NAEYC Alert

September 6, 2005

CALL CONGRESS - toll free number below

HELP THE CHILDREN AND FAMILIES IMPACTED BY KATRINA; NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR BUDGET CUTS TO CHILDREN AND FAMILIES -

Congress is preparing another supplemental funding bill to deal with the devastation of Katrina. Congress must include additional resources for child care, Early Head Start and Head Start and other early childhood services, as well as mental health and training for staff working with children impacted by the trauma of the hurricane. These needs are critical in addition to shelter, income, food, health care and jobs. Child care, Head Start and other providers are taking in relocated children, but they need the additional resources to pay for more staff, more materials, sometimes more space, and the cost of keeping up the quality of their program for all of the children.

Congress will only delay for a few weeks, but not indefinitely, the budget reconciliation bill to cut $35 billion from mandatory programs, including Medicaid, Food Stamps, student loans, and potentially TANF. Medicaid could be cut by as much as $10 billion. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Congress will be forced to re-arrange its immediate legislative schedule. But as of now, there are still plans to propose $35 billion in cuts. Congress must act to help those suffering from lack of food, health care, jobs and income.

CALL YOUR SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVE TOLL FREE
1-800-426-8073 ON SEPTEMBER 8TH AND 9TH

Use this toll-free number (provided by the American Friends Service Committee) to be connected to the Capitol Switchboard. Other method: go to www.naeyc.org Click on "Action Center" and then put your zip code in the box for elected officials. You can find their DC and state office contact information by clicking on their pictures to find the direct number for your Member of Congress.

Spread the Word. We need your help to forward news of the September 8 - 9 call-in days to everyone you know, and to send reminders through the 9th. We need thousands of calls to reach Congress - and you can make a difference.

MESSAGE

This is not the time for cuts to Medicaid, Food Stamps, student loans, or TANF for the nation's most vulnerable people. Oppose any reconciliation bill that cuts Medicaid, Food Stamps, TANF, student loans, and other critical supports for vulnerable children and their families. Now IS the time to provide substantial emergency funds to deal with children's child care, Head Start, mental health and other needs. States, communities, and charities cannot do this alone.

Additional Message Points:

• Congress has failed to increase child care funding for four years, even though only 1 in 7 eligible children is getting child care assistance. The House and Senate appropriations bills do not increase child care funding for Fiscal Year 2006.
• TANF families are already having a hard time meeting current requirements in this economy and raising work requirements is unfair. Families coming off TANF and low-income working families still need child care to keep their jobs.
• Medicaid and Food Stamps help keep vulnerable children and families healthy. Student loans make it possible for people to afford college, and research is clear that higher education leads to higher lifetime earnings.
• Don't enact tax cuts that worsen the deficit and make it harder to invest in programs for children's health, child care, education and nutrition.