Tag Archives: Head Start Program

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Tell President Obama: Stand Up for Women & Families in Budget Negotiatio​ns


Budget negotiations in Washington are at a critical point.

Republicans who want to slash programs for low-income people while rejecting any revenue increases are threatening to refuse to raise the debt ceiling — which must happen to avoid a fiscal crisis — unless they get their way.

President Obama needs to hear that women and families are counting on him to protect programs for low-income people.

You can help! Call 1-888-245-0215 to be connected to the White House comment line. In your message:State your name, where you’re from, and if you’re affiliated with a service provider or work with low-income people (though that is not necessary to call).
Then say: “Please tell the President and the Vice President to hold firm and insist that any deficit-reduction plan must protect programs for low-income people and not increase poverty. Women and their families shouldn’t bear the brunt of deficit reduction through cuts to critical programs like Medicaid, food stamps, child care and Head Start, and Pell grants. Increased revenues from those with the greatest ability to pay must be a major part of any deficit-reduction plan.”
Unless programs for low-income people are protected in the budget negotiations, women and their families will bear the brunt of deficit reduction. Women are more likely than men to be poor at all stages of their lives and their families disproportionately rely on programs designed to help low-income people. Maintaining and strengthening programs like Medicaid, food stamps, child care assistance, Head Start, and Pell grants protects vulnerable women and families today — and expands their opportunities for a better life.

Please ask President Obama and Vice President Biden to demand fair change in the budget negotiations. Dial 1-888-245-0215 today!

Sincerely,

Joan Entmacher
Vice President, Family Economic Security
National Women’s Law Center

Judy Waxman
Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights
National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Please spread the word by forwarding this message to friends, family and colleagues.

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As One Budget Battle Ends, Another Begins …from -Joan Entmacher and Judy Waxman, National Women’s Law Center


Thank you for all you have done to help protect women and their families. We are counting on you in the struggles to come to fight these efforts to destroy programs that millions of Americans need every day.

from …

Joan Entmacher

Vice President, Family Economic Security

National Women’s Law Center

Judy Waxman

Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights

National Women’s Law Center

As you’ve probably heard, Congress has approved and the President signed a spending bill for the remainder of the federal government’s current fiscal year. And thanks to your support, we were able to safeguard (and even increase) funding for some vital programs.

Under this plan, which funds programs through the end of September, the budget for Head Start will increase, allowing 60,000 low-income children to continue receiving a valuable jumpstart to their education. Plus, we put the brakes on the effort to take away funding for Planned Parenthood and other critical family planning services across the country. If anti-choice politicians had prevailed, many women would have had nowhere to turn for contraception and preventive health screenings.

Unfortunately, however, these actions came at a high price: the 2011 budget agreement forbids the District of Columbia from using its own local tax dollars to give low-income women access to abortion services they need, putting an already vulnerable population at increased risk. And the agreement includes cuts to health, education and human services programs that will be detrimental to women and their families.

But the fight we had over this year’s budget is dwarfed by what we’re facing farther down the road. The House Republican majority just voted today for a budget for 2012 and beyond that would give more tax breaks to millionaires and corporations while eviscerating Medicaid, Medicare and other programs vital to women.

In supporting Representative Paul Ryan’s budget proposal, the House voted to:Cut, then cap, Medicaid, which would cause millions of vulnerable women to lose their health coverage. End Medicare as we know it, replacing the current guaranteed insurance system with a voucher program that would stick seniors with higher health care costs.

Cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations, permanently extending the Bush-era tax cuts, capping the top personal income tax, extending the December 2010 reduction in the estate tax for multi-million dollar estates, and lowering corporations’ tax rate from 35 percent to 25 percent.

Put Social Security cuts on a fast-track in Congress, placing millions of women and others who rely on Social Security benefits at risk.

Other provisions in the bill would slash funding for domestic programs such as child care, Head Start, K-12 education, Pell grants, family planning and other women’s health services, job training, housing and energy assistance, and services for the elderly.

The list goes on, but here’s the bottom line: this budget would unravel the fragile safety net for millions of Americans even as it puts TRILLIONS of dollars in the pockets of corporations and the wealthy. This isn’t a fiscal plan — it’s an attack on the very idea that our society should protect its most vulnerable members and on public structures that give ALL Americans a chance at a better life.

Thank you for all you have done to help protect women and their families. We are counting on you in the struggles to come to fight these efforts to destroy programs that millions of Americans need every day.

Sincerely,

Joan Entmacher

Vice President, Family Economic Security

National Women’s Law Center

Judy Waxman

Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights

National Women’s Law Center

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a message from President Obama …”I will not let it happen”


President Obama said this week that any budget that sacrifices a commitment to education is a budget that sacrifices our future:

“And I will not let it happen.”

Here’s why he’s taking a stand:

The cuts in the House Republican budget to education would be devastating for teachers, students, and families — costing 55,000 jobs, slashing financial aid for 8 million college kids, and dropping hundreds of thousands from Head Start, an early-education program proven to help low-income children graduate high school.

This week, the House passed another short-term extension of the federal budget that will fund the government through early April — between now and then, we need to find common ground.

President Obama is committed to commonsense spending cuts that allow us to live within our means without sacrificing key investments that will help us win the future.

With your support today, we can redouble our campaign for a responsible budget as the deadline nears, with OFA volunteers calling lawmakers and hand-delivering petitions to congressional offices.

Together, we’ll work to make sure that every family, principal, teacher, and student across the country understands that critical funding for education is at stake — and what they can do about it.

Please donate $3 or more today to support Organizing for America and fight to protect our investments in education.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/m/55c111e3/6c0d017d/17b04a80c/1188251f/3026681374/VEsH/

House Republicans are proposing reckless cuts that would undo our progress on health reform, prevent the EPA from protecting our air and water, and hurt our economy and job creation.

