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This week the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee passed an amendment to the FY 2014 Agriculture Appropriations Bill that would allow for fresh white potatoes to be included in the WIC food package.The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) provides federal grants to states for food assistance, health care referrals, and nutrition education for low-income pregnant and postpartum women, as well as infants and children up to age 5 who are found to be at nutritional risk.For 40 years WIC has functioned successfully as a federal nutrition assistance program,...

On Wednesday, June 12th, a group of over 80 seventh graders from the Cesar Chavez Public Charter Schools for Public Policy in Northwest D.C. visited the Senate in support of the DREAM provisions of the immigration reform bill and the Little Dreamers Amendment. After learning about immigration reform in school, the students came to hear from a few panelists about immigration reform and to meet with Senate offices to speak about the DREAM title and to leave letters they wrote to Senators in support of the DREAM Act. First Focus Campaign for Children, the Bridge Project, and the National Immigration...

Events including the recent tragedy in Newtown have brought a sense of urgency and visibility to the need to improve and strengthen the mental health caresystem for our nation’s children and youth. In response to Newtown, the Administration took on the charge of developing a comprehensive strategy to combat gun violence in America – including improving services for the mentally ill - and the Senate attempted to pass gun control legislation. That effort stalled, and it is unlikely that we will see a call for another gun control vote although there have been rumblings of an effort to revive it....

Today, more than one in five children in the United States live in poverty—one of the highest child poverty levels in twenty years. Not only that, but one in ten children are in families that live on less than half of the national poverty level, on just $11,000 per year for a family of four.That level of child poverty isn’t just unfair—it’s downright cruel to young children, for whom poverty isn’t just a temporary inconvenience but often a life sentence. Children who live in poverty, even for brief periods of time, are at lifelong risk for lower earnings, lower educational...

This past Tuesday, the Senate Judiciary Committee (SJC) voted to advance the immigration reform bill (S.744) onto the Senate floor, representing a historic step forward for immigrant children and families. The committee considered numerous amendments over a period of five days, and the First Focus Campaign for Children (FFCC) determined that many amendments had the potential to positively or negatively affect children and families. Overall, children fared very well in the process, with the passage of several positive amendments that will help keep families together in the face of immigration enforcement, enhance educational and employment opportunities for DREAMers, and...

In the midst of the Senate budget vote-a-rama that occurred before the spring recess, we at the First Focus Campaign for Children were intently listening to a conversation that occurred on the Senate floor between senior Senators about the Children’s Budget Act (CBA). The CBA would require the President’s budget submission to Congress to include a deliberate and full accounting of all the money the Federal Government spends on and for children.An exchange between Senator Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who is the author of the CBA, and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), the Chair of the Senate Budget Committee, shows that there...

In just 0 days, 0 hours, 0 minutes, and 0 seconds, kids stand to lose billions in the sequester. Intended to be a deadline of arbitrary and unacceptable cuts that would force lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to a compromise in ongoing budget negotiations, the cuts are being used in a game of chicken with devastating consequences for the nation’s most precious resource – our children.The sequester will cut $85 billion from the federal budget in fiscal year 2013 alone. And while the cuts will be shared between defense and domestic investments, not all cuts are...

One of the first bills (H.R.140) of the 113th Congress, introduced by Rep. Steve King (R-IA), is a tired idea that would make children of undocumented immigrant parents ineligible for “birthright citizenship,” the provision in the Fourteenth Amendment that grants all babies born in this country U.S. citizenship. A similar bill was introduced by King in the 112th Congress, and First Focus released a comprehensive fact sheet on the negative effects such proposals would have on children and the nation. The new bill, like the old one, is still extremely harmful for children, unconstitutional, and represents a major step...

The Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) are tax credits designed to support low income working families and help them meet their children’s basic needs. At the end of 2012, these tax credits require Congressional action to continue in their current forms and face changes that could have devastating effects on the millions of children who currently receive them.The Earned Income Tax Credit provides working families who have low levels of earned income with tax credits to supplement their earnings and keep them from falling into deep levels of poverty. The EITC was originally enacted...

We had a good experience this fall with a social media engagement tactic, and we thought it might be helpful to share some observations for those interested in similar efforts.During the summer, we reached out to the Commission on Presidential Debates about the idea of hosting one of their DebateWatch series on Twitter. They encourage citizens all over the country to get together to watch the debates, then talk about the issues that matter most to them. But in 2012, there’s no reason that folks who care about kids’ issues have to be in the same room to share perspectives...