funding that Congress enacted in March and that it does not withhold additional funding approved by Congress going forward
- On full funding of $8.2 billion provided by the Senate-mark for the Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC)
- On a total of $13.05 billion in funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), which would increase the availability of care for families, help better support the early learning workforce, and support states in making targeted investments to their child care systems to serve their long-term needs.
- That lawmakers supply at least $974.8 million for the IDEA infant and toddler program and $683.5 million for preschool special education services, which have both experienced significant erosion of funding over the last two decades, impacting access to services for children with disabilities.
First Focus on Children has also made a plea for early childhood educators, urging Department of Education Secretary Linda McMahon to protect early learning professionals from provisions in H.R. 1 that would deny federal aid to students pursing professions that typically draw lower salaries than high school graduates.
“The early care and education workforce was found to be compensated at lower rates than 97% of all professions,” advocates wrote. “A high-quality early childhood workforce requires specialized training and specific skill sets, and educators must be encouraged and supported in pursuing professional development and additional degree programs. Placing further restrictions on the ability of these professionals to pursue education opportunities by limiting their access to federal student loans will only exacerbate the problem that already exists.”