Read the letter

The First Focus Campaign for Children and 21 other members of the Children’s Budget Coalition today sent a letter to Sens. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., and Patty Murray, D-Wash., and Reps. Tom Cole, R-Okla., and Rosa DeLauro, D-Conn., urging them to support robust funding under a bipartisan compromise on federal programs that impact children under the jurisdiction of the Appropriations Subcommittees on Labor, Health & Human Services and Education.

According to the 2015 Children’s Budget Book published by First Focus, total government spending on children in the last five years, when adjusted for inflation, is down 9.4 percent, more than twice the rate of overall spending decreases of 4 percent. Members of the Children’s Budget Coalition are concerned that disproportionate cuts to children’s programs will have a long-term impact on the future of our nation’s children and families.

Signatories to the letter include:

Alliance for Strong Families and Communities
Child Welfare League of America
Children’s Health Fund
Easterseals
First Focus Campaign for Children
Institute for Child Success
MENTOR: The National Mentoring Partnership
Moms Rising
National Association for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth
National Education Association
National Network for Youth
National Title I Association
Public Advocacy for Kids
Save the Children
Save the Children Action Network
Share our Strength
United Way
National WIC Association
YMCA of the USA
Youth Villages
American Academy of Pediatrics

Read the letter here.