Representative Danny Davis and 51 other members of the House of Representatives signed a letter asking the President and Congressional leadership to hold kids harmless in pending budget decisions. With votes upcoming on funding the government for the remainder of this year and next, sequestration, and the debt ceiling, kids have a lot at stake.

Washington — The bipartisan children’s advocacy organization First Focus Campaign for Children today thanked Rep. Danny Davis (D-Ill.) and more than 50 other representatives for signing a letter challenging congressional leadership and President Barack Obama to find budget solutions that protect critical investments in children.

“Every parent should thank Congressman Davis and his colleagues for their leadership in defense of children. The cynics say it’s all politics in Washington, but this important public commitment by more than 50 members of Congress shows that lawmakers are willing to put kids first,” said Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley.

The letter, originated by Rep. Davis’ office, underscores the value federal investments like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps) in mitigating childhood hunger and Medicaid in covering uninsured children. It also describes the consequences of federal budget “sequestration” cuts for children, ranging from cuts that increase the out-of-pocket cost of child care to cuts that make early education less available and deny housing assistance to children who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless. It urges the President and congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle to hold children harmless in upcoming debates over sequestration, the federal budget, and the national debt limit.

The budget passed this week by the U.S. House of Representatives’ Budget Committee would make deep cuts in critical children’s initiatives, like SNAP and Medicaid, as well as a wide range of “non-defense domestic discretionary” budget initiatives serving children, including education, housing, and child abuse and neglect prevention and response. By contrast, the budget passed by the Senate Budget Committee this week would protect critical children’s initiatives.

“The threats are real and urgent, but Congressman Davis and his colleagues are right. We can’t build a stronger tomorrow for children by denying them the things they need to succeed today,” said Lesley.

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children's advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are a priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

Washington — The First Focus Campaign for Children, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization, Tuesday sent a letter urging members of the United States Senate to reject legislation (S. 458) sponsored by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.), to cut federal funding for child nutrition. The proposal would cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps) funding by more than $36 billion over ten years. An analysis by the Campaign for Children’s partner organization, First Focus, confirms that 47 percent of SNAP funding goes to feed children.

“One in five children will go to bed tonight not knowing if their family will have enough to eat tomorrow, and this misguided proposal makes that problem worse,” said First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley.

The bill would end SNAP eligibility for children and others who qualify for similar income-based federal initiatives, like the National School Lunch Program. The Campaign for Children estimates that this change will deny nutrition assistance to hundreds of thousands of children. The proposal would also end a related initiative that provides information and education to help families served by SNAP make healthy nutrition choices on a limited budget, so SNAP dollars can go further.

“Yes, the federal government has serious budget problems, but sending more children to bed hungry is the wrong way to solve them,” said Lesley.

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children's advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are a priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

Washington — First Focus Campaign for Children president Bruce Lesley released the following statement today on lawmakers’ failure to reach a deal to avert the sequester by the end of the day:

“It’s a bad day for children in America. The clock has run out on our kids, and billions are at stake for children in every state, city, community, and neighborhood.

“Not all cuts are created equal, and children are hit especially hard by the discretionary cuts in the sequester. Sequester cuts seriously threaten many aspects of children’s lives - the safe roof over their heads, the education that promises an equal opportunity at success, the nutrition and healthcare they need to grow strong, and the safe environment they need to thrive.

“Parents ask themselves every day if their actions are right for their kids, and should expect their leaders in Congress to do the same. But lawmakers failed that simple test, and our children are paying the price. Parents should demand better from Congress and urge lawmakers to act quickly to mitigate the harm to our children.”

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are a priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

Washington — The First Focus Campaign for Children today commended Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) and her Senate Appropriations Committee colleagues for holding a hearing on the impact of federal budget sequestration. The bipartisan children’s advocacy organization cited a recent First Focus analysis finding that sequestration would result in immediate cuts of more than $4 billion to federal investments in children.

“Chairwoman Mikulski and the Senate Appropriations Committee understand that sequestration isn’t just about numbers in a ledger – it’s about real children and families,” said First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley.

