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LEGISLATIVE ALERT3/25/2011Advocacy Day!
Tuesday is Advocacy Day! Join Hundreds of Child Advocates who will be on Capitol Hill and Call Your Senators to Urge Them to Protect Funding for Programs Serving Vulnerable Children and Families Because These Cuts Won't Heal!
On Tuesday, hundreds of child advocates will be on Capitol Hill urging Congress to protect current funding for programs serving vulnerable children and families. If you can't be with us on the Hill please take a moment to call your senators to tell them to OPPOSE budget proposals that fail to protect critical supports for children and families.
ACTION REQUIREDCall your U.S. Senators. To be connected with your senators, dial 202-224-3121.MESSAGEProtect resources for programs dedicated to serving vulnerable child and families by opposing drastic cuts, because These Cuts Won't Heal!BACKGROUNDOn Tuesday CWLA is conducting its annual Advocacy Day and hundreds of attendees at our national conference will be on Capitol Hill to urge Congress to protect essential funding for children and families. This is a critical time to contact senators and representatives, as members of both houses and both parties work to craft a compromise budget.
There is a $51 billion difference separating the House and Senate budget plans and serious policy differences must be overcome as well. Generally, the Senate plan is much more protective of funding for programs dedicated to vulnerable children and families. For example, the Senate bill includes more than $1.4 billion more than the House for Head Start, which is the difference between 218,000 children having access to the program or not. In addition, compared to the House bill, the Senate version provides an additional $1 billion for community health centers, $349 million for child care, $348 million for nutrition assistance to low-income pregnant mothers and their children, $317 million for family planning, $214 million for substance abuse and mental health programs, and $141 million for home energy assistance for low-income families. From a policy perspective, the House bill would defund and block implementation of the health reform law and prohibit funding for Planned Parenthood, while the Senate plan would not.
Congress is engaged in serious negotiations to enact the federal budget. Two bills passed recently to extend the budget on a temporary basis and these bills have already cut more than $10 billion. There are no assurances that there won't be more temporary bills with additional cuts even before a final budget deal is reached. For this reason it is important to contact your senators and urge them to support a plan that protects funding for vulnerable children and families, because These Cuts Won't Heal!
We will also be tweeting during Advocacy Day through CWLAUpdates. This is another way to keep up with all the developments. We'll be tweeting with the hashtag #CWLAinDC and we encourage attendees and other followers to use this tag during the conference. This is a great opportunity to join Twitter if you haven't already.
© Child Welfare League of America. The content of these publications may not be reproduced in any way, including posting on the Internet, without the permission of CWLA. For permission to use material from CWLA's website or publications, contact us using our website assistance form.
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