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From Center for Law and Social Policy:
Today begins a new budget process, the last of President Bush's presidency.
In this period of economic downturn, when our most vulnerable children and families need access to comprehensive supports, the message of this budget is simple and stark: children in low-income working families don't matter.
The President proposes flat funding for child care that will cause 200,000 children to lose access to child care assistance by 2009.
Instead of spending for the future through investments in young children, the Administration has proposed a budget that continues a pattern of disregard for the critical importance of our early childhood programs, ensuring a legacy that will not include support for the country's youngest and most vulnerable children.
In 2006, federal investments targeted to children (including spending on education, child care, health care, and other social support investments) comprised less than 2 percent of GDP.3 The President's proposed budget continues this alarming trend by disinvesting in key supports for children and low-income families.
Across the country business leaders, economists, neuroscientists, researchers, and policy experts alike have championed the importance of investing in quality early childhood programs for our nation's youngest children.6 From longitudinal studies showing positive outcomes for children into adulthood to economic impact studies, a broad consensus of support for early investments has emerged.
Reauthorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), the largest federal source of child care assistance for low-income families, has been on hold for eight years and funding for the program has been virtually flat since 2002.
The Head Start program, the nation's premier comprehensive early childhood development program, was reauthorized in December 2007 after years of delay.
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Posted on February 4, 2008 9:21 PM
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