Unless Congress acts before March 1st, cuts of $4.2 billion to 2013 funding will take effect immediately. These sequestration cuts will affect funding for early education, K-12 education, housing assistance for children, child nutrition, child abuse and neglect prevention, and other critical priorities. However, as First Focus has observed, fiscal proposals passed by the House of Representatives in 2012 would replace the sequester with deep and dangerous cuts to children’s health care, child nutrition, and other investments in children.

“We can’t let Congress stand by as sequestration undermines America’s future, but we need real budget solutions that don’t trade one attack on children for another,” said Lesley.

Polling conducted by the Campaign for Children confirmed that presidential general election voters overwhelmingly support maintaining and strengthening critical investments in children. Specifically, 81 percent of voters backed protecting family tax credits that together lift more than five million children out of poverty, and 83 percent of voters supported protecting the Children’s Health Insurance Program. And by a three-to-one margin (66 to 22 percent), voters support creating an official “children’s budget,” to provide a detailed accounting of federal investments in children.

“The Senate Appropriations Committee is responding to voters’ priorities, by connecting the dots between federal budget choices and real consequences for kids and families. Congress should create an official ‘children’s budget’ to provide a comprehensive look at the impact of budget choices on America’s children,” said Lesley.

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The First Focus Campaign for Children is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization affiliated with First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization. The Campaign for Children advocates directly for legislative change in Congress to ensure children and families are a priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

This ad calling on Congress to protect critical investments in our children including early childhood, education, and nutrition from upcoming budget negotiations ran in the Jan. 11, 2013 print edition of Politico.

The First Focus Campaign for Children sent Senator Patty Murray a letter congratulating her new appointment as Chair of the Senate Budget Committee. Recognized by the Campaign for Children as a congressional Champion for Children all three years the honor has been awarded, Senator Murray is a steadfast and passionate advocate for children and families. She is also the first woman to chair this critical committee.

Richmond Times-Dispatch

As the federal “fiscal cliff” approaches, we’re hearing more about how various scenarios would affect politicians, defense contractors, high-income taxpayers, seniors and other constituencies. But an important group of Virginians with a lot on the line has been largely ignored: children.

The stakes are immense, because the recession has been hard on children. A recent analysis by the nonpartisan Urban Institute found that more than 100,000 Virginia children live with an unemployed parent — about the population of Roanoke. Compared to 2007, that’s nearly a 92 percent increase — and when you look at kids living with a long-term unemployed parent, the increase is more than 600 percent. Virginia’s need for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps) has increased more than 78 percent. And one out of every seven Virginia children now lives in poverty — a 28 percent increase since the start of the recession.

Federal investments can — and do — protect children from the worst harms of a bad economy. Together, the federal Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit lift nearly 5 million children out of poverty nationwide. Both credits are bipartisan policies that reward hard work. And both support local economies, helping parents buy food, clothes and other basics from area merchants. Likewise, federal unemployment benefits raise 600,000 children out of poverty.

But it’s not just cash in parents’ pockets that makes a difference for kids. The child hunger rate would be much higher without SNAP, which provides food for more than 20 million children. SNAP also boosts 1.7 million children out of poverty, as fewer parents must make the heartbreaking choice between paying the rent and putting food on the table. And the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and Medicaid are critical lifelines, with CHIP focused specifically on kids and children accounting for half of the Americans who get the health care they need through Medicaid. Together, these successful investments have driven the uninsured rate among children to record lows, even as the recession has cost millions of parents their employer-sponsored health insurance.

The American people get it. An Election Day poll found overwhelming bipartisan support for investments that protect kids. More than 80 percent of voters (including about 75 percent of Republicans) want Congress to protect family tax credits that move kids out of poverty. About the same share want Congress to protect CHIP and to deliver a concrete plan to cut child poverty in half. And, if they were making federal budget decisions, voters would more than triple the budget share invested in kids.

