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Statement on HR 1: Families Deserve Support, Not Harm
At ParentChild+, we work every day to ensure that children from under-resourced communities across the country can access the early learning opportunities they need to thrive. The recently signed federal budget bill, HR1, directly undermines this goal and places millions of families with young children at great risk.
This legislation includes devastating cuts to the social safety net, cuts that do not reflect the values of equity, care, or opportunity that drive our work and that the families, children, and communities we work with deserve.
We are deeply concerned about the human impact of the following provisions:
- 17 million people would lose access to Medicaid undermining basic health and developmental care during children’s most formative years.
- SNAP eligibility would be restricted, with cost burdens shifted to states, many of which cannot afford to cover the federal shortfall. Families already facing food insecurity will face hunger that puts healthy development and child wellbeing at risk.
- The Child Tax Credit would be eliminated for families where parents lack a Social Security number, stripping vital financial support.
- Pell Grant access would be restricted for 4.4 million students, limiting higher education access for low-income youth who have grown up in underfunded early learning systems., and depriving us all of the next generation of quality early childhood professionals.
ParentChild+ stands in solidarity with families across the country who are being deprived of the ability to ensure that their children can thrive. Children who do not have access to adequate food and health care cannot be ready for school or to succeed academically. This country depends on a healthy, educated, successful next generation, and yet this federal budget undermines that very possibility.
As we continue our work reaching over 8,500 families annually, we remain committed to the dignity and potential of all families and to continuing to build an equity-driven model rooted in a culturally responsive, community-led early childhood intervention.