The cuts are particularly bad for education, and when we’re talking about investing in children and schools, we’re talking about investing in our future.

If the House Republican budget cuts are adopted:

— More than 16,000 classrooms would close;

— 55,000 teachers would lose their jobs;

— Nearly 200,000 pre-kindergarten children would lose access to Head Start; and

— More than 8 million college students currently receiving tuition assistance would see their Pell Grants cut.

The budget the President signs must have bipartisan support, but he’s made it clear it also must invest in — not sacrifice — education.

Anything less is irresponsible and not worthy of our children.

Your support today will ensure all Americans understand what’s at stake. We’ll stand together and support the President as he tries once again to reach common ground with Republicans.

But we need your help.

Please donate $3 or more to support Organizing for America today:

https://donate.barackobama.com/Stand-Up-For-Education

Thanks for standing up for teachers, kids, and jobs.

Mitch

Mitch Stewart

Director

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The latest on the budget fight & a link -find out what reckless Republican cuts will do to your state!


The stand-off on the budget continues.

While it looks like the deadline could be extended, the President has said from the beginning that we simply can’t do business a few weeks at a time.

At OFA, we’ve been working hard at the local level. I can tell you the Republican plan isn’t getting any prettier. It costs nearly a million American jobs — including 15,100 in Washington — and it makes drastic, politically motivated cuts to education and innovation. Click here to learn more about how the Republican plan hurts people you know.

http://my.barackobama.com/State-Consequences2?state=WA

Let’s be real — this plan is not how we’re going to win the future. President Obama has offered a budget that would reduce the deficit by more than $1 trillion, but he’s said he’s not willing to go along with any plan that would hurt our economic recovery.

So, we’re keeping the pressure on Republicans to come to the table to pass a responsible budget.

You’ve already taken the first step by adding your name to the President’s call for a commonsense budget — but here’s what you can do now before we deliver each and every name to Congress: Spread the word to friends and family in Washington about exactly what the Republican plan would do.

Please pass along the email below, and ask folks to join you in making their voices heard.

Mitch and I will keep you posted as we learn more.

Thanks,

Yohannes

Yohannes Abraham

Political Director

Organizing for America

————–

Subject: Stand up for 15,100 Washington jobs

Dear friends,

I’m writing because 15,100 Washington jobs are at risk — along with key investments in education, innovation, and infrastructure.

The President is committed to finding common ground on a budget that reduces the deficit and cuts wasteful spending, but he’s made it clear that he can’t go along with any plan that could derail our economic growth.

The current spending plan proposed by Republicans would be devastating — and you can see exactly what the Republican budget would mean for Washington: eliminating 8,000 community health center jobs, cutting Washington homeland security investments for local law enforcement by $2.2 million, and dropping 2,989 Washington children from Head Start.

Even with a deadline extension in the works, if Republicans refuse to come to the table to find a long-term solution, the government will be forced to shut down.

Check out all the consequences of the Republican plan for people in Washington — and join me in standing with President Obama for a commonsense approach to the budget:

http://my.barackobama.com/State-Consequences2?state=WA

Thanks

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Republican proposal is packed with extreme cuts


Democrats and Republicans have to reach an agreement to keep the government operating.

Right now, President Obama is calling on both sides to come to the table and reach a reasonable solution — a plan that builds for the future while eliminating wasteful spending in the present. A plan where cutting spending is done judiciously — not recklessly. A plan with investments that create jobs — not cuts that eliminate them.

But the current Republican proposal is packed with extreme cuts that are clearly serving a political agenda — cutting billions from Head Start, slashing Pell Grants and other programs that help students pay for college, and completely eliminating funding for Title X family-planning services.

It’s not a responsible plan to cut spending — but a set of policy prescriptions intended to appease the most extreme wing of their party.

And while cuts like these make the Republican plan objectionable — it’s the fact that it puts nearly 1 million jobs at risk that makes it absolutely unacceptable.

So we’re standing with President Obama in a very public way — with an open letter calling on Republicans to work with him and Democrats in Congress to pass a commonsense budget that works for the American people. Supporters will hand-deliver the petition, with your signature, to House Republicans — making sure our combined voices ring loud and clear.

www.democrats.org

Right now, the debate surrounding our budget should be about one thing — people.

An out-of-work father of three isn’t concerned with advancing the Republicans’ social agenda. All he’s thinking about right now is getting back to work so he can pay his mortgage and his gas bill.

A single mother who relies on Head Start for her four-year-old isn’t thinking about the political sound bite of the moment — she is concerned with making sure her daughter can keep up when she enters kindergarten next year.

The American people don’t care about political back-and-forth or partisan ideology. They want their government to do right by its citizens.

And that’s where the Republican plan falls short.

They would close more than 16,000 classrooms, lay off 55,000 teachers, and cause 218,000 children to be kicked out of early-childhood education programs.

They would slash homeland security investments and lay off thousands of police officers and firefighters, leaving our communities less safe.

They would defund health insurance reform, doing away with the cost savings and vital patient protections relied upon by millions of Americans around the country.

They would eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood, ending thousands of health center jobs across the country and leaving millions of women without access to preventive care.

Now, President Obama knows that this must be a shared sacrifice, and that some cuts must be made — and he stands ready to work together to find a commonsense solution.

But the current Republican plan would knock this country down just as we’ve begun to stand back up.

The American people deserve better — and it’s up to us to demand it.

Add your name to call on congressional Republicans to stand down from their irresponsible proposal and work with the President on a reasonable plan that we can all support:  www.democrats.org

Thank you,

Patrick

Patrick Gaspard

Executive Director

Democratic National Committee