Yet Congress has placed each of these investments — and many more that protect kids from economic harm — on the chopping block. If Congress fails to avert the fiscal cliff, important poverty-reducing improvements to unemployment benefits, the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit will automatically be repealed. Doing nothing also triggers automatic cuts to education funding and other important investments.

But some of the “solutions” on the table would do as much or more harm than doing nothing. For example, the budget plan passed by the U.S. House of Representatives would actually restrict kids’ access to the Child Tax Credit, raising taxes on working poor families. That same plan, touted by House leadership as a blueprint for fiscal cliff negotiations, would also make deep cuts to SNAP and put the health care of 30 million children at risk by fundamentally undermining Medicaid and ending CHIP.

That’s why it’s so important for parents — and every Virginian who wants the next generation of leaders, innovators, consumers and workers to succeed — to send a clear message to Congress: Don’t cut children’s services. Yes, the federal government has serious budget problems, but kids didn’t create them. Denying children the education, health care, basic nutrition and child care they need to grow and thrive is not a solution. Keep the policies and investments that offer a way out of poverty and provide the basic building blocks of successful adult lives.

Contact Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus Campaign for Children, at [email protected]. Contact John R. Morgan, executive director of Voices for Virginia’s Children, at [email protected].

The Bellingham Herald

By Bruce Lesley and Jon Gould

As the federal “fiscal cliff” looms, we’re hearing more about how various scenarios would affect politicians, defense contractors, high-income taxpayers, seniors and other constituencies. But an important group of Washingtonians with a lot on the line has been largely ignored: children.

The stakes are immense, because the recession’s impact on children is still being felt in families all across Washington. A recent analysis by the nonpartisan Urban Institute found that nearly 150,000 Washington children live with an unemployed parent. That’s more than a 90 percent increase since 2007. When you look at kids living with a long-term unemployed parent, the increase is more than 400 percent...

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Baltimore Sun

As the federal "fiscal cliff" approaches, an important group of Marylanders with a lot on the line has been largely ignored: children. The stakes are immense, because the recession has been hard on Maryland children, with one out of every seven living in poverty.

A recent analysis by the nonpartisan Urban Institute found that nearly 120,000 Maryland children live with an unemployed parent — about triple the population of Annapolis. Compared to 2007, that's a 180 percent increase, and when you look at kids living with a long-term unemployed parent, the increase is 320 percent.

Maryland's need for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps) has increased more than 127 percent, with more than 340,000 families benefiting from the program in 2011. SNAP means fewer parents must make the heartbreaking choice between paying rent and putting food on the table. And with more than 119,000 kids receiving health care through the Maryland Children's Health Program last year, this too, is a critical lifeline.

In 2011, 395,000 hard-working Marylanders claimed the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) on their federal returns. This credit, averaging about $2,200, helps parents buy the necessities from local businesses for the ever-changing needs of their growing children.

Maryland's children are at the edge of the fiscal cliff. Marylanders know it. So do the Maryland lawmakers who have stepped up to protect our children. For instance, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, who chairs the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families, sent a letter to congressional leadership outlining the state of America's children and the need to avoid additional cuts to programs and services that benefit the nation's youngest residents.

The bottom line is this: If Congress fails to avert the fiscal cliff, important anti-poverty improvements to unemployment benefits, the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit will automatically be repealed. Doing nothing also triggers automatic cuts to education, nutrition for pregnant women and babies, and other important investments.

But some of the "solutions" proposed to avoid the fiscal cliff would also harm kids. For example, the budget plan passed by the U.S. House of Representatives would restrict kids' access to the Child Tax Credit, make deep cuts to SNAP, and undermine the Maryland Children's Health Program.

That's why it's so important for every Maryland parent to send a clear message to Congress: Don't scapegoat kids. Yes, the federal government has serious budget problems, but kids didn't create them. And denying children an adequate education, health care and child care they need to grow and thrive, basic nutrition, and a way out of poverty — the basic building blocks of successful adult lives — is the wrong way to solve them.

Rebecca Wagner is executive director of Advocates for Children and Youth. Bruce Lesley is president of First Focus Campaign for Children.