This letter asks members of the House of Representatives to support the Ryan/Murray Bipartisan Budget Act. While this bill fails to extend vital Emergency Unemployment Compensation and fails to completely undo sequestration, it is a step in the right direction

With Congressional negotiators working to finalize a short-term budget deal, a new national poll shows strong bipartisan support for children's initiatives. The survey, completed by the Republican polling firm American Viewpoint, underscores voters' concerns about the well-being of today's children and their future prospects. It also demonstrates voters' strong bipartisan support for tax policies that lift children out of poverty, initiatives to prevent child abuse and neglect, and other investment's in children.

A coalition of leading children’s advocacy organizations sent a letter on November 15, 2013, urging Congressional budget conferees to prioritize and invest in kids in the budget agreement. The letter also urges a budget that would undo harmful sequester cuts.

The organizations include:
American Academy of Pediatrics
American Federation of Teachers
Campaign for Youth Justice
Child Welfare League of America
Children’s Defense Fund
Children’s Health Fund
Easter Seals
First Focus Campaign for Children
MomsRising
National Association for the Education
of Homeless Children & Youth
National Association of Federally
Impacted Schools
National Child Abuse Coalition
National Education Association
National Head Start Association
National Title One Association
Public Advocacy for Kids
Save the Children
School Based Health Alliance
Share Our Strength
United Way Worldwide

Washington – The bipartisan children’s advocacy organization First Focus Campaign for Children today released a letter urging key congressional negotiators to deliver “Farm Bill” legislation that rejects deep cuts to federal investments in child nutrition. The letter, coordinated by the First Focus Campaign for Children, was sent to Capitol Hill on Tuesday and signed by more than 35 national advocates for children, educators, parents, food pantries, faith communities, and others.

“With Thanksgiving just days away, Congress should be looking for ways to do more for kids and families struggling with hunger, not making it harder for them to get by,” said First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley.

Legislation passed in September by the United States House of Representatives would cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps) funding by nearly $40 billion over 10 years. Forty-seven percent of SNAP funding goes to children. The House bill also makes several SNAP policy changes that would make it harder for hungry children to get the food they need. Specifically, it would:

• Cut funding for SNAP Education, an initiative that helps parents learn how to buy and prepare healthy foods and get the most nutritional value for every SNAP dollar;
• Direct state SNAP agencies to take families’ SNAP funds away if not fully used within 60 days, as families might do to stretch resources in response to a job loss, an illness, a wage cut, or other economic setback;
• Deny SNAP to some ex-offenders, which harms children by reducing the family’s net SNAP resources;
• Encourage states to impose a work requirements on families receiving SNAP, by allowing states to reallocate half of any savings from a work requirement program that results in SNAP denials (but does not require states to expand job training slots or reinvest recovered funds in job training programs); and
• Allow states to drug-test children and other SNAP recipients.

“It’s simple math – nearly half of every SNAP dollar goes to children, so the House plan takes food from hungry kids,” said Lesley.

The legislation would also weaken the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP). FFVP provides funding to help local schools make fresh produce available to children in low-income communities, but the bill would make dried, canned, and frozen produce – including products with added sugar, salt, or other additives – eligible for FFVP funding.

“Politicians and Big Ag lobbyists can’t fool the American people – pizza’s not a vegetable, and canned fruits packed in sugar syrup aren’t fresh,” 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 the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

This letter from First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley urges House majority leadership — Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, and Republican Conference Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers — to make children a priority in upcoming fiscal and policy debates. Observing that recent policy proposals have omitted children or considered children an afterthought, it cites a long track record of Republican leadership on children’s issues and urges a renewed focus, dialogue, and progress for children.

The congressional debate over stopgap funding legislation has critical implications for kids, locking in “sequestration” budget levels that harm education, child welfare, child nutrition, and a range of other investments, and jeopardizing the health coverage of millions of children enrolled in the Children’s Health Insurance Program. This letter, signed by 14 of the nation’s leading children’s advocacy organizations, urges Congress to reject the proposal.

Washington – The bipartisan children’s advocacy organization First Focus Campaign for Children today sent a letter to every member of the U.S. House of Representatives, urging opposition to legislation (H.R. 3102) weakening federal investments in child nutrition.

The proposal would cut Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly Food Stamps) funding by nearly $40 billion over 10 years. Forty-seven percent of SNAP funding goes to children.

“Yes, the federal government has budget problems, but children didn’t cause them, and cutting anti-hunger investments is the wrong way to solve them,” said First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley. “It’s simple math – nearly half of every SNAP dollar goes to children, so this plan takes food away from hungry kids.”

The bill also makes several SNAP policy changes that would make it harder for hungry children to get the food they need. Specifically, it would:

• Cut funding for SNAP Education, an initiative that helps parents learn how to buy and prepare healthy foods and get the most nutritional value for every SNAP dollar;
• Direct state SNAP agencies to take families’ SNAP funds away if not fully used within 60 days, as families might do to stretch resources in response to a job loss, an illness, a wage cut, or other economic setback;
• Deny SNAP to some ex-offenders, which harms children by reducing the family’s net SNAP resources;
• Encourage states to impose a work requirements on families receiving SNAP, by allowing states to reallocate half of any savings from a work requirement program that results in SNAP denials (but does not require states to expand job training slots or reinvest recovered funds in job training programs); and
• Allow states to drug-test children and other SNAP recipients.

“There’s room for honest debate on nutrition policy, but the idea of drug-testing three-year-olds should be a non-starter,” said Lesley.

The legislation would also weaken the Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program (FFVP). FFVP provides funding to help local schools make fresh produce available to children in low-income communities, but the bill would make dried, canned, and frozen produce – including products with added sugar, salt, or other additives – eligible for FFVP funding.

“Politicians and agribusiness lobbyists can’t fool the American people – pizza’s not a vegetable, and canned fruits packed in sugar syrup aren’t fresh,” 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 the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

Washington – A stopgap budget measure scheduled for a floor vote in the U.S. House of Representatives (H.J.Res. 59) intended to defund the Affordable Care Act would also cut funding for the bipartisan Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) by 70 percent on October 1, 2013, according to the bipartisan children’s advocacy organization First Focus Campaign for Children.

CHIP funding was extended through September 2015, by Congress, as part of the ACA national health care law. The House will consider a procedural measure (H.Res. 352) today, which was drafted yesterday by the House Rules Committee to amend H.J.Res. 59. If the House passes that “rule,” the joint resolution would rescind funding made available to CHIP through the ACA. According to a First Focus Campaign for Children analysis of the resolution, its net result would be a $13.3 billion October 1st drop in CHIP funding from $19.0 billion to $5.7 billion.

“CHIP has been bipartisan from the start and, although this appears to be unintentional, it is important to note that the health coverage of millions of children would be put at risk,” said First Focus Campaign for Children President Bruce Lesley.

CHIP was enacted in 1997, by a Republican-controlled Congress and Democratic President Bill Clinton. It provides quality, affordable health insurance coverage through private insurance companies to an estimated nine million children nationwide. In partnership with Medicaid, CHIP has protected children from losing health care in the wake of a recession that cost millions of parents their employer-sponsored health insurance. State governments received just under $10 billion in federal funding through CHIP in federal fiscal year 2013.

“Unintended or not, the consequences here would be devastating for children and state governments. Before lawmakers cast a vote for this proposal, they should fully understand the implications of what they’re voting for and protect the health coverage of our nation’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 the priority in federal policy and budget decisions. For more information, visit www.ffcampaignforchildren.org.

New York Times

By Ron Nixon

WASHINGTON — House Republicans narrowly pushed through a bill on Thursday that slashes billions of dollars from the food stamp program, over the objections of Democrats and a veto threat from President Obama.

The vote set up what promised to be a major clash with the Senate and dashed hopes for passage this year of a new five-year farm bill...

Read more

Washington – Federal investments in children’s health insurance and nutrition mitigate the pressing economic problems facing America’s children and working families, according to a snapshot of new Census data released today by First Focus Campaign for Children, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization.

“Headlines are filled with indicators that the economy is improving, but the Census data show that kids are still reeling from the recession and one in five live in poverty,” said Ed Walz, spokesman for First Focus Campaign for Children. “The good news is we know what works to lift children out of poverty, and our leaders in Congress have opportunities to protect these investments in the upcoming budget debates.”

The snapshot reveals 16.1 million children, or 21.8 percent, live in poverty in the United States. This is in comparison to 46.5 million, or 15 percent, of all Americans. Poverty is defined by a family income of $23,283 in 2012 for a family of four.

Child Nutrition
Federal investments have a proven track record of lifting children out of poverty. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) protects children from poverty by reducing out-of-pocket food costs. Federally funded SNAP reduced childhood poverty in 2012 by 1.67 million children.

Children’s Health
Investments in children’s health coverage such as Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), are responsible for reducing the number of uninsured kids in 2012 to 6.6 million, or 8.9 percent. The percentage of children who are uninsured is lower than the 48 million, or 15.4 percent, uninsured Americans.

“We are pleased that Medicaid and CHIP have helped us to continue reducing the numbers of uninsured kids but, with over 6.5 million kids living without health coverage, there is more work to be done," said Walz.

Family Tax Credits
Family tax credits are an effective shield against child poverty. The poverty numbers would have been significantly worse, were it not for the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Child Tax Credit. The EITC reduced child poverty by 2.9 million, or 4 percent.

“We know what Congress can do to protect kids from poverty fallout: Protect SNAP and family tax credits, and extend and enhance the Children’s Health Insurance Program so it can work with Medicaid to cover uninsured kids,” said Walz. “Today’s data provides a clear roadmap of which programs are most successful in reaching our most vulnerable kids. The question is whether Congress has the will to act."

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