Senate Appropriations Bill Will Undermine the Well-being of Children and Families, Says NWLC

(Washington, D.C.) Today, the Senate Appropriations Committee released its Labor-Health and Human Services-Education bill, which fails to protect and invest in the critical healthcare, child care, and other needs of children and families. The bill provides only $25 million in increased funding for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), a program with bipartisan support that is woefully underfunded. By contrast, the House appropriations bill provided an increase of $2.4 billion for the program, which would benefit as many as 301,000 additional children. The bill also fails to block the dangerous, ideological Trump Administration’s gag rule, which is already undermining the integrity of the Title X program. Title X provides critical family planning and preventive health services to millions of low-income women across the country.

The following is a statement by Fatima Goss Graves, President and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC):

“This bill will undermine the well-being of children and families and is wholly unacceptable. It fails to provide the essential investments that families need, such as child care, to succeed – all because funding was diverted to fund a racist border wall. The bill is also being rushed to avoid a vote on blocking the Trump Administration’s gag rule, which is wreaking havoc on the Title X program that provides critical family planning and preventive health services to millions of low-income women across the country.

“Congress can, and must, fix this by providing significant increased funding for child care and blocking Trump’s harmful Title X rule.